The Edmonds Planning Board on Wednesday, Feb. 14 will take a first look at the foundational work for updating the city’s 2024 Comprehensive Plan.

Edmonds is working to identify areas suitable for accommodating anticipated growth to comply with State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) requirements for the Comprehensive Plan’s environmental impact statement (EIS).  The alternatives being presented to the planning board show different ways that the city could meet its forecasted population and employment growth, the meeting’s agenda states.

Also from the agenda:

The EIS identifies environmental conditions, potential impacts of the different growth alternatives, infrastructure investment needs, and measures to reduce or mitigate any significant, unavoidable adverse environmental effects.

SEPA regulations require a “no action” alternative and a minimum of two reasonable alternatives with actions that can feasibly attain or approximate a proposal’s objectives. The alternatives must include sufficiently detailed analysis to enable a comparative evaluation. Two growth alternatives have been developed based on community input and staff analysis, taking into account state and county-recommended methodologies. All three alternatives assume consistent growth with the 2044 Initial Population, Housing, and Employment Growth Targets, developed and adopted by the county in alignment with PSRC’s (Puget Sound Regional Council’s) VISION 2050.

The planning board will consider two memos:

An Existing Conditions Memo that serves as a foundation for analysis, decision-making and planning. The memo includes preliminary findings from the community outreach events held between September and December 2023, along with demographic, economic and spatial data analysis. Additionally, it highlights ongoing or new city initiatives relevant to the Comprehensive Plan, laying the groundwork for the proposed growth alternatives.

A Land Use Capacity Analysis Memo that outlines proposed methods and assumptions for the city’s forthcoming land capacity analysis as part of the Comprehensive Plan update. This method is aligned with state Growth Management Act targets for new jobs and housing, while ensuring compliance with recently adopted state legislation.

The meeting will be in the third-floor Brackett Room, Edmonds City Hall, 121 5th Ave. N., Edmonds. You can also view the meeting remotely here. The meeting ID is 873 2287 2194 and the passcode is 007978.

You can see the complete agenda here.