Planning commission previews 2025 comprehensive-plan docket; March 5 ratification hearing scheduled

Senior Planner David Levitan briefed the commission on the 2025 comprehensive-plan docket, which staff framed as a primarily city-initiated package after no citizen-initiated amendments were submitted during the public window.

What’s proposed: staff said the docket will include two minor map changes to city-owned parcels (a waterfront-residential parcel that contains a sewer lift station and two parcels adjacent to Fire Station 81) to align land-use designations with current public uses and zoning; updates to three subarea plans (Downtown Lake Stevens, Lake Stevens Center and 20th Street SE corridor); the annual update to the capital facilities element (6- and 20-year CIP tables); and a parks, recreation and open-space (PROS) plan update needed for state grant eligibility.

Schedule and process: Levitan said the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on docket ratification on March 5 and forward a recommendation to city council, which is scheduled to hold its public hearing on March 11. Levitan emphasized that ratification sets the year’s work program; substantive analysis and additional public comment opportunities will follow during the year before any ordinance adoption.

Why it matters: docket items that advance through the process can change land-use designations, zoning consistency, capital project priorities, and the city’s eligibility for park grants. Levitan said policy work on subarea plans will ensure those plans are aligned with the recently adopted comprehensive plan and that the parks element update will be coordinated with the parks and recreation department’s PROS plan due by December 2025.

Ending
Levitan invited commissioners to propose additional items for the docket before the March 5 ratification hearing and said staff will prepare the required analysis of ratification criteria if the commission supports the proposed docket.