City unveils first draft Future Land Use Map; staff targets early‑August public release and interactive story map

Kevin, a planning staff presenter, showed commissioners the first draft Future Land Use Map (FLUM) assembled as part of Plan Spokane’s "convert, amend, engage, finalize" workflow and said the package will go live in early August with an interactive story map.

"This is the map at the end of that long, very deep exploration," Kevin said, describing a conversion from the prior 19 land-use designations into nine categories and mapping corrections (for parks, river high-water marks and institutional-designation boundaries). He emphasized the FLUM is a future vision, not zoning: homeowners shown in a different future designation would not be forced to change uses unless they seek rezoning.

Staff said the FLUM increases areas marked residential-high in many locations to help meet the city's housing capacity needs. The presentation included examples of mapping cleanups and a comparison heat map showing how changes track the previously adopted preferred alternative. Kevin described online engagement tools that will accompany the release: a zoomable, pin-enabled map that lets residents place pins and submit comments, neighborhood 'swipe' maps for before/after comparison, printable maps and links to draft chapters and appendices.

Staff targeted the first week of August to publish the FLUM and chapter updates and open the statutory public comment period. Commissioners encouraged staff to include clear explanatory text alongside the map that explains what the designations mean and what the map is not, and to provide links from the interactive map to the chapters that define land-use categories.

The commission did not take action; the presentation set the public-engagement schedule and asked commissioners to review the online tools once published.