First Draft Economic Development Element

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.

PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW SCHEDULE

June 28	Staff provided a briefing on the draft Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan. The Planning Commission can submit questions and comments July 12 and the group can consider them at the next meeting.
July 19	Comments on the initial draft Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan are due. The Planning Commission will consider proposed amendments at the next meeting.
July 26	Review of initial Planning Commission comments received during the comment period. The Planning Commission can address specific wording changes proposed in the written comments. Changes made during this meeting will result in the second draft of the Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan.
August 23	Comments on the second drafts are due. These comments will be the basis of the final discussion of the Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan at the September meeting. To the extent possible, please make sure to provide all questions and comments by August 23 so the whole Planning Commission will have the opportunity to consider each comment in advance of the September meeting. Submitting all comments by the August 23^rd deadline will ensure that the Planning Commission can complete its final round of review in September.
September 27	The Planning Commission considers the comments submitted during the comment period. After resolving the comments, the Planning Commission can complete this round of review and the draft Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan will be considered the public hearing draft.
Remaining Review	Once the Planning Commission has arrived at a public hearing draft of the Economic Development Element and Implementation Plan, there will be more rounds of review: The City will hold a Comprehensive Plan update open house to gather public input. After the open house, the Planning Commission will have a Comprehensive Plan update “tune up” meeting to respond to public input gathered. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the Comprehensive Plan update to gather additional public input. The Planning Commission can respond to input from the public hearing by amending the drafts prior to making a recommendation to the City Council.