Title
Olympia 2045, Updating the Goals and Policies for Capital Facilities - Briefing
Recommended Action
Information only. No action requested.
Report
Issue:
Discussion on the draft revisions to the goals and policies for capital facilities in the Comprehensive Plan Update, known as Olympia 2045.
Staff Contact:
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner, Community Planning & Development, 360.570.3722
Presenter(s):
Joyce Phillips, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
The Comprehensive Plan exists in two volumes. Volume 1 of the Plan includes the main chapters of the plan, including Land Use, Transportation, Utilities, Economy, and Parks Arts and Recreation among others. There is a half-page chapter titled “Capital Facilities Plan” that essentially directs the reader to Volume 2, which is the Capital Facilities Plan that is updated each year as part of the capital budgeting process.
Volume 2, or the Capital Facilities Plan (CFP), includes information about proposed capital facilities projects, including estimated costs, how they will be paid for, and when they are likely to occur. Some projects take multiple years of funding before they can be physically constructed. By statute, the CFP focuses on the first six years. The Introduction section of the CFP includes the goals and policies related to capital facilities. These goals and policies have not been updated since the plan went through its previous major update, which was adopted in December of 2014.
A small team of City staff worked to review and propose updates to the goals and policies. These proposed revisions were then shared with the city’s staff team working on the Comprehensive Plan update. It was then shared with recognized neighborhoods, interested parties, adjacent jurisdictions and agencies, and the public. A 30 day comment period was provided, with a commitment to consider all comments received by October 24th in revisions proposed prior to the public hearing.
Climate Analysis:
The wide variety of projects included in CFPs, over a number of years, can make it challenging to assess changes to emissions. Overall, the projects proposed help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by addressing energy use in city-owned buildings, transportation projects that also benefit bicyclists and pedestrians, and projects designed to increase capacity and efficiency or our drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems.
By continuing to serve our community members, as well as accommodating new growth, within the existing City limits and urban growth areas, we are working to create a compact and urban community. This helps us reduce emissions from the transportation sector by promoting active forms of transportation and providing for shorter trips required in order to meet our daily needs. It allows for the delivery of drinking water, sanitary sewer, and stormwater treatment facilities in a contained,
compact area which is more efficient and costs less to serve than it would otherwise.
The CFP supports the following portions of the Climate Mitigation Plan:
• Reduce energy use in existing buildings.
• Reduce energy use in new construction or redevelopment. The new maintenance facility for Waste ReSources will meet or exceed current energy efficiency requirements.
• Helps implement land use policies that increase urban density and reduce urban sprawl. Compact, walkable communities help increase urban density and reduce sprawl. The CFP includes several transportation projects that support compact environments for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Increase the efficiency of the transportation system. The variety of multimodal transportation improvements in the CFP aim to provide greater mobility options and consider people trips rather than volume to capacity ratios for automobiles. This considers efficiency of the whole system. It also supports the related strategy of increasing the use of active forms of travel, such as walking and biking.
• Increase the use of public transit. Sidewalks, bicycle lanes, safety improvements and streetlights all support greater use of public transit.
• Increase the efficiency of water and wastewater infrastructure. The CFP includes replacement of aging and small diameter pipes and projects that address seismic issues.
• Divert more solid waste from landfills. The new Waste ReSources facility will help the city capture more recyclable materials that would otherwise go to the landfill.
While not every project will directly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, by providing the infrastructure and services necessary to support our existing community and anticipated growth within the growth boundary, we can serve a greater number of people efficiently and compactly, while also providing parks, open spaces, and fire protection.
Equity Analysis:
Equity is considered as the Comprehensive Plan chapters are being updated and in the master plans the capital projects generally come from are developed. In addition, equity issues are considered during budgeting decision making. The City strives to balance equity in its capital projects by including projects in various parts of the City, across multiple types of projects (transportation, parks, drinking water, etc.), and by improving accessibility in City facilities (ADA Transition Plan for accessibility). This work is done within the constraints of the funding sources and the limitations associated with many of them.
Some of the high level data that is considered is that in Olympia, roughly 37% of all households are cost burdened, with almost half of those households being severely cost-burdened. BIPOC members of our community are more likely to be cost-burdened than others. Approximately 42% of Olympians have a household income of less than $50,000. Approximately 15% of our population live in poverty. In 2021, 13.5% of people in Olympia have a disability, up from 12.9% in 2016. Additionally, obesity rates have been rising in children and adults in Washington State.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
The draft revisions were routed to all Recognized Neighborhood Associations and emailed to all “parties of record” for the Olympia 2045 planning project. To date, no comments have been received that are specific to these goals and policies.
Options:
1. Receive the briefing.
2. Do not receive the briefing.
3. Receive the briefing at a later date.
Financial Impact:
The Comprehensive Plan Update, which includes the review and updating of the goals and policies for the Capital Facilities chapter of the plan, is being funded, in part, by a $175,000 grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce.
Attachments:
Draft Goals and Policies
Engage Olympia Webpage