Title
Status Report - Potential Code Amendments to Implement Olympia's Updated Comprehensive Plan
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
No prior committee action.
City Manager Recommendation:
No action required; briefing only.
Report
Issue:
In 2014, while the City Council was holding hearings and deliberating regarding the Comprehensive Plan update approved by the Council in December, the City staff was working with the Planning Commission to identify and bring forward a variety of development code amendments to implement the updated Plan. The Commission's recommendations on many of these topics will reach the Council in 2015. This briefing will provide the Committee with a status report regarding this set of amendments in preparation for individualized consideration by the full Council.
Staff Contact:
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner, Community Planning and Development Department, 360.753.8597
Presenter:
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
Development regulations are one of the primary means by which the City of Olympia ensures that both private and public activities are consistent with the Olympia Comprehensive Plan. The city's development regulations are required by the state Growth Management Act (GMA) to be consistent with the Comprehensive Plan. Revisions to the city's development regulations deemed necessary to maintain consistency with the Comprehensive Plan are required by the GMA to be adopted no later than June 30, 2016.
Following the Planning Commission's recommendation of an updated Comprehensive Plan, the Commission began reviewing potential amendments to development regulations that may flow from the updated Plan. These development regulations fall into two categories:
1. A set of ten amendments to bring forward soon after adoption of the Comprehensive Plan, including five that staff recommend as necessary to maintain consistency with the updated Plan.
2. Amendments called for in the Comprehensive Plan, to be prioritized in the Action Plan (aka Comprehensive Plan Implementation Strategy) now being developed.
Included in the first set are changes in the City's rezone criteria, refinement of codes related to multi-family housing and commercial development along public streets, and rezones of the Capitol Campus and LOTT wastewater treatment plan. Some of these proposals have already been presented to the Planning Commission for public hearings and recommendations to the Council, while others are scheduled to be considered by the Commission in 2015. The attached document summarizes the status of all amendments in this first set. City staff will present more details at the Committee meeting.
The second set of potential code amendments is more extensive, and will be discussed during the public process of creating the Action Plan for implementing the Comprehensive Plan. Among these items are:
· A review of open space and tree canopy regulations
· Refinement of codes related to industry and home-based businesses
· An update of scenic view regulations
· Review of the City's design requirements
· Evaluation of locally-significant wildlife habitat
· A review of 'in-fill' standards, such as provisions for group homes and accessory dwelling units, neighborhood centers, and 'clustering' of housing
and many others.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Individual code amendments have received a variety of public interest.
Options:
Not applicable; no action required.
Financial Impact:
Included in base budget.