HomeMy WebLinkAboutWS 2024-05-06 Item - 2023-2024 Tukwila Comprehensive Plan Update: Introduction to Plan Issues, Process and RequirementsTO:
FROM:
BY:
City of Tukwila
Thomas McLeod, Mayor
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
City Council
Nora Gierloff, AICP, Department of Community Development, Director
Nancy Eklund, AICP, Long Range Planning Manager
Neil Tabor, AICP, Senior Planner
CC: Thomas McLeod
DATE: April 30, 2024
SUBJECT: 2023-2024 Tukwila Comprehensive Plan Update — Introduction
ISSUE
This is an introductory presentation about the City's Draft Comprehensive Plan and the regional,
state, and local analysis and requirements that shape its content.
BACKGROUND
The City is completing an update of its Comprehensive Plan, which must be adopted no later
than December 31, 2024. State law requires that Comprehensive Plan amendments occur no
more frequently than once a year. Because of the Council's need to adopt a budget in 2024,
adoption of the Plan is scheduled for late summer so Council can focus on budget issues in the
later months of the year.
DISCUSSION
The Comprehensive Plan Update discussion in Attachment A addresses the requirements that
guide the Plan's development, the format and content changes to the 2015 adopted
Comprehensive Plan and the proposed 2024 Plan, as well as a summary of the public outreach
and Planning Commission review conducted during the planning process since 2022. This
information is provided as a foundation for future discussions with the Council about the Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Consideration of this information will have no financial impact on the City.
RECOMMENDATION
• For Attachment A, staff has no recommendations for action.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - The Tukwila 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update
Attachment B — Presentation on Tukwila Comprehensive Plan Update — Introduction
Attachment A
THE TUKWILA 2024 COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE
The City is completing an update of its Comprehensive Plan, which must be adopted no later than
December 31, 2024. Because the City Council will be focusing on the 2025-2026 budget this year,
staff is aiming to bring the Plan Update to the Council for a September 2024 public hearing.
REGULATORY CONTEXT FOR THE PLAN UPDATE
The Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA) requires certain cities, towns, and counties
to develop comprehensive plans that plan for anticipated population growth in a coordinated and
intentional way, creating both regional and statewide alignment. Comprehensive Planning provides
cities with the opportunity to consider how and where they want to distribute growth,
accommodate new trends, and coordinate municipal and community efforts to adapt to change
over time.
The GMA requires that each jurisdiction periodically update its comprehensive plan and associated
development regulations. The review includes analysis of how the City will plan for population
growth expected over the next 20 years. An update needs to: address current state laws identified in
the Washington Department of Commerce guidance and Periodic Review Checklist; align with the
Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2050 and Regional Growth Strategy; respond to the King
County Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs); and address planning issues identified as locally
important. The Plan is also guided by analysis used to determine the anticipated growth in the
Puget Sound area, and where and how this new population could be allocated among area
communities (2021 King County Urban Growth Capacity Report).
The City has received two grants from the Washington Department of Commerce to provide primary
funding for the development of the periodic update.
The Existing2015 Comprehensive Plan
The City's first Comprehensive Plan under GMA was adopted in 1995. The Plan has been kept
current with specific annual updates, as well as through a more comprehensive review in 2004 and
in a phased review from 2011 through 2015.
The City's current Comprehensive Plan includes 15 "elements" (i.e., chapters). GMA requires Plans
to include seven mandatory elements: Land Use, Housing, Capital Facilities, Utilities,
Transportation, Economic Development, and Parks, Recreation, and Open Space. Tukwila has not
had a standalone Land Use element but the 2015 Plan and previous plans put land use information
in several different elements.
The 2015 Plan also has several optional elements, including two elements addressing the City's two
regional growth centers (Southcenter —Tukwila's Urban Center, and the Manufacturing /Industrial
Center), two subareas (Tukwila International Boulevard District and Tukwila South), and five
optional elements (Community Image and Identity, Natural Environment, Shoreline, Residential
Neighborhoods, and Roles and Responsibilities). Information, goals, and policies for the Natural
Environment and the City's Shoreline' area are required to be addressed in GMA plans, and many
jurisdictions include that information in their Land Use elements.
In Tukwila's Plan, each topical element includes a background report which summarizes and
analyses existing conditions, the element itself which summarizes the background information and
provides goals and policies and implementation strategies. As a printed document, the 2015 Plan is
a substantial 320 pages in length, not including the individual background reports that range in size
from 10 pages to more than 300 pages.
In addition, the Plan's goals and policies are, in part, implemented through development
regulations and standards that will need to be updated. Recent changes in state law require many
regulations to be adopted no later than June 1, 2025, if not sooner.
Amendments Proposed for the 2024 Plan
Format Changes
To comply with regulatory requirements, streamline the plan to enhance readability, and create
intuitive groupings of goals and policies, the 2015 element structure has been changed. Some
elements have been consolidated and collapsed into one element and other elements have been
renamed, refocused, or removed. Changes have been made to eliminate redundancy between
elements, although many of the goals and policies have been moved into new elements without
changes, or with only minor revisions. A full overview of element changes is provided in Table 1.
The final plan will include several other changes, including an index and standalone booklet of the
Goals and Policies and Implementation strategies. These enhancements will help the reader
navigate the Plan more easily, and will enable elected and appointed officials, City staff, and the
public better identify the City's approved policy guidance, and the strategies to be implemented to
realize that vision.
Table 1
2015 Plan Elements
Action
2024 Plan Elements
Community Image and Identity
Consolidated into Community
Character
Community Character (Renamed)
Economic Development
Retained
Economic Development
Housing
Retained
Housing
Natural Environment
Retained
Natural Environment
Shoreline
Retained
Shoreline
Parks, Recreation and Open
Space
Retained
Parks, Recreation and Open Space
1 The Shoreline Element and its Goals and Policies are governed by the Washington Department of Ecology,
which has responsibility for the Shoreline Management Act in Washington state. The process required for
updating that element is overseen by Ecology and was not initiated as a part of the update of the
Comprehensive Plan. The City will be required to update its Shoreline regulations in the next few years.
2015 Plan Elements
Action
2024 Plan Elements
Residential Neighborhoods
Consolidated into Housing
--
Tukwila International Boulevard
District
Consolidated into Land Use
Element
Land Use Element (New)
Tukwila South
Consolidated into Land Use
Element
Southcenter- Tukwila's Urban
Center
Consolidated into Regional
Centers Element
Regional Growth Centers (New)
Manufacturing/Industrial
Center
Consolidated into Regional
Centers Element
Utilities
Retained
Utilities
Transportation
Retained
Transportation
Capital Facilities
Retained
Capital Facilities
Roles and Responsibilities
Consolidated into Community
Character Element
--
Content Changes
The 2024 update integrates state, regional, and county requirements with community feedback, the
City Council's vision for the City, and guidance from City studies and plans. The scope of the policy
update includes:
1. Policy changes in all the elements that reflect the City's regulatory and programmatic
priorities for the next 20 years.
• To ensure comprehensive plan policies are being implemented by jurisdictions, PSRC and
King County are both requiring monitoring at specific intervals of the success of policy
implementation between periodic updates. For this reason, implementation strategies in
the plan take on greater significance than in previous comprehensive plans. This is intended
to help the City and the region focus on the stated priorities that will benefit and realize
Tukwila's vision for the next 20 years.
2. Confirmation and updating of the vision for growth and development in Tukwila, including
housing and employment capacity within the City, its identified Regional Growth Centers, and
targeted local centers, consistent with the growth targets identified in the Countywide Planning
Policies (CPPs).
• Under the Growth Management Act, King County, in coordination with the cities in King
County, adopts growth targets for the 20-year planning period. Growth targets are policy
statements about the amount of housing and employment growth each jurisdiction is
planning to accommodate within its comprehensive plan. The growth targets and the CPPs
were last amended August 15, 2023 (Ordinance 19660) and were ratified November 30,
2023.
At only 6 percent of its housing growth target achieved between 2006 and 2018, the pace of
Tukwila's residential growth in meeting its 2035 Target of 5,626 new housing units (data
shown below) was the lowest of all King County Core Cities2. Other Core cities achieved
much higher housing production rates, extending between 20% and 121 % of their targets.
Neighboring South King County Core cities also fared much better than Tukwila, with Kent
achieving 96% of its target, Renton 93%, Burien 68%, and SeaTac 20%. This data indicates a
significant inconsistency between Tukwila's planning goals (5,626 new housing units) and
its actual growth (130 new housing units). As a result, Tukwila is required to identify
Reasonable Measures that could be taken to improve housing production. This need is
discussed in the Plan's Land Use and Housing elements.
2006 Total
Housing
Units
2006-2035
Housing
Target
2006-2018
Housing
Production
2018 Total
Housing
Units
Percent of
2035 Housing
Unit target
pace
Remainin
g 2035
Target
Annual Growth
Needed to
Achieve Target
7,739
5,626
130
7,869 I 6% I 5,496
4.1 %
New targets set for 2044 require the City to plan for 6,500 additional housing units between
2019 and 2044. Although Tukwila has seen an increase in housing growth from 2019 to
present, there is no indication that this increase in housing growth will sustain without
significant changes to regulations and housing allowances. Tukwila will need to produce
240-250 new housing units per year to meet its new target for 2019-2044.
3. Amendments to the Housing Element to be consistent with the revised Housing
Countywide Planning Policies, and policies and approaches to addressing the need for more
housing types and affordable options for all. These amendments also include policies and
approaches aimed at correcting the legacy of discrimination.
• The CPPs support a range of affordable, accessible, and healthy housing choices for current
and future residents across King County. A significant element in the revised CPPs is the
policy response to addressing the legacy of discriminatory housing and land use policies
and practices (e.g., redlining, racially restrictive covenants, exclusionary zoning, etc.) that
have led to significant racial and economic disparities in access to housing and
neighborhoods of choice.
The policies reflect the region's commitment to addressing the findings of the 2018 Regional
Affordable Housing Task Force:
o Dramatic housing price increases between 2012 and 2017 resulted in an estimated
156,000 extremely low-, very low-, and low-income households spending more than 30
percent of their income on housing (housing cost burdened); and
o Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, and extremely low-income households are among those
most disproportionately impacted by housing cost burden.
2 Cities in King County are categorized, for data purposes, by population: Seattle and Bellevue are
"Metropolitan Cities", and Tukwila is one of the 10 next largest "Core Cities".
The Tukwila Plan policies must be consistent with the CPPs and therefore ensure the City
plans for and accommodates its allocated share of existing and projected housing needs of
the county.
Staff will address the proposed Housing Policy amendments in more detail at a future City
Council Workship meeting (scheduled for 5/20/24).
4. Amendments that support the City's consistent, equitable outreach, and engagement with
the full diversity of the City's communities.
• The King County Countywide Planning Policies and Vision 2050 policies both take a clear
direction on the region's opportunities for improving equity and social justice. Recognizing
that historical land use and housing policies have played a role in creating and maintaining
racial inequities. Noting that some explicitly discriminatory laws have been overturned,
their legacy and effects have remained, preventing Black, Indigenous, and other People of
Color communities from sharing the recent prosperity of the county.
To address this past, policies addressing equity and health outcomes are central to the
regulatory framework to be adopted by King County jurisdictions. These policies seek to
ensure that community and capital improvements and resource allocations explicitly
counter and remedy disparities. The policies' collective vision for the county's shared future
will have a significant effect on how the City allocates public resources, with the intention of
achieving a future where everyone enjoys a safe and healthy place to live, work, and play.
5. Policies that address the causes and impacts of climate change and enhance the resiliency
of the built and natural environments.
• Recognizing the impact that greenhouse gases have on King County's natural resources and
the need to react to such changes, the CPPs provide guidance on how cities can collectively
work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through efficient energy consumption,
coordination on land use patterns, and the promotion of transportation systems that
provide practical alternatives to single -occupancy vehicles.
6. Updates and commitments to the Plan's implementation strategies to ensure local
accountability for Plan implementation.
• As noted in #1, King County and PSRC jurisdictions are required to provide, within 5 years, a
monitoring report that documents the City's progress on completing the adopted
implementation strategies.
Outreach Conducted for the Comprehensive Plan Update
During each update of the Plan, the City has reached out to City residents, employees, and property
owners to encourage them to participate in shaping the priorities to be identified in the Plan.
City Council, Planning Commission, and Other City Boards & Commissions' Review
City staff have been meeting since 2022 with the Planning Commission to discuss the
Comprehensive Plan. Since the summer of 2023, the Commission has been meeting twice monthly
to meticulously review all the proposed Plan elements. On March 14, 2024, the Commission held a
public hearing on the Plan Goals and Policies and voted to forward that draft, with their comments,
to the City council for their consideration and adoption.
Staff has discussed the Comprehensive Plan with the City Council and its Planning and Community
Development (PCD) Committee more than a dozen times over the past 2 years. Staff has also
presented to several City Boards and Commissions to acquire policy input and priorities, and to
review applicable updated policy language.
Public Outreach
For the current Plan Update, the staff conducted significant public outreach with the community
and key stakeholders between 2022 and this past winter, contacting hundreds of City residents and
others at community events, businesses, community -based organizations. This outreach was
conducted prior to initiating any policy development, a process that helped to ensure that key
concerns of the community were captured and would be reflected and addressed in the final
document. Concerns consistently raised included, but were not limited to, the following: housing
costs; housing that meets household needs (i.e., number of bedrooms for household size); safety;
environmental pollution; climate change; tree retention and environmental protection; transit
availability; job creation; parking availability; and long-term financial stability.
A variety of engagement opportunities were created with the intent to involve a greater swath of the
community, including those unable to participate in traditional outreach methods. Some examples
of outreach included: contracting with community -based organizations to gather input on topics of
interest; hosting a website and an online engagement hub to offer a variety of information on the
Planning process and how to provide input; offering in -person and online survey opportunities;
holding a wide range of stakeholder interviews; conducting tabling at locations around the City at
different times of day, and at different types of events; speaking with business and high school
classes; presenting to City boards and commissions; providing content for City and Comprehensive
Plan -focused newsletters to reach out to community groups; promoting events and engagement
opportunities through social media; and hosting several communitywide open houses. Translation
services were provided where possible to better capture the diversity of Tukwila voices.
Staff recommends holding another Open House following the Council's substantive review (in
August) and before the scheduled Council public hearing date in September.
Planning Commission Public Hearing, March 14, 2024
In addition to comments received prior to the Public Hearing, the Planning Commission received
several comments on the Plan's Goals and Policies that were factored into their final
recommendation on the Plan. These will be discussed in more detail at a later meeting with the
Council.
2024-2044 Comprehensive
Plan Update
City Council Work Session Briefing
May 6, 2024
Background
• The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires all fully planning cities
to adopt a periodic update of their comprehensive plans at regular
intervals, generally every 8-10 years.
• Periodic updates are framed around a 20-year planning period
(2024-2044)
• Jurisdictions within King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties are
required to adopt a periodic update of their comprehensive plans by
December 31, 2024.
• The most significant update areas for this periodic update cycle are:
— Equity
— Housing
— Climate Change
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Big Issues to Address
1. Housing and Job targets
2. Affordable Housing
1. Requirement to plan for and accommodate "housing affordable
to all income level?; a n d
2. Address special housing needs (emergency housing, emergency
shelters and permanent supportive housing)
3. Missing Middle Housing
4. Address potential for displacement of residents and jobs
5. Support community resilience — environmental, economic, and
social
6. Continue to improve quality of life for community
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Requirements
• Required consistency with new policy guidance and
analysis from agencies -- document through checklists
(Washington Department of Commerce, Puget Sound Regional Council, and
King County)
• Plus, address revisions to State laws, and changes
to local priorities and practices
• Failure to adopt an approved comprehensive plan by
December 31, 2024, will restrict Tukwila's eligibility
for transportation grants from the Puget Sound Regional
Council
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Schedule
2022-23 Outreach Plan and Engagement of the
Community
2023 Development of Elements / Planning
Commission review
2024 Finalization of Planning Commission
review and Public Hearing
City Council Review, Open House,
Public Hearing, and Adoption
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Outreach Conducted
• Using variety of methods, focused outreach to all
members of the Tukwila community
• Concerns consistently raised included:
➢ housing costs
➢ housing that meets household needs (i.e., # of bedrooms)
➢ safety
➢ environmental pollution
➢ climate change
➢ tree retention and environmental protection
➢ transit availability
➢ job creation
➢ parking availability
➢ long-term financial stability.
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Plan Content Changes
1. Policy changes in all the elements that reflect the City's regulatory and
programmatic priorities for the next 20 years.
2. Confirmation and updating of the vision for growth and development in
Tukwila, including housing and employment capacity
3. Amendments to the Housing Element to be consistent with the revised
Housing Countywide Planning Policies.
4. Amendments that support the City's consistent, equitable outreach, and
engagement with the full diversity of the City's communities.
5. Policies that address the causes and impacts of climate change and
enhance the City's responsiveness
6. Updates and commitments to the Plan's implementation strategies that
ensure local accountability for the Plan's implementation.
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Plan Structure Changes
2015 Plan Elements
Action
2024 Plan Elements
Community Image and
Identity
Consolidated into
Community Character
Community Character
(Renamed)
Residential Neighborhoods
Tukwila International
Boulevard District
Tukwila South
Southcenter - Tukwila's
Urban Center
Manufacturing/Industrial
Center
Consolidated into Housing
Consolidated into Land Use
Element
Consolidated into Land Use
Element
Consolidated into Regional
Centers Element
Consolidated into Regional
Centers Element
Land Use Element (New)
Regional Growth Centers
(New)
The Economic Development, Housing, Natural Environment, Shoreline, Parks,
Recreation and Open Space (PROS), Utilities, Transportation and Capital
Facilities Elements have not been restructured from the last update.
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Planning Commission Review
• Reviewed draft goals and policies of each element from
Summer 2023 to Spring 2024, with a public hearing held on
3/14/2024
• Recommended all elements to go forward for adoption to City
Council, with limited amendments or other requests.
• Some of these requests included:
— An update of final Transportation Element policies added at a
later Planning Commission meeting.
— Various changes to goal and policy languages to be integrated
into council review.
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024
Questions & Discussion
2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan Update
City Council Briefing
May 6, 2024