Title
Approval of Annual Comprehensive Plan Amendment Schedule for 2020
Recommended Action
Committee Recommendation:
Not referred to a committee.
City Manager Recommendation:
Move to set November 15, 2019, as the deadline for Preliminary Comprehensive Plan Amendment applications for consideration in 2020 and direct staff to proceed with review schedule generally as outlined.
Report
Issue:
Whether to set November 15, 2019 as the deadline for Preliminary Comprehensive Plan Amendment applications for consideration in 2020.
Staff Contact:
Joyce Phillips, Senior Planner, Community Planning & Development Department, 360.570.3722
Presenter(s):
None - Consent Calendar Item.
Background and Analysis:
Washington's Growth Management Act provides that, with only a few specific exceptions, a city's Comprehensive Plan can be amended only once each year. Accordingly, all proposed amendments are to be collected into one review process. Olympia's code directs that the City Council shall set an annual due date for proposing such amendments. Staff proposes that for 2020 amendments that deadline be 4:00 p.m., Friday, November 15, 2019.
Washington's Growth Management Act provides that a city must review and evaluate its Comprehensive Plan every eight years. Olympia concluded such a 'periodic' review in December 2014. In addition, the Act provides that cities may consider annual Plan amendments. Subject to specific exceptions, the Act provides that any proposed annual amendments must be collected into one annual review with a schedule 'broadly disseminated' to the public. (RCW 36.70A.130)
Chapter 18.59 of the Olympia Municipal Code outlines the Comprehensive Plan Amendment process. Proposed amendments may be submitted at any time. However, so that proposals are collected into an annual set, the code provides that the City Council shall set an annual submittal deadline. This deadline has varied, but most often it has been in the first half of November.
The subsequent...
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