Title
Olympia 2045 - Updating the Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan Recommendation
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Move to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed changes to the Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and forward to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and forward to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
Report
Issue:
Whether to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and forward to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
Staff Contact:
Joyce Phillips, Planning Manager, Community Planning and Economic Development, 360.570.3722
Casey Schaufler, Associate Planner, Community Planning and Economic Development, 360.753.8254
Presenter(s):
Casey Schaufler, Associate Planner
Background and Analysis:
The City of Olympia is required to update its Comprehensive Plan at least once every 10 years, to meet new Growth Management Act (GMA) requirements, to extend the planning timeline, and to plan for additional population and employment growth. The GMA includes a list of required “elements” or chapters of the Plan but does allow local government to include additional or “optional elements” as well.
Olympia’s Plan includes optional elements, such as Public Participation and Partners, Natural Environment, Public Safety, and Community Values and Vision chapters.
Comprehensive Plans are designed to achieve the vision for what a community will be like in the future. Olympia’s vision is developed based on the identified community values for certain topics, then the vision for what our community can be based on those shared values. These statements are then expressed at the beginning of every chapter.
These values and vision statements are developed or revised as each chapter goes through its development, public review, and adoption process. Now that each draft chapter is available, the full Community Values and Vision chapter can be reviewed.
This chapter immediately follows the Introduction chapter of the Plan. It begins with our community’s Land Acknowledgement, a powerful statement acknowledging that the land where Olympia now sits is within the traditional lands of the Steh-Chass band of indigenous people of the Squaxin Island Tribe, who were removed from their land for the settlement that became Olympia. This section is proposed to be expanded, to recognize the Accord between the City of Olympia and the Squaxin Island Tribe and our shared commitment to long term actions, through understanding and mutual
respect, to work cooperatively and collaboratively. In this draft, words of welcome are provided by the Tribe.
This section also acknowledges that Olympia has a history that includes racial inequality, specifically against Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and the Chinese community specifically. The section ends with a commitment to do and be better. It states:
These institutional and systemic barriers are still prevalent and have resulted in a lack of equitable access to resources and opportunities. We are dedicated to rebuilding trust through reconciliation and making ongoing efforts to remove these barriers.
The chapter also includes the City’s values and vision statements around issues of equity. As a result, equity is addressed in every chapter of the Plan.
And finally, the values and vision statements for the subsequent chapters within the Plan are included. These are embedded in each chapter but are consolidated and provided upfront and early in the Plan, to provide the reader with an overall sense of our community’s shared values and our vision for the future based on those values.
Planning Commission
The Olympia Planning Commission (OPC) received a briefing on the chapter on June 2, 2025. A public hearing and deliberations were subsequently held on June 16, 2025. The voted to recommend adoption of the chapter with revisions that emphasizes “meaningful” engagement over frequency of engagement. This is in consideration of community burnout as well as acknowledgement that marginalized communities have less opportunity to participate.
Social Justice and Equity Commission
Due to scheduling constraints, staff will not be able to present this chapter and seek input from the Social Justice and Equity Commission until its meeting in July. However, staff should have the comment letter from the Commission in time to share it with City Council prior to further consideration or decision-making.
Climate Analysis:
Staff are using the Climate Framework as each chapter is developed to help ensure both the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and being prepared for the impacts of climate change are addressed. With this update, the new planning requirements for addressing climate will be included in the new Climate Action and Resilience chapter, with goals and policies specific to climate being incorporated into almost all Plan chapters. As a result, values and vision statements specific to climate are proposed to be added to this chapter.
Equity Analysis:
Equity was added to the Community Values and Vision chapter of the Comprehensive Plan in 2021, at the request of the City Council. The City is committed to addressing equity throughout the update process and in the Comprehensive Plan itself.
As each chapter is being updated, staff are using the Equity Framework to strengthen our approaches to equity for the update process overall and for the chapter.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Community input has shaped revisions to the community values and vision statements, and to develop them for the two new chapters. This began with the survey comments we received at the beginning of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan update process, and continued as each chapter went through its own public process.
Financial Impact:
This work is being funded, in part, by a $175,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce.
Options:
1. Move to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and forward to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
2. Move to accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan, with specific modifications, and forward to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
3. Do not accept the Planning Commission recommendation to approve the proposed Community Values and Vision Chapter of the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan and do not forward it to a City Council Study Session for discussion.
Attachments:
Draft Chapter
Planning Commission Recommendation
Project Webpage
Public Comment