Draft 2045 future land-use map revised to add green-space language, commissioners say changes ready for April vote

Planning staff returned March 17 with a status report on the proposed 2045 future land use map and the commission-defined edits that staff and commissioners have been working through since the February meeting.

Staff said the Planning Commission recommended approval of the map's categories and narrative descriptions and explained the compatibility matrix that translates future land use into zoning. Commissioners Link, Myers and Wright described district-level inset changes and said they had collaboratively adjusted map categories in sensitive areas to preserve neighborhood character. Commissioner Myers said she had asked for wording changes to two categories to "weave in the notion of green spaces and plazas and activated third spaces" and that staff had placed those edits in green in the packet.

Commissioners discussed implementation tools including text amendments already authorized in a prior resolution, small-area plans (corridor/neighborhood studies), overlays, and potential zoning-code updates. Staff said several zoning-implementing text amendments—prioritized for housing-related changes—are expected this summer and that some corridor work (Alps-Hawthorne) is already underway through a Connect grant.

Commissioners directed staff to continue refining materials and advised that the map changes are likely to return for a formal vote in April with follow-up code and implementation work to follow.