Utilities Element Public Review Draft

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.

2. 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.
3. 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.