Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review
The WA State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires the City of Mercer Island to periodically review and update its comprehensive plan. The Comprehensive Plan is the City's statement of vision, goals, and policies for managing growth in a twenty-year timeframe. The primary focus of this periodic review is to update the Comprehensive Plan for the period of 2024-2044.
This project website will provide regular updates on the Comprehensive Plan periodic review process.
The WA State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires the City of Mercer Island to periodically review and update its comprehensive plan. The Comprehensive Plan is the City's statement of vision, goals, and policies for managing growth in a twenty-year timeframe. The primary focus of this periodic review is to update the Comprehensive Plan for the period of 2024-2044.
This project website will provide regular updates on the Comprehensive Plan periodic review process.
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Putting the Comprehensive Plan in Context
Share Putting the Comprehensive Plan in Context on Facebook Share Putting the Comprehensive Plan in Context on Twitter Share Putting the Comprehensive Plan in Context on Linkedin Email Putting the Comprehensive Plan in Context linkThe Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan (Plan) is shaped by a combination of state, regional, county, and local contexts. State laws require the City to adopt a comprehensive plan and create the framework within which the Plan must fit. The Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) coordinates planning throughout the central Puget Sound region. King County coordinates planning among cities in the County, ensuring plans are consistent throughout the area. The City of Mercer Island has a long history of planning at the local level; a legacy that shapes the Plan to this day. The state, regional, county, and local contexts influence the Plan in different ways.
Statewide Planning Context
The Washington State Legislature adopted the Growth Management Act (GMA) in 1990. The GMA establishes a requirement that counties and cities adopt comprehensive plans to manage growth. The GMA also includes a timeline for counties and cities to periodically review their comprehensive plans (RCW 36.70A.130). During periodic review, counties and cities must extend the twenty-year planning period in their comprehensive plans. Other GMA requirements establish a statewide framework for counties and cities to plan for managing growth. Some of the key GMA requirements are:
- Consistency with the 14 coequal planning goals established in RCW 36.70A.020 and 36.70A.480(1);
- Comprehensive plans must include land use, housing, utilities, capital facilities, transportation, economic development, and parks and recreation elements (RCW 36.70A.070);
- Plans must designate natural resource lands and critical areas, rural lands, and urban growth areas (UGAs);
- Cities and counties must provide sufficient development capacity to accommodate the projected growth (RCW 36.70A.115);
- Comprehensive Plans must include provisions to ensure that public facilities and infrastructure keep pace with the projected growth;
- Comprehensive plans must be internally consistent, avoiding goals and policies that work at cross-purposes; and
- Comprehensive plans must be externally consistent so that growth assumptions and targets are coordinated between neighboring jurisdictions.
Regional Planning Context
The PSRC is a regional policy body that develops policies and coordinates decisions about regional growth within King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap Counties. The PSRC allocates growth throughout the region through its multicounty planning policies. The multicounty planning policies regarding growth for the next periodic review are established in a regional plan called Vision 2050. The multicounty planning policies in Vision 2050 are one of the principal ways PSRC coordinates planning at the regional level.
Countywide Planning Context
King County coordinates planning throughout the County through Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs). The CPPs establish housing and employment growth targets for the cities within King County. The King County Council updated the CPPs on December 14, 2021, with Ordinance 19384. The updated CPPs established the following growth targets for Mercer Island: 1,239 additional housing units and 1,300 additional jobs by 2044. The 2044 housing growth target did not change from the previous 2035 target. The 2044 employment growth target increased by 140 jobs over the 2035 employment growth target.
In addition to setting growth targets, King County assesses the amount of development capacity for UGAs within its boundaries. The 2044 development capacity for King County UGAs is provided in the 2021 King County Urban Growth Capacity Report (UGC Report), dated June 21, 2021. The UGC Report details how much development is possible in UGAs given current zoning, achieved densities and intensities, existing development, planned development, and environmental constraints. This report is crucial to help King County and its cities understand how much development is possible through the planning period. The CPPs and UGC Report are two important ways King County coordinates assumptions about growth among the cities within its boundaries.
Local Context
The City of Mercer Island has a long history of planning. The City's first comprehensive plan was adopted shortly after the City incorporated in 1960 (Ordinance 14). The City of Mercer Island adopted its first GMA compliant Comprehensive Plan 34 years later in 1994 (Ordinance A-122). The City’s Comprehensive Plan has been amended several times since 1994. The last periodic review of the Plan was completed in 2015. The existing Comprehensive Plan planning period is 2015 to 2035. The next mandated periodic review of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan must be adopted by June 30, 2024 (RCW 36.70A.130). This periodic review will extend the planning period for the Comprehensive Plan through the year 2044. Because the 2044 housing growth target has not changed and the 2044 employment growth target only increased by 140 jobs since the last periodic review, the Plan update is generally expected to require only minor changes to maintain compliance with GMA.
Document Library
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Planning Commission Recommended Drafts and Findings
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_DRAFT_LAND_USE_ELEMENT.pdf (2.35 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_Draft_Housing Element.pdf (2.58 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_Draft_TRANSPORTATION ELEMENT.pdf (2.87 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_DRAFT_UTILITIES_ELEMENT.pdf (1.39 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_DRAFT_CAPITAL_FACILITIES_ELEMENT.pdf (3.59 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_DRAFT_EDE.pdf (1.29 MB) (pdf)
- 2024-06-12_PC_Rec_DRAFT_ParksOpenSpace_Element.pdf (342 KB) (pdf)
- Staff Reports, Agenda Bills, Presentations
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Technical Documents
- Land Capacity Analysis Supplement (3.35 MB) (pdf)
- Racially Disparate Impacts Evaluation (4.15 MB) (pdf)
- Housing Needs Assessment (1.96 MB) (pdf)
- Economic Analysis.pdf (1.06 MB) (pdf)
- Multi-Family Housing Survey Results.pdf (398 KB) (pdf)
- EDE_June-30-Workshop_Summary.pdf (411 KB) (pdf)
- AB 6385 - LCA Supplement and RDI Evaluation
- AB 6393 - LCA Supplement and RDI Evaluation Follow-up
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Public Comments
- Survey_Responses_Report_June30_Aug12_2022.pdf (1.37 MB) (pdf)
- Park Zone Comments
- Public Comments
- Town Center Precedents-1.pdf (1.74 MB) (pdf)
- Parking-Walking-Parking-lane-narrowing-livability.jpg (354 KB) (jpg)
- Outdoor seating area Hvar Croatia.jpg (316 KB) (jpg)
- D91DCC9B-3F08-4950-81CA-477AD83E6BC6.jpeg (84.7 KB) (jpeg)
- Screen Shot 2022-07-13 at 9.00.16 AM.png (4.85 MB) (png)
- Screen Shot 2022-07-14 at 3.07.04 PM.png (4.49 MB) (png)
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- EE58A4C9-7A07-4665-A720-27D831B33206.png (7.7 MB) (png)
- Redmond Town Center.pdf (263 KB) (pdf)
- downtownkirkland.png (807 KB) (png)
- I Village pic.png (2.25 MB) (png)
- 70F298A6-DFAE-424A-8EB4-E42EB32F0E3C.jpeg (51.1 KB) (jpeg)
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- Screenshot 2022-08-03 144316.jpg (396 KB) (jpg)
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Older Materials
- DRAFT EDE Interview Summary Write Up.pdf (1020 KB) (pdf)
- RES No 1621 Approving Scope Schedule and PPP.pdf (596 KB) (pdf)
- Approved Scope of Work and Master Schedule.pdf (364 KB) (pdf)
- Approved Public Participation Plan.pdf (323 KB) (pdf)
- Economic Development Memo W Attachments.pdf (2.95 MB) (pdf)
- Current Comprehensive Plan
- First Draft land Use Element and Memo (2.55 MB) (pdf)
- First Draft Transportation Element and Memo (9.81 MB) (pdf)
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Public Hearing Drafts
- Public_Review_DRAFT_EconomicDevelopmentElement.pdf (563 KB) (pdf)
- 2024-04-17_Public Review_DRAFT_LAND_USE_ELEMENT_w_ Housing_Climate_Parks_edits.pdf (2.96 MB) (pdf)
- TRANSPORTATION ELEMENT Public Review Draft.pdf (3.59 MB) (pdf)
- Public_Review_DRAFT_UTILITIES_ELEMENT.pdf (1.38 MB) (pdf)
- Public_Review_DRAFT_CAPITAL_FACILITIES_ELEMENT.pdf (3.59 MB) (pdf)
- Public_Review_Draft_Housing_Element.pdf (1.29 MB) (pdf)
- Public Review_DRAFT_Parks_Open_Space_Element.pdf (72.1 KB) (pdf)
- Open House Materials
Process
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Project Scoping
Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review has finished this stage- Scope of Work
- Public Participation Plan
- Schedule
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Technical Assessments
Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review has finished this stage- Housing Needs Assessment
- Economic Analysis describing current economic conditions
- Growth projections in the Land Use, Housing, Transportation, Utilities, and Capital Facilities elements
- Transportation, Utilities, and Capital Facilities inventories
- Transportation and Capital Facility level of service (LOS) analyses
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Draft Proposed Amendments
Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review has finished this stage- Minor policy amendments in the Land Use, Transportation, Capital Facilities, and Utilities Elements required by the updated growth projections
- Housing Element goal and policy updates to address needs identified in the Housing Needs Assessment
- Creating an Economic Development Element
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Planning Commission Review and Recommendation
Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review has finished this stage- Review and refine draft amendments
- Hold public hearings
- Make recommendations to the City Council
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City Council Review
Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review is currently at this stage- Consider the Planning Commission recommendation
- Hold public hearings
- Final revisions
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City Council Adoption
this is an upcoming stage for Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review- Final adoption of plan by City Council
Who's Listening
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Senior Planner
AZ