Title
Briefing on the Preliminary 2026 - 2031 Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) and approving a method of review and comment
Recommended Action
Receive the briefing, discuss an approach for reviewing the Preliminary 2026 - 2031 CFP, and decide on an approach for commenting
Report
Issue:
Whether to provide a comment on the CFP following a similar process as in previous years or take a different approach
Staff Contact:
Michelle Swanson, AICP, Senior Planner, Public Works | Transportation, 360.753.8575
Presenter(s):
Michelle Swanson
Background and Analysis:
Introduction
The Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) is an annually updated document that is used to identify funding for City capital projects on a 6-year horizon, as required by the state Growth Management Act. It also forms the basis of the following year’s Capital Budget.
We expect that the preliminary CFP will be available online in early August.
The evolving role of the CFP for transportation
Before the City had a Transportation Master Plan, the CFP was the main way the City prioritized its transportation projects for design and construction. Since the Transportation Master Plan was adopted in 2021, the CFP’s role has been largely to serve as a document that shows:
• How and when we plan to fund projects. Funding means putting together financing to pay for them.
• How we bundle projects, or how we package them together to get an “economy of scale.” This means putting projects together so we can save money by doing them at the same time.
The BPAC was very closely involved in the development of the Transportation Master Plan, in which projects were identified and prioritized.
The BPAC’s review
In recent years the BPAC has formed a subcommittee to draft a comment letter on the CFP ahead of the September meeting, which the full committee has used as a baseline for its discussion in September. After that meeting, the Chair has synthesized the committee’s discussion and the subcommittee’s letter into a final draft that they have sent to the City Council.
In discussions with your current and previous Chairs, staff has heard consistent feedback that this approach may no longer fit, given the evolving role of the CFP and the impact that the BPAC’s letter may have on each year’s CFP. This is an opportunity for the committee to discuss taking a different approach to its review of the CFP.
When you do review the CFP
The CFP is a big document. To help with your review, City staff will give the BPAC a list of the pages that are most relevant to your work. The staff liaison will email the list to the BPAC when the preliminary CFP is published in early August, so you will have an opportunity to begin your review as soon as possible.
Options:
1. Receive the briefing, discuss an approach for reviewing the CFP, and decide how to comment.
2. Receive the briefing only at this meeting and wait until the September meeting to decide how to comment.
Financial Impact:
The letter will have no direct financial impact.
Attachments:
None