Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review

A Community Open House has been scheduled for May 1, 2024 from 6:00-8:00pm at the Mercer Island Community and Events Center. This will be an opportunity to preview the draft amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and provide feedback to the City. Members of the Planning Commission as well as City staff and consultants will be in attendance to provide information on the work done to-date, the draft Comprehensive Plan elements and proposed substantial changes to the plan. Those in attendance will have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss topics of interest and provide feedback.

The Planning Commission has prepared a draft Housing Element for public review. The draft is available here. Included with the draft Housing Element are some proposed amendments to the Land Use Element (document available here).

Comments on the draft can be emailed to compplanupdate@mercerisland.gov. The public will also have the opportunity to provide input on the draft Housing Element during a Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review Community Workshop currently planned for May 1, 2024. Other questions and comments can be sent to Adam Zack, Senior Planner at adam.zack@mercerisland.gov.

Housing Element Project History

• The WA State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires the City of Mercer Island to periodically review its Comprehensive Plan and make any necessary amendments by December 31, 2024;
• In 2021, the WA State Legislature enacted House Bill (HB) 1220, which amended the GMA requirements for locally adopted Housing Elements;
• In June 2021, King County prepared the Urban Growth Capacity (UGC) Report, which included a Land Capacity Analysis (LCA) for Mercer Island;
• The City Council set a scope of work for the Comprehensive Plan periodic review in 2022 with Resolution 1621;
• The adopted scope of work included the creation of the Housing Work Group (HWG) to prepare an updated draft of the Housing Element. The HWG is composed of three city council members (Wendy Weiker, Craig Reynolds, Salim Nice) and two planning commissioners (Kate Akyuz, Carolyn Boatsman);
• The HWG was put on hold in November 2022 in anticipation of major changes prompted by HB 1220;
• Between May and August 2023, the WA Department of Commerce (Commerce) issued guidance for updating housing elements to comply with HB 1220. The Commerce guidance required additional steps not included in the City’s original scope of work;
• The City Council updated this scope of work to add tasks for the Housing Element update in the summer of 2023 with Resolution 1646;
• In August 2023, King County adopted Ordinance 19660, which amended the Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs) to establish housing needs for all of its cities as required by HB 1220. The CPPs set the number of moderate, low, very low, and extremely low-income housing units needed in each city throughout the county;
• In accordance with the updated scope of work and the Commerce guidance, staff produced a Land Capacity Analysis (LCA) Supplement and a Racially Disparate Impacts (RDI) Evaluation and provided findings to the City Council with Agenda Bill (AB) 6385;
• On January 16, 2024, the City Council approved two motions providing guidance to the Housing Work Group (HWG) on how to proceed with updating the Housing Element in light of the findings of the LCA Supplement and RDI Evaluation (AB 6393);
• Between January and March 14, the HWG met to formulate and refine a draft of the Housing Element and the corresponding amendments to related policies in the Land Use Element;
• The draft Housing Element was drafted to address a number of requirements from state law, regional planning requirements, and King County Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs);
• On March 14, the HWG voted unanimously to recommend the HWG draft Housing Element and Land Use Element consistency amendments to the Planning Commission (PC); and
• The Planning Commission reviewed the HWG draft of the Housing Element from March 20 to 27 (3/20 meeting recording, 3/27 meeting recording).

Update: The Multi-family Housing Survey is now closed.  The survey results have been added to the Document Library.

The City is conducting public outreach to multi-family households on Mercer Island through a short survey to learn more about the reasons people choose to live here as well as reasons people may choose to move away in the future. A postcard promoting this survey was recently mailed to all multi-family households located in the Town Center and multi-family areas of Mercer Island.

Recent state legislation (HB 1220) requires a substantial review and update of the Housing Element as a part of the current periodic update to the Comprehensive Plan, including the addition of focused strategies to plan for affordable housing. The scope of work for the periodic update, adopted by the City Council in 2021 (Resolution No. 1621), includes targeted outreach to renter households. In addition, the Racially Disparate Impacts Evaluation completed by the City last month identified that households in portions of the Town Center and Multi-family housing areas are at a higher risk of displacement. That is, these households have a higher risk of being "forced or pressured to move from their community by factors outside of their control". Thus, the City is seeking input from these households on their experience in attaining housing and living in Mercer Island, and the factors that could cause them to move in the future.

If you are a renter or resident of an apartment, condo, townhome, duplex or ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit)/Backyard Cottage, we encourage you to complete the survey. If you have questions about this survey or the process, please contact us at Comp.Plan@mercerisland.gov.

The Parks and Recreation Commission and Planning Commission will hold a joint work session to review the draft Parks Zone on February 8 at 6:00pm.

The public can participate by watching the meeting live via Zoom or by signing up to speak during the appearances portion of the meeting (more info here). The recording can also be viewed at a later time on the City's YouTube channel.

The original scope of work for the Periodic Update of the Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the City Council in March 2022, includes the creation of a new Parks Zone. City staff have developed initial drafts of an updated land use map, zoning map and development regulations for the new zone. The Parks and Recreation Commission will provide input to the Planning Commission on the new zone at the January 4, 2024 meeting (agenda packet). The Planning Commission will begin review of the Parks Zone January 24, 2024, and will include a recommendation on amendments to the land use map, zoning map and development regulations with their recommendation to City Council for the Periodic Update of the Comprehensive Plan.

In July 2023, the City Council approved a supplemental scope of work for the 2024 Comprehensive Plan periodic update. This supplemental scope is responsive to House Bill 1220, enacted in 2021 and the subsequent implementation guidance provided by the Washington State Department of Commerce in 2023. Following the Commerce Guidance, City staff have prepared:

(1) a Supplemental Land Capacity Analysis (LCA) to determine additional capacity needed accommodate the City’s allocation of affordable housing need; and

(2) a Racially Disparate Impacts (RDI) Evaluation, including an analysis of demographic data and a review of all current (2016) Comprehensive Plan goals and policies related to housing.

These two reports will be presented to the City Council as AB 6385 at the January 2, 2024 meeting. Similar to the Economic Development Report and Housing Needs Assessment presented to City Council in September 2022, formal action is not required on the reports themselves. However, staff is planning to return to City Council at the January 16, 2024 meeting to request direction on how to resolve the 143 residential unit capacity gap identified in the LCA to meet the City’s affordable housing need allocations. Once direction is received from City Council, the Housing Work Group will be reconvened in late January to begin work on the new Housing Element.

On October 25, 2023, the Planning Commission completed their initial review of the Economic Development Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The resulting draft is now available for public review. Proposed amendments to the Economic Development Element are shown in strikeout/underline format. Text that is proposed to be deleted is struck out and new text is underlined. An example is provided below.

Original Text: The Economic Development Element is one piece of the Comprehensive Plan.

Strikeout/Underline: The Economic Development Element is one piece the fifth element of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan.

Clean Amended Text: The Economic Development Element is the fifth element of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan.

The public review draft of the Utilities Element is available here.

Members of the public may submit written comments or questions on the Economic Development Element to comp.plan@mercerisland.gov.

Please note that the Planning Commission will have several additional rounds of review of the element later in the update process, as outlined under the next steps below.

1. There might be additional changes to the Economic Development Element for the Planning Commission to consider during the Comprehensive Plan update. These additional changes would be related to ensuring consistency with the other elements of the Comprehensive Plan. Discussion of these possible amendments will take place when the Planning Commission takes up these topics later during the update process.
2. Spring 2024 – A Community Open House will be held to gather public input on the overall comprehensive plan update. Following the Open House, the Planning Commission will have the opportunity for another “touch” on the Economic Development Element during a comprehensive plan update “tune up” meeting.
3. Early Summer 2024 - After the “tune up” meeting, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the overall comprehensive plan update. This will include a review of the Economic Development Element before making a recommendation to the City Council.

The first draft of the Economic Development Element of the Comprehensive Plan is now available for comment. A June 28 staff memo, which includes the first draft can be found here. The staff memo includes information on how the first draft was prepared and where to find additional information.

If you have comments on the first draft, please submit them to comp.plan@mercerisland.gov by July 19, 2023. The Planning Commission will review the draft and comments at their meeting scheduled for July 26, 2023.

The Planning Commission was briefed on the first draft of the element at their meeting on June 28, 2023. There will be several steps to the Planning Commission review, as outlined in the table below.

On January 25, 2023, the Planning Commission completed their initial review of the Utilities Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The resulting draft is now available for public review. Proposed amendments to the Utilities Element at shown in strikeout/underline format. Text that is proposed to be deleted is struck out and new text is underlined. An example is provided below.

Original Text: The Utilities Element is one piece of the Comprehensive Plan.

Strikeout/Underline: The Utilities Element is one piece the fifth element of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan.

Clean Amended Text: The Utilities Element is the fifth element of the Mercer island Comprehensive Plan.

Elsewhere in the draft Utilities Element there are places where additional edits are expected when either new data are available, or another planning document is finished. These are noted in the attached draft with bold text and green highlighting. The note text will be deleted before the final draft.

The public review draft of the Utilities Element is available at the following link: https://letstalk.mercergov.org/14217/widgets/44620/documents/39111

Members of the public may submit written comments or questions on the Utilities Element to comp.plan@mercerisland.gov.

Please note that the Planning Commission will have several additional rounds of review of the element later in the update process, as outlined under the next steps below.

1. There might be additional changes to the Utilities Element for the Planning Commission to consider during the Comprehensive Plan update. These additional changes would be in response to the Climate Action Plan and other planning efforts. Discussion of these possible amendments will take place when the Planning Commission takes up these topics later during the update process.

1. Summer 2023 – A Community Open House will be held to gather public input on the overall comprehensive plan update. Following the Open House, the Planning Commission will have the opportunity for another “touch” on the Utilities Element during a comprehensive plan update “tune up” meeting.
2. Fall 2023 - After the “tune up” meeting, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the overall comprehensive plan update. This will include a review of the Utilities Element before making a recommendation to the City Council.

On January 25, 2023, the Planning Commission completed their initial review of the Capital Facilities Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The resulting draft is now available for public review. Proposed amendments to the Capital Facilities Element at shown in strikeout/underline format. Text that is proposed to be deleted is struck out and new text is underlined. An example is provided below.

Original Text: The Capital Facilities Element is one piece of the Comprehensive Plan.

Strikeout/Underline: The Capital Facilities Element is one piece the sixth element of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan.

Clean Amended Text: The Capital Facilities Element is the sixth element of the Mercer island Comprehensive Plan.

Elsewhere in the draft Capital Facilities Element there are places where additional edits are expected when either new data are available, or another planning document is finished. These are noted in the attached draft with bold text and green highlighting. The note text will be deleted before the final draft.

The public review draft of the Capital Facilities Element is available at the following link: https://letstalk.mercergov.org/14217/widgets/44620/documents/39112

Members of the public may submit written comments or questions on the Capital Facilities Element to comp.plan@mercerisland.gov.

Please note that the Planning Commission will have several additional rounds of review of the element later in the update process, as outlined under the next steps below.

1. There might be additional changes to the Capital Facilities Element for the Planning Commission to consider during the Comprehensive Plan update. These additional changes would be in response to the Climate Action Plan and other planning efforts. Discussion of these possible amendments will take place when the Planning Commission takes up these topics later during the update process.

1. Summer 2023 – A Community Open House will be held to gather public input on the overall comprehensive plan update. Following the Open House, the Planning Commission will have the opportunity for another “touch” on the Capital Facilities Element during a comprehensive plan update “tune up” meeting.
2. Fall 2023 - After the “tune up” meeting, the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the overall comprehensive plan update. This will include a review of the Capital Facilities Element before making a recommendation to the City Council.