Title
Briefing on the Preliminary 2027 - 2032 Capital Facilities Plan (CFP) and approving a method of review
Recommended Action
Receive the briefing and discuss an approach for reviewing the Preliminary 2027 - 2032 CFP
Report
Issue:
Whether to review the CFP following a similar process as in previous years or take a different approach
Staff Contact:
Michelle Swanson, AICP, Principal 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.
One possible approach to consider would be a “red flag” review, in which the Committee reviews the CFP to see if it has any major concerns about the projects that it would like to raise with the City Council. If so, the BPAC may write a comment letter about those concerns. If not, the BPAC may choose not to write a letter.
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.
City staff also publish a flyer that explains in plain language what’s in the transportation chapter of the CFP. We will share that with the Committee as well.
Options:
1. Receive the briefing and decide how to review the CFP.
2. Receive the briefing only and not decide how to review the CFP. By default, this means the BPAC will not be forming a subcommittee to review it in greater depth.
Financial Impact:
The letter will have no direct financial impact.
Attachments:
None