Title
Update on Olympia’s Action Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Planning Commission is currently reviewing the Draft Action Plan for a recommendation as to consistency with the Olympia Comprehensive Plan.
City Manager Recommendation:
Recommend the City Council direct staff to accept the Draft Action Plan (Attachment 1) pending the Planning Commission’s recommendation, and direct staff to continue its implementation.
Report
Issue:
Whether to accept the Draft Action Plan and direct staff to continue its implementation.
Staff Contact:
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director, Community Planning and Development (CPD), 360.753.8206
Presenter(s):
Leonard Bauer, Deputy Director
Background and Analysis:
In 2014, Olympia adopted a new Comprehensive Plan with updated goals and policies that reflects our community’s vision. Early in that planning process, the City Council identified a vital next step: Ensure the goals and policies become reality and have real “on the ground” impact by creating an Implementation Strategy or Action Plan with performance measures. The Comprehensive Plan’s direction for the Action Plan is included in Attachment 2. Attachment 3 is an updated summary of the vision and goals of the Comprehensive Plan, organized into five Action Areas, with desired outcomes within each Action Area.
In November 2013, the Council Land Use and Environment Committee (LUEC) provided staff with direction to begin work on an Action Plan. An interdepartmental staff team was formed to take what was learned during the Comprehensive Plan update process, Imagine Olympia, and develop a draft Action Plan.
A Draft Action Plan was released in April 2015 and was the subject of an extensive public comment process. Feedback addressed the Action Areas, specific actions, and indicators intended to measure progress toward the Comprehensive Plan’s vision and goals. A summary of the major themes from the public comments - and how the new Draft Action Plan Team responds to those comments - are included in Attachment 4.
Responding to the public comments involved a major adjustment to the approach to the Action Plan. It has resulted in a web-based Action Plan, rather than a static document. This will provide more convenient public access, and more timely updates. It also provides for a more graphic display of the actions and strategies, and how they connect to the overall goals from the Comprehensive Plan. These graphic displays are called Results Maps.
The Draft Action Plan also defines the community indicators that will track progress toward the Comprehensive Plan goals. Baseline data is included for the indicators where available. Additional work will be needed to develop and maintain data for all indicators.
In the future, data for each community indicator will be presented in an annual report to the community. That report will then be used to update the Action Plan annually (see a suggested schedule in Attachment 5). The Draft Action Plan also includes a list of long-term actions that could be considered for addition to the Action Plan during these annual updates.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
The Action Plan is a document that will have community-wide impacts.
Options:
1. Recommend the City Council accept the Draft Action Plan (Attachment 1) to City Council pending the Planning Commission’s recommendation, and direct staff to continue its implementation.
2. Direct staff to work on specific amendments to the Draft Action Plan and bring back to the Committee for additional consideration.
Financial Impact:
None; this work item is already budgeted for 2016. Individual actions within the Action Plan may require additional resources to implement.
Attachments:
Hyperlink to Draft Action Plan
Comprehensive Plan Direction for Action Plan
Comprehensive Plan Summary
2015 Draft Action Plan Public Comment Summary
Action Plan Annual Update Cycle