Title
Acceptance of the Transportation Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
The Land Use and Environment Committee reviewed the draft Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan, suggested some revisions, and recommended forwarding the revised chapter to the full City Council for acceptance.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to approve a Resolution accepting the Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
Report
Issue:
Whether to accept the Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
Staff Contact:
Michelle Swanson, AICP, Principal Planner, Public Works Transportation, 360.753.8575
Presenter(s):
Michelle Swanson, AICP, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
Every 10 years, the City is required by State law to review and update its Comprehensive Plan and implementing development regulations. This update will look out to year 2045 to show, among other things, how the City will accommodate new population and employment growth. It is also an opportunity to make sure the Plan and Development Regulations meet current state requirements that have changed since the last major update of the Plan. It is also updated to ensure that the plan reflects our community values.
Each chapter is being updated separately, although staff are working to ensure chapters support each other and are consistent. Because chapters are being reviewed on different timelines, staff requests that the City Council “accept” each chapter but refrain from adopting until all chapters are complete and any final adjustments can be made.
For example, there will likely be modifications or additions to some goals and policies in this chapter as a result of the proposed Climate Action and Resilience chapter, which has not yet gone through the public hearing process or been reviewed by the City Council. Staff intends to bring all “accepted” chapters back to the City Council in one full document for review and final action. The deadline to complete this periodic update of the Comprehensive Plan is December 31, 2025.
Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) certification
The Transportation chapter has an additional requirement: it must be certified as consistent with the Thurston Regional Transportation Plan. The Thurston Regional Planning Council (TRPC) reviewed an early draft of the chapter and issued a provisional certification, attached, indicating their support for the chapter.
On September 24, 2025, staff submitted the attached draft of the chapter, along with a current draft of the Land Use and Urban Design chapter, for final certification. We are required to submit both chapters for TRPC to verify they are consistent with each other. TRPC is aware the final draft of both chapters will also include some additional policies from the Climate Action and Resilience chapter. These chapters must be submitted at least 60 days before the City Council adopts the final Plan. Because of this provision, the earliest the City Council could adopt the full Comprehensive Plan is November 23, 2025.
High-level summary of changes
A few key policy changes to this chapter include:
• Prioritizing walking and rolling, biking, and transit over driving. The previous version placed them as equivalent.
• A new vision.
• Formally incorporating the 2021 Transportation Master Plan.
Additionally, this update meets several new state requirements, which include:
• Incorporating equity.
• Integrating climate mitigation and resilience.
• Including an American Disabilities Act (ADA) Transition Plan as part of the Transportation chapter.
• Using a multimodal level of service to measure our transportation system. This is a way of measuring the transportation system that accounts for all ways of using it: walking and rolling, biking, taking transit, and driving.
For a full list of changes made along the way, please see the attached list.
Summary of public process
In 2023 staff began the update process by reviewing the transportation values and vision with the public via an online survey and members of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC).
In 2024 staff:
• Held two online surveys for the public
• Attended an in-person open house in the summer of 2024
Please see the attached two summaries of public feedback for details.
Throughout 2024 and 2025 staff met with the following City advisory committees:
• BPAC, five times
• Planning Commission four times, including a special work session dedicated to this chapter
• Social Justice and Equity Commission (SJEC) in July 2024
• Youth Council in February 2025
The BPAC provided comments directly to staff, which were incorporated into the chapter. The Youth Council advised that many youth do not drive and expressed a desire to see transit be more appealing to young people.
The SJEC and Planning Commission wrote comment letters, which are attached. Staff has also attached a response to the Planning Commission’s letter.
Land Use and Environment Committee’s guidance
On March 27, 2025, the Land Use and Environment Committee reviewed this chapter and the Planning Commission’s recommendation. It offered guidance, which the attached draft incorporates.
City Council study session
On July 29, 2025, the City Council discussed this chapter during a study session and offered feedback to staff. This draft includes that feedback.
Climate Analysis:
The transportation sector is the second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in Thurston County. The policies in the Transportation chapter are designed to result in more walking or rolling, biking, and transit use and less driving, which will help Olympia decrease vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions.
Transportation and climate staff have worked together closely to ensure that the goals and policies in both chapters will be consistent. For example, transportation staff have updated the vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas reduction goals in the Transportation chapter to reflect the Youth Climate Inheritance Resolution of becoming a net-zero emissions city by 2040.
Equity Analysis:
The transportation system we have inherited makes it difficult for people to get their needs met without having to own a vehicle. Also, because many of the costs of owning a vehicle are fixed, lower-income people pay a much higher percentage of their incomes to own and maintain one.
For the people in Olympia with disabilities that prevent them from driving, investing in sidewalks, crosswalks, curb ramps, and bike infrastructure is vital to helping them get to transit or their destinations.
Additionally, the focus in the plan on rebalancing the transportation system to make it easier for people to walk, roll, bike, and ride transit relative to driving will make the transportation system more equitable than it currently is.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Members of the community have consistently said in a variety of public outreach methods over several years that they want to live in a city in which it is easier to walk or roll, bike, or take transit. The Transportation chapter reflects this vision.
Options:
1. Move to approve a Resolution accepting the Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan.
2. Accept the Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan, with specific modifications.
3. Do not accept the Transportation chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and direct staff to make specific changes to it for reconsideration at a future date.
Financial Impact:
A $175,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce is helping to fund this work, including the traffic modeling for this chapter. Annual department budgets cover the staff time that has gone toward the majority of this work.
Attachments:
Resolution
Proposed chapter - tracked changes
Proposed chapter - clean
List of changes made to each draft
Summary of outreach - first draft
Summary of outreach - second draft
Social Justice and Equity Commission recommendation
Planning Commission recommendation
Staff response to Planning Commission
TRPC provisional certification letter
Engage Olympia webpage link
Presentation