Title
Planning Commission 2016 Work Plan -- Recommendation
Staff Recommended Action
Following refinement of proposal, move to recommend to City Council that the Council approve the Commission’s proposed 2016 work plan.
Report
Issue:
Annual work plans for the Planning Commission and other Council advisory committees are approved by the City Council in March of each year. This agenda item is an opportunity for the Commission to prepare a recommended work plan for April 1, 2016, through March 31, 2017.
Staff Contact:
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner, Community Planning and Development Department, 360.753.8597.
Presenter:
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
At the request of City Council, each city advisory committee forwards a recommended Work Plan to the Council early in the calendar year. The General Government Committee of Council meets with advisory committee chairs to discuss the proposed work plans and forwards a recommendation to the full Council for approval. Advisory committee annual work plans are effective April 1 through March 31.
The ultimately approved work plan establishes a set of tasks for the Planning Commission during the twelve-month period. The Chair, and sometimes other officers, then coordinates with the Commission’s staff liaison to establish a general calendar and agendas for each meeting. Note that during the course of a year it is common for the Council to add new items to the work plan.
Schedule for Recommendation of 2016 Work Plan:
• October 19 & December 7: Commission’s preliminary discussions of 2016 Work Plan -- including work items proposals
• January 25: Commission’s deliberation to select work items - may lead to a recommended work plan or tentative priorities
• February 1: Refinement and additional deliberation as needed to make a final recommendation
• February 24: General Government review of and recommendation to Council regarding Commission’s proposed work plan
• March (date tbd): City Council approves final work plan
• April 1: 2016 Work Plan in effect
Annual Work Plan Assumptions
• Work plan will be in effect from April 1, 2016 to March 31, 2017
• Planning Commission will hold 22 regular meetings, plus one ‘retreat.’
• Regular meetings will be about 3 hours with up to one hour for administrative matters (general public comment, minutes review, reports, etc.)
• Commission will utilize a “Finance” subcommittee to review the annual Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) update
• Commission’s work plan will align with City Department work programs for the 2016 calendar year
• Commission’s work plan will be consistent with Commission’s role as outlined in state law and in Olympia Municipal Code 2.100.350 through 2.100.410
• Time should be reserved for two or more major work items to be added during the year
Sources of work plan items
• City department work plans established by City Manager and Council
• Commission duties established by local and state laws
• Proposals initiated by private parties, such as code amendments (note, a review fee is paid by the private party)
• Commission-initiated work items
Commission work capacity
The Commission’s regular meeting schedule provides about 50 hours per year of meeting time for business items. The work plan is usually built with a more conservative estimate of 44 hour (2 hours per meeting). The Commission’s work plan is also limited by the resources provided in the city budget, such as staff and consultant time. However, please note that there is no specific ‘Commission budget,’ instead city staff seeks to allocate a reasonable amount of time and other resources to Commission activities.
Draft 2016 Work Plan
The attached draft work plan for 2016 includes work items from the Commission’s 2015 work plan that may not be completed by April 1, various Department work plan items that are scheduled to be presented to the Commission in 2016, and other items that the Commission has preliminarily expressed an interest in addressing in 2016. The number of work items the Commission can address within this work plan are limited by both City resources and Commission meeting time.
The list of potential work items in the attached draft exceeds those limits. This draft is intended to be a starting point for the Commission’s development of its proposal. Because the Council may not concur in the Commission’s determination of priorities, the Commission may choose to propose a few work items beyond the annual capacity to provide the Council with alternatives to the set of items proposed by the Commission.
In addition to the customary review of annual proposed amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, and the related annual update of Capital Facilities Plan update, this draft includes some major work items, including:
• Participation in developing a new ‘Downtown Strategy’
• Participation in developing the first ‘Action Plan’ for implementing the updated Comprehensive Plan
• Various development code amendments intended to better implement the City’s Comprehensive Plan
Proposed deliberation process for developing the 2016 work plan
1. Staff briefing regarding the attached draft
2. Prioritize each item as ‘high,’ ‘medium’ or low’
3. Sort by priority to identify those within range of annual work plan limits
4. Identify additional items to present to Council as alternatives
5. Recommend resulting work plan or provide direction to staff for preparing final draft for action at next meeting
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
General public interest should be anticipated.
Options:
1. At close of discussion, recommend specific work program.
2. Table the issue for further deliberation and action at regular meeting on February 1, 2016.
Financial Impact:
Development of work program is included in base budget; however specific work items could have financial impacts.