Title
Action Plan Update
Recommended Action
City Manager Recommendation:
Receive and discuss a briefing on the status of the Action Plan.
Report
Issue:
Staff will provide the Land Use and Environment Committee with a status report on development of Olympia’s first Action Plan, including the public involvement process and the project timeline.
Presenter(s):
Stacey Ray, Senior Planner, Community Planning & Development, 360.753-8046
Background and Analysis:
Olympia has a new Comprehensive Plan with a clear vision for our community’s future. The Action Plan will lay out specifically what we, as a community, will do to accomplish our adopted goals. That may include everything from individual projects, like completion of the Percival Landing rehabilitation, to on-going programs, such as the expansion of a citywide bike corridor network. The Plan will also include community indicators to help us track our progress and share stories of success.
Public Involvement and Communication Strategy
In November 2014, LUEC reviewed and provided staff with direction on a Public Involvement and Communication Strategy. The strategy was developed to achieve:
• Authentic collaboration with community partners and community members;
• Broad-ranging community member involvement; and
• The use of successful tools and techniques from other communities.
The public involvement process is now complete. Attachment 1 highlights the different tools and methods that were planned to be used to encourage community member and partner organization involvement in the Action Plan.
Methods that were effective in garnering participation resulted in community members providing excellent, constructive input and who are enthusiastic about staying engaged in the future implementation of the Plan. Participants in the Action Plan Partner Work Group and the Focus Work Groups have expressed an interest in continuing to stay informed of future opportunities to stay involved.
The table in Attachment 2 highlights when specific events and meetings were held and the number of people who participated. The total is not inclusive of other ways in which staff received input, such as emails, phone calls, and individual meetings.
Not every tool on the original list was used, and some were not as successful as others. For example, we opted not to create a street banner, but are instead developing a Comprehensive Plan Summary handout. We also didn’t receive many responses to our offer to provide presentations or work sessions for community groups, organizations, or agencies.
Project Timeline
While the primary purpose of this update is to provide LUEC an overview of the public involvement process and to share some of the emerging themes and highlights, staff will also share a proposed update to the project timeline.
A new timeline will help provide staff adequate time to review and integrate the public input into a new draft, keep LUEC and Council informed on the development of the Plan, and avoid conflicts with regularly scheduled Council business in the last quarter of the year.