Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review

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.

On November 8, 2022, the Planning Commission completed their initial review of the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The resulting draft is now available for public review. Proposed amendments to the Transportation 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 Transportation Element is one piece of the Comprehensive Plan.

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

Clean Amended Text: The Transportation Element is the second element of the Mercer island Comprehensive Plan.

Elsewhere in the draft Transportation 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 Transportation Element is available at the following link: https://letstalk.mercergov.org/14217/widgets/44620/documents/37320

Members of the public may submit written comments or questions on the Transportation 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 Transportation 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 Transportation 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 Transportation Element before making a recommendation to the City Council.

On November 8, 2022, the Planning Commission completed their initial review of the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The resulting draft is now available for public review. Proposed amendments to the Land Use 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 Land Use Element is one piece of the Comprehensive Plan.

Strikeout/Underline: The Land Use Element is one piece the second element of the Mercer Island Comprehensive Plan.

Clean Amended Text: The Land Use Element is the second element of the Mercer island Comprehensive Plan.

Elsewhere in the draft Land Use 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 Land Use Element is available at the following link: https://letstalk.mercergov.org/14217/widgets/44620/documents/37275

Members of the public may submit written comments or questions on the Land Use 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 Land Use Element for the Planning Commission to consider during the comprehensive plan update. These additional changes would be in response to the Climate Action Plan, the updated Housing Element, and the new Economic Development Element. 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 Land Use 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 Land Use Element before making a recommendation to the City Council.

In a study session on September 6, 2022, consultant Community Attributes presented the findings of the Housing Needs Assessment and the Economic Analysis to the members of the City Council and Planning Commission. These technical analyses will inform the development of the new Economic Development Element and a substantial update to the Housing Element in the coming months.

The economic development survey was available from July 1 through August 5. The survey collected input from over 600 people! A report summarizing the responses will be prepared later this month and provided to the Planning Commission and City Council this fall. Thank you to everyone who took the time to provide this valuable feedback to the City as we continue to work on drafting an economic development element for the Comprehensive Plan. Check this page for more information as the Comprehensive Plan periodic review continues through the process.

On June 30, 2022, the City held an online Economic Development Workshop. The workshop included a staff presentation on the Comprehensive Plan update and Economic Development Element. Participants were asked to provide feedback through polling questions during the presentation. Click here for a PDF of the Slideshow.

If you were unable to attend the workshop you can still provide your input through an online survey available July 1 - 31. The online survey covers the same questions that the poll asked during the workshop, with a few more questions to allow for more detailed feedback.

There will be additional opportunities to participate in the Comprehensive Plan update. You can submit written comments to comp.plan@mercerisland.gov throughout the Comprehensive Plan update. The City will also hold two more community workshops later in the Comprehensive Plan update. Before making a recommendation to the City Council, the Planning Commission will hold public hearings as well.

Please contact Adam Zack, Senior Planner, if you have questions about the Comprehensive Plan update. Adam.zack@mercerisland.gov 206-275-7719.

The City will hold an Economic Development Virtual Community Workshop on June 30 at 6:00 PM.

If you missed the workshop the slideshow and video recording of the workshop are now available!

The Economic Development Virtual Community Workshop is your first opportunity to give the City input on the Economic Development Element of the Comprehensive Plan. The City wants to hear from you on the following topics:

• Your vision for the Mercer Island Economy in the coming years
• The strengths and opportunities to sustainably grow the local economy
• The weaknesses and challenges that could challenge sustainable growth of the local economy

The workshop will include a presentation on what the Economic Development Element is and how adopting this element fits within the larger Comprehensive Plan update.

Login on June 30 at 6:00 PM to find out more and provide your input.

What is the Economic Development Element?

The Economic Development Element will be a new element of the City Comprehensive Plan. It will establish the goals and policies to guide City program, budget, and capital improvement decision making. As an element of the Comprehensive Plan, the Economic Development Element will be linked with the other elements. All Comprehensive Plan elements must be internally consistent, without different elements working at cross-purposes. As a result, the goals and policies in the Economic Development Element will be considered in concert with the other elements of the Comprehensive Plan. This will coordinate planning and decision making throughout the City, placing economic development on equal footing with other City efforts.

How does the Economic Development work?

The Economic Development Element guides decision making with a vision, goals, and policies. A vision is a general statement of where the comprehensive plan ought to guide the City. Goals articulate a desired outcome that will further the vision. Goals are more specific and targeted than a vision. Policies are a general direction that the City sets to follow when taking action to meet its goals. In general, policies describe a high-level approach to achieving a goal. Once a vision, goals, and policies are set, they are implemented through an implementation plan. The implementation plan for the Economic Development Element will include strategies and actions and could eventually be developed into a more detailed strategic plan. Implementation strategies and actions are more specific than policies and typically focus on near-term projects, budget decisions, and programs. Having an Economic Development Element as a foundation for decision making will keep City efforts coordinated and boost efficiency of programs. High-level planning today will improve the functioning of government tomorrow.

On March 15, the City Council approved Resolution 1621, which set the scope of work, master schedule, and public participation plan for the Comprehensive Plan update. This is an important first step for the project. Now that the scope of work and public participation plan have been approved, work may begin on the Comprehensive Plan update.

Read the approved scope of work and master schedule here.

Read the approved public participation plan here.

The next step for this project is a kick off with the Planning Commission at their regular meeting on April 27, 2022, at 6:00 PM. The project kick off will include the selection of commissioners to serve on the Housing and Economic Development Work Groups

Scope of Work and Master Schedule (first draft)

Public Participation Plan (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.

The 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.