City Council Preparing Project Scope and Public Participation Plan

Scope of Work and Master Schedule (first draft)

The City is in the process of preparing a project scope of work and public participation plan for the Comprehensive Plan periodic review. The scope of work establishes what work will be done during the periodic review. Comments on the first draft scope of work, master schedule, and public participation plan are due by the end-of-day on March 1, 2022. Post comments here.

Scope of Work

Staff has prepared the first draft scope of work outlining a focused “surgical” update of the Plan. The concept is to have a narrow scope, primarily limited to only those updates required by state law. As such, the element-specific tasks for the Land Use, Utilities, Capital Facilities, and Transportation Elements are primarily constrained to only those updates required by the GMA and to account for recent planning actions. There are two aspects of the Plan update that will include more extensive goal and policy work beyond the technical updates elsewhere in the Plan. In depth goal and policy review will take place during work on drafting a new Economic Development Element and amendments to housing goals and policies to address the findings in the Housing Needs Assessment.

Master Schedule

Establishing a schedule at the outset of the project will help the City stay on track for adoption by the projected date. Throughout the project, staff will use the schedule to check in on progress toward eventual adoption. This project is expected to take approximately 2 years commencing this spring and concluding with City Council adoption in April 2024 and filing with appropriate agencies in May 2024. Most of 2022 and 2023 will be spent preparing technical analyses and drafting amendments with the Planning Commission culminating in public workshops in the late summer and fall of 2023. The project will then enter the public hearing phase at the end of 2023. The Planning Commission public hearing and deliberations are planned to take approximately 3 months from September to November 2023. The City Council review process will begin after the Planning Commission makes a recommendation. The Council review will include a public hearing and is expected to take roughly 4 months from January to April 2024.

Public Participation Plan

Public participation is a vital aspect of the periodic review process. Public participation improves the planning process by gathering the shared knowledge and experience of the community and fostering public confidence in the proposed Plan amendments. The public participation plan (PPP) details the engagement goals, tasks, phases, and schedule for public participation during the Plan update. The draft PPP is provided in Exhibit 2.

The PPP details the following strategies for engaging the public during the periodic review:

A dedicated public comment email address (comp.plan@mercerisland.gov) for the public to provide written comments throughout the project;
A dedicated project Let’s Talk Page where drafts and written public comments will be posted;
An economic development vision survey to identify high-level themes that the Economic Development Element vision, goals, and policies should address;
An economic development vision community workshop to gather more input on the themes identified in the survey;
An Economic Development Work Group (EDWG) to engage with stakeholders and subject matter experts while refining drafts of the Economic Development Element. The EDWG will be composed of both City Council and Planning Commission members;
A Housing Work Group (HWG) to engage stakeholders and subject matter experts while refining drafts of housing goal and policy amendments. The HWG will be composed of both City Council and Planning Commission members;
An economic development community workshop to receive feedback on the draft Economic Development Element in advance of the Planning Commission public hearing;
An overall Comprehensive Plan Update community workshop to gather public input on the proposed Plan amendments in advance of the Planning Commission public hearing; and,
Public hearings preceding adoption.

Key Dates

February 15 - City Council briefing
February 16 – Planning Commission briefing.
March 1 – Questions, comments and/or requested revisions from City Council and Planning Commission due.
March 15 – City Council considers requested revisions and adopts a resolution approving the scope, master schedule, and public participation plan for completing this periodic update.

Public Comments

Comments on the first draft scope of work, master schedule, and public participation plan are due by March 1, 2022. Please post public comments here.