Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hey, Mary Elizabeth. Yes, ma'am. I think um Lizzy called in on her phone. Is do you see a phone line? Let take a look. She can hear the meeting. I just don't know if she can unmute and talk yet. [snorts] Might um it might happen after I officially start the meeting. We're still in practice session. I'll actually start recording and see if she'll or I mean I'll go I'll start officially start the meeting and then we'll see if she can comment then.

Okay. I think that's it. I think that will help. Hey, can you guys hear me? Okay, can you hear me?

I can hear you. Can you hear me? We can I'm actually renaming you right now. Okay, awesome. If it's okay, I'll be logged in on both. That way I can use the webcam for my computer and then my cell phone for audio. Yeah, it's it's sounding pretty good and we can see you. So, so far so good.

Perfect. Awesome. testing.

[clears throat] I'll call to order the 427th regular planning commission meeting. Could you please take roll call? Commission member Ivy, present. Commission member Tan, present. Commission member Santana present. Commission member Valerio. All right, we see you there. Commission member Peters present. Commission member Stepper here. And Commission Member Ricewig present.

We do have a quorum. Do we have anyone present online for public comment? Okay, I see we don't have public in the room. Um, are there any changes to the agenda by staff? Okay. Um, any comments or questions or requests for removal on anything in the consent agenda? Otherwise, I would entertain a motion. I move that we accept the consent agenda.

Is yours picking up? Commissioner Ricewig seconds. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor of approving the consent agenda, please signify by saying I. I. Any oppose? Same sign. passes unanimously. We're on to the regular agenda and our first item is the comprehensive plan periodic update workshop.

Oh, they're in the consent agenda. So, we approved them together. Thank you, Commissioner Peters. Uh so, yeah, we are going to do a little workshop on our conference and plan update. Um, we have a number of things we've accomplished since we last met. And we have um Angie Singleton and Elizabeth Smith online, our consulting team. And they're going to um kind of take us through this process. And with that, I will turn it over to Am I turning over to Angela first or? Yeah. Great.

Yeah. Thanks, John. Um yeah, if we'll start with um the PowerPoint, Mary Elizabeth, and we can get going from there. Sweet. Okay, sweet. Um yeah, so hello everyone. I don't know if I've met you all, but yeah, I'm Angela Singleton. I am with the Ling Group, which is subsidiary of JUB Engineers. Um, I am a public involvement specialist and I've been doing the public involvement for this project. Um, and I'll toss it over to Elizabeth. Do you want to introduce yourself too?

Yeah. Hi everyone. I'm Elizabeth Smith, also out of our Kenick office. Um, I am the lead planner and the project manager for um the comp plan update effort. So, Angela and I have been working very closely on everything that's been completed so far. So, we're excited to give you an update. All right, next slide. Okay, great. So, yeah, like Liz said, we're here to give you an update. Um, I'm going to provide a summary of our recent public involvement activities and the feedback that we've received so far. Um, and then Liz is going to run us through an activity to gather feedback um on the existing comprehensive goals and then how we might refine, update, and expand those to better fit future planning efforts. So, we'll get started with our public involvement summary, go into the planning workshop, and then we'll provide next steps overview as well. Next slide. Okay. Um, so just to orient you to where we are in the project so far, uh, this summer, um, on the public involvement side, we conducted stakeholder interviews, uh, with key community members and we established, um, a comment database to collect public feedback as well. Um, and then on the planning side, uh, we collected and reviewed, um, our existing, uh, planning documents, maps, and data. And then this fall uh we moved into our data collection and refining findings um section and we'll be doing that until early spring. Um in between all that is also several public involvement touch points which I will cover um in the coming slides. And then we'll move into our plan development uh this spring and into early summer. and then um plan is presented um to planning commission and

council uh this fall 2026. All right, next slide. Okay, so I'm going to give you guys an overview of the public involvement and we will start um next slide with our strategy. So our strategy here is um to identify and understand the needs and uh perspectives of key stakeholders and the general community to inform the planning process which is why we do a lot of our work at the beginning of the project. Um and then that helps us produce recommendations that are appropriate for the area and represents community interests and values. Next slide. All right. There's a lot on this slide. I'm going to go over more of this in the coming slides. So, this is kind of an overview here. Um, like I said, I did these situational um, assessments and key interviews this summer, as well as establishing um, a point of contact as our project team and a place to keep all of our incoming public comments and feedback. Uh, we then had our first technical advisory group meeting this September. And then from that meeting we um provided the tag as we call them with a project baseline and understanding of their responsibility and um what we would need from them and the information we'll provide in um the upcoming year. And then from that we were able to gather some really good information um from the tag on how to develop messaging and public uhformational [clears throat] materials that included things like our public website flyer marketing for our survey um that just closed. Um so they're a big big help there. And then from that we opened our public survey uh at the end of September and just closed it this November. In between that survey window, we had an open house. Um you may have seen the

amazing stack of pizza that was um in the lobby area. Uh we had a great turnout there and I'll give another overview of that event specifically. Um but that open house was a great opportunity for the public to come and learn about the project and how they could continue to interact um throughout the project timeline. And so tonight we're here um kind of presenting on everything um before this uh square here. So um moving forward we'll have another technical advisory meeting this winter and the goal of that would be to go over all of our public involvement findings and feedbacks thus far. share that with the tag so that they can use that to consider um as we dive a little bit deeper into our elements and chapters of our compliment. And then from there, the feedback we get uh and we'll work with city staff as well on identifying the next public event, whether that be another open house or um us attending another community event to promote the project and our progress so far and share where we're at and get feedback. once again from the community and then we will take that back to the TAG and have another technical advisory meeting in the spring. And the goal of that is to kind of, you know, put wrap things up, put a bow on them. Um provide last minute um feedback and conversation. Uh we'll have a pretty good draft by then. Um so we'll just be looking at small details by that point. uh before we wrap the the draft up and send that back to planning commission and city council for approval. All right, next slide. Okay, so the situational assessments um and the key interviews. Just wanted to give you a quick overview of some of the things that I've heard. Um so these um kind of

bullets here on the right are the topics that I identified and put into buckets. um to process a little bit easier. So, the things that I heard about community development and community values um mainly were about a lack of affordable housing and available housing and um how folks would like to see more housing density instead of sprawl. Um and also keeping those commercial areas where they are and not mixing them into, you know, housing developments and or near schools. um because it's really important for folks that we maintain that small town feel while offering critical services um and then maintaining that historic um element as well. And then as far as infrastructure goes, I heard a lot about increasing the walkability and sidewalk standards um as well as alternate transportation options which included um you know safe routes to school and um alternative modes of transportation for school was really important for people. Um and then also as the city continues to grow, maintaining that beautifification aspect and people talked a lot about having trees around and shade um and green spaces um that made people um that's what they associated when they think of college place. Um and then also um upkeeping support and access for affordable highspeed internet to support um economic development, the education system and healthcare. That was also very important. And then tourism was kind of um an interesting topic because there's a little bit of a mixed opinion here on tourism. Um folks identified there wasn't much of a restaurant or nightlife scene. Um but there's potential to attract more food, arts, and culture businesses and that would be something that folks were in support of as well as supporting general tourism

growth while balancing the needs of local residents. They didn't want to be overran by the tourist economy. Um, and then as far as public safety goes, um, I heard a lot around how College Place is safe and quiet and, um, quote, a really nice place to raise a family. So, that was really nice to hear. Um some folks I think that the public safety you know department and building are big enough to support the current um and growing population of college place and would like to see resources spent um on other city resources in the future. Um and as far as community engagement goes um we heard a lot about how people attend city sponsored events. They're wellknown and highly attended so we will keep our eye on that for future opportunities as well. Um, social media was brought up a lot. People check the city social media frequently. Um, and then some folks shared that mailers and newspaper are still relevant and we should um, make sure that we're sending out mailers as well. Um, yeah. So, that is the uh, majority of the themes that I heard during my interviews and we use that to help um, inform our marketing as strategy as well. Uh, next slide may Elizabeth. Okay. And so then our technical advisory group here, just an overview on, you know, kind of who they are and um what they do. We selected them with help um from city staff um because of their perspectives, local and professional knowledge in the city. Um because we will be asking them to provide draft um or to provide comments on our draft materials and um support us in identifying community events or um you know groups within the community that we could better outreach to. Um and you know a large part of their role too is serving as a community liaison and so providing that information to their

networks sharing you know um information about the projects surveys that are open or any kind of events that we're hosting has been really helpful um and so they're responsible for helping us spread the word there. We had our first meeting in September and then we'll have our next meeting here early this winter um like I said to review those um findings both public involvement and planning and then we'll do another review um later this spring as well. And the the tag um has many there's a member [laughter] um tonight um Angie Peters is on the tag um and we have council member on the tag and we have um school boards represented and um many other folks um as well are on the tag. So we try to pick holistic view of the city um as well as our technical background. All right, next slide. Okay, so our public survey um we had a great turnout here. We had 76 responses on our public survey. That survey was available in English and Spanish. Um it was open from September 25th to the November 1st. And we promoted that survey in multiple different ways. Um so some of the uh graphics here you'll see um this kind of square graphic here was a coaster that we designed and was distributed to local businesses with a QR code. Um, we uh went to the farmers market multiple times to promote the project in the survey as well. And then we had a project flyer here that's in the bottom right corner. And we um were able to get that hung up around the city um and key touch points. And then we had several social media uh blasts um in English and Spanish. So the top right corner there and another one on the bottom left. And then I just wanted to share screenshot from our website when we were promoting the survey. We had a big yellow banner. Um so when people

went to the website, they could see the button for it and get to it pretty easily. The survey took between five and 10 minutes is from what I saw. Um and we got some really great responses uh which I will cover in the coming slides. Sweet. Okay. So, I pulled out some of the um the key uh responses that we got. Um so, for what I thought was good to show here was our housing types. Um because that was one a big thing that I heard interviews and another thing we heard at the open house. Um and then also at community events. So, um the most desired housing type that we heard from the survey was single family homes. Um and that's that black bar um on the right there. um and that includes duplexes and manufactured um homes. And then the next desired housing type was the multifamily dwellings like apartments, condos, and town homes. And then um a least uh needed uh housing type was manufactured home parks. But we also had ADUs and senior housing as well as um mixeduse housing. Um you know, like apartments above shops and things like that were kind of they settled in the middle there. And then um words that people would use to describe college place. The top three words were affordable, safe, and familyfriendly. And that aligns a lot with what I heard early on. Um interestingly enough, the least used words to describe college place would be local agricultural, historic, and convenient. Um and people were able to rank these words um by how they associated with the future of college place as well. Um so we had several other words um like excellent schools uh well-maintained, clean, quality parks, culturally diverse, welcoming, quiet and peaceful, strong economy, growing small

town, healthy, responsive government, and vibrant were all of the choices for this question. All right, next slide. Okay. And so then for economic development, trying to balance that need um for business and what type. Thought it was interesting to learn the types of businesses that community members were interested in seeing more of in the future. So restaurants and cafes were the top type of business. Uh followed by entertainment or recreation like movie theaters and arcades and um other entertainment places. Um and hotels and motel were the least desired business type um to see in future college place. And then as far as um the size of the businesses, most folks wanted to see a mix of both local and regional businesses with a small percent wanting to see um regional or national chains only. I did hear some of that in my interviews. you know, Costco and Trader Joe's were definitely mentioned a couple of times. Um, and there was a good portion of folks that would like to see locally owned only businesses in the future. Um, but a good mix wanted to see both. Um, next slide. Okay. So, this graph here on the left is showing support for the three categories of managing operational cost, city buildings and facilities and city staffing. So the dark blue and the light blue colors are showing uh very supportive and somewhat supportive. And then the gray shows no opinion. So um think of it that way. Majority of all three of those categories were supportive in some way. Um and not supportive or somewhat supportive was not very high for either category.

Although city buildings and facilities had um the highest not support for um but overall every category had good support for um improvements in the city and then desired community services um the highest desired community service with youth youth and family services um and programs um as well as children's services which aligns a lot with what I was hearing about you know why people value living in college um you know in public transportation um and mobility services and services for people with disabilities were um some of the the least desired community services um when compared to you know youth and family is quite a big difference there but we had a good chunk of of support for you know improving health services and access to specialist recreation program and education and lifelong learning programs as well. Uh, next slide. So, um, in conclusion, we had a couple of open-ended, uh, questions as well, and a lot of the things that I heard was just more support for youth and family service programs, uh, specifically sports fields too was brought up a lot. Um, and, uh, sports and recreation activities for youth. Um, housing availability and affordability um, continued to be a talked about topic. um you know with a mix of single and multiple family housing and general support for housing density. And then again that balancing of business types and size um and tourism. And then um what we didn't hear in the main survey but the open-ended questions was this aspect of environmental stewardship, water preservation, curbside recycling, and generally just more public green space. Um and then there is support generally for

reasonable upgrades to public facilities such as police city hall um public facilities like libraries and whatnot. Um just there was an emphasis on making sure that all of these upgrades are sizable for college place and the expected growth. All right, next slide. Okay, so our open house here um here are some pictures um from the evening uh the famous pizza stack um and all the staff members that were available that night and um the other picture. So we had a good turnout of community members as well. We had multiple activities that people could do. That picture on the bottom right is where we had our maps and markers for people to mark up, point, ask questions. That was a great touch point for people to say, "I live here and or I'm concerned about this." Um, and then the photo in the middle here, um, is our activity voting board where we had all of the draft um, elements and examples of what would be included in those. And folks were able to write comments, ask questions, vote on what was most important to them or what they would like to see moving forward. Um, so we got some great information from there. Some of the other boards that we had around the room wereformational boards about the planning process um and timeline and some demographic information, population information, housing um and employment data. And then um we also had a kids corner uh which was utilized and we got some cute pictures there um where we asked kids to draw the future of college place. Um next slide. [snorts] Sweet. Okay, so that wraps up my uh summary and I'll hand it over to Lizzie to get started on the workshop.

Yeah. And before we get started on goals, I just wanted to touch base with commission and make sure they don't have any questions on public involvement um for myself or Angela that we can answer. I do have one quick question before we move on. on the slide where you were talking about uh desired services. Could you tell us how the question was phrased?

I pull it up. And Mary, would you mind going back to that um slide too? Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um, yeah, so that the question specifically was, "Which community services would you most like to see added or improved in College Place?" And that question was a select all that apply.

Thank you. That's helpful. when you were doing the summary, um I wasn't sure if it was they were wanting improvement or they found the services undesirable. I see. Okay. I have a question. Um it just asked the question. Okay. um when you were talking about the different um groups that you were soliciting fe feedback from, are you all done with that feedback or you're still uh getting a hold of them and talking to different people?

Yeah. Okay. So, we have a couple different avenues. Yeah. Feedback. Um so, we had the public survey that was general, you know, advertised to the general public. Um and that feedback loop has closed but we also will have another opportunity for the general public to provide feedback. Um the that would be again general public feedback and then the technical advisory group as well is providing feedback um through that mechanism. Um but I want to make sure I answered your question. Did you did you want to were you asking about the specific groups we were reaching out to or how that they were providing feedback?

Yeah. So, I think I I think I heard that you were working with um like school boards and uh groups like that. And I just wanted to be sure that you're also including some of the bigger employers um in the city. I'm thinking of um Well, University, perhaps Home Depot, you know, like Walmart, uh people that represent those those big um employers. Yeah. Um we have had um some communication with Walaw Wala University. Um definitely room for more there. As far as the large employers, we have not spoken with them yet. Um but that's a great suggestion.

That um too. We have a couple more interview spots as well, so we can um definitely fit those in. Thank you. I had a question and maybe I missed it because you had a lot of lot of info there, but how many people were represented on that um poll? like how many numbers how many total? Just curious. Oh, for the survey we had 76 um responses and those were selected by you or how how did you come up with? Oh, for the survey or for the advisory group uh survey?

Um yeah, that was a general public blast. Um so we just tried to market as many avenues as we could to reach people. Um, so that was not hand selected at all. Defin definitely whoever felt inclined to scan a QR code and take the or take the survey. Thanks. [clears throat] Can I ask a follow-up question to that? Is that number uh percentage wise, is that what you see normally or um was that a low response or low rate?

Yeah, I think that was a pretty good response. Um there's not really a you know a goal that we have number-wise more as the quality of feedback that we received. Um so I feel like we got a very good uh mix of perspectives um age groups and um you know what what people were were thinking. So it wasn't a wasn't a vacuum at all. Um we definitely got um really good responses on the open-ended too. So, I definitely would say this was a good turnout for survey responses. Thank you.

I can chime in really quick. Um, we did quite a lot of heranging at our farmers markets and stuff handing out these flyers trying to get as many responses as possible. Um, and then at our open house, we did get about what was it 40ish people came total. And there were also members from the city of Walawala and the county of Walawala there and they shared that that turnout was actually pretty significant compared to what some of them got as well. So any other questions from the commissioners? Okay, I think we're ready for the workshop. Thank [snorts] you.

Awesome. Thank you for all those questions and thank you Angela for um giving the update on the public involvement everything that we've done so far. Um so taking all of that background information. I know that we had a lot to share with you. So try to remember those key points. Um but know that no decisions are going to be made tonight. Um but this going to be kind of starting that conversation in a workshop style. Um, I also wanted to note too that we are only reviewing the existing goals in the comp plan. Policies will be reviewed at a later date once these goals have been revised and updated a little bit. Um, so looking at the purpose, um, so the comp plan goals really serve as that bridge between the city's vision and the actions that we take to achieve that vision. So helping translate um that vision into something that's aspirational um into something clear and um have those like smart goals that are actionable um and they're going to influence how resources and investments are allocated making sure that the time and energy and funding we commit um as the city all moves us towards that shared vision for the future. Um slide please. So since the 2018 comprehensive plan, the city has developed a new vision as part of the 2025 2035 strategic plan. So I've put that vision up here um on the screen and um you know just highlighting welcoming, vibrant, diverse, safe, walkable, all of those things are what we want to achieve to have that flourishing downtown. And you know we heard a lot of those responses that that's what the community also wants to see through um our survey. So those are good. Sounds like city staff and you know council are aligned with um the community. So that's good there. Um and as we go through these goals tonight, just keep in mind this vision and really we just want to make sure that this

vision continues to reflect who we who college place is today and where um College Place is going um in the future. Slide please. So back in 201 I could just add one thing on that vision. Sorry. Um the council spent a significant amount of time working on on that vision. Um they had multiple workshops and meetings with the facilitator that was helping them with that process. So it they really worked through it. Um so I I think it I think it's a valuable thing to keep in mind. Thank you.

Yes. Yep. Yeah. Thanks, John. And you can definitely see, you know, that work put into place and was important and that's exactly what we heard in our survey. So, it's kind of good to have those public involvement opportunities to really concrete what we've been hearing is still what we're hearing today. Um, slide, please. Um, so, as I was saying, the 2018 comp plan included 32 goals, which um, you should have gotten a a PDF with those 32 goals um, broken down into themes. So, in our tag one meeting, um we we discussed these goals a little bit and one of those um big items was there's a there's a lot of goals for people to look at and to digest and so there was an idea of developing some themes. We did not go into any more detail on what those themes would be. Um and so our internal team at JUB, we reviewed those goals and we kind of created those themes um internally to share with you and get your feedback on those. So these um six themes are shared here. Um [clears throat] and let me just check my notes real quick. Okay, perfect. So as we go through these, I'm going to touch on each um theme, but just think about what areas or what goals still feel right for college place and what what goals might need to evolve or which we need to add or subtract um as we look um towards updating the current comprehensive plan. Slide please. So the first theme that we have on the list is the community character and identity. So the purpose of these goals as I was looking through these is to protect, celebrate the small town charm, history, and livability that define college place. Um so you know, you'll see that these goals range from preserving historic downtown to supporting public art and design um that enhance community identity. And if you're able to pull up that PDF or look

at it on your screen, um I kind of want you to think about what small town character means for College Place today and how we balance that with maintaining that identity as the city continues to grow. And as we go through each of these themes, I'm going to kind of have like a a reflection question for you. if you feel inclined to chime in, we can definitely start that conversation um now or we there's um a handful of questions at the end that we can kind of dig into. Um so I'll just let anyone chime in if they want on how we preserve that small town feel as we continue to grow. And if there's no comments, I can move on to the next.

Um can we pause just for one second? Does everybody have the um the PDF open? I don't know why I'm getting too much feedback. Um, thank you. There's a PDF in Board Docs that has the goals um grouped together um that follows the uh the PowerPoint presentation. So, that would be helpful if you have that up on the screen and then just we'll follow the presentation that we have up on the on the big screens and hopefully that makes sense for people at home. Um, it might be a [clears throat] little harder if you're working off of a laptop screen to to do both of these, but everybody finding that that document. We're good.

Todd, you're good. Okay. All right. Okay. Perfect. I think we're good. Thanks.

Okay. Yep. Thank you, John. Um, yeah. So we have that PDF here that you know quickly shows each goal. I didn't put them on the slide just for text and you know keeping things readable but on that PDF it does outline um the entire goal there. So we can kind of look through each each section at the end. U but I didn't hear any comments or things to add on the community character and identity. So I'll move on to the next theme um which is governance and civic life. So this set of goals is about how we work together as a community. So government partnership engagement, fostering that collaboration with school districts like Walawala University and other local institutions um as well as ensuring residents have meaningful opportunities to participate in city decisions. So, you know, um these goals are going to touch on city services and access to community resources like making sure that the way the city is operating reflects um the values of the community. Um so there are let's see six goals here that we have listed on um this slide and you know kind of that takeaway question how can we better engage residents and institutions to shape our our shared future and I think you know the first thing is the LinkedIn group has helped us significant significantly with all of our public involvement and pushing out the survey and making sure that the material is in you know English and Spanish. So, I think we're doing great on those things, but you know, there's always room for improvement. Um, so kind of think about that as we move through um these themes. Any questions or comments on on this theme?

Well, I can see like goal 12 research in place on the ballot and measure for like the library like that's been accomplished. So, I mean, I think there's some things that we can easily cross off the list. Um, is anything else popping to mind? Commissioner 10 here. Can you clarify on goal number six when it mentioned um College Place School District? Does that include uh CP High all the way down to elementary school? I want to defer to John, but I believe yes, because those are all public schools, correct?

Yes, it's including uh both the private and public. Okay. Schools. Yes. From from K through 12. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you for that question. Um, moving on to the next slide, which is economic vitality and workforce. So, this is about creating resiliency, diversification in the local economy that's going to benefit residents and support the city's long-term growth. So, these goals are including things such as attracting new businesses, supporting existing ones, um, growing the workforce, leveraging tourism. um you know although from what we heard from from Angela on the survey maybe not as important to some of the other aspects of the economy um and then maintaining that infrastructure that's going to support economic activity. So think of these or this theme and these goals are things that are going to increase or drive additional opportunities for college place. Um not just jobs but also community pride and partnerships um things like that. And so that that take that takeaway question is going to be focused on where are we focusing our economic energy? You know is it new businesses, tourism redevelopment, workforce development? Um and so you know as we're going through these themes and there's these takeaway questions we internally JUB will also be reflecting on survey questions you and seeing what those responses are and help us guide um you know formulating those answers for these questions. Um anything to add on economic vitality and workforce? Um, I'll share on this one, but I think it kind of co is true for all of the categories that some of the goals within can probably com be combined into a singular goal statement, which would help with um [clears throat] just how many there are. Um, I think it would be a little bit more digestible if there weren't 32, even though we put them into categories. But like to give an example within the economic vitality

and workforce I think that goals 20 and 21 could probably combined into a single goal. Yeah, absolutely. And you're moving ahead a little bit. There's some, you know, things I wanted to throw out to the group, but one of that is, you know, consolidating the number of goals that we have for each theme and even creating goal statements for each of these themes, but I'll get into that in a little bit. Um, but I like where where you're thinking. You're on the right track. Um, we if there are no any or no additional questions, I'll move on to the next theme, which is the neighborhoods.

If if I may, I think that uh the economic vitality uh question is is pretty important. It may not be maybe forefront on people's minds, but the uh the question of affordability of of housing being I think number one in some of the surveys and that makes sense. But the um I think there's another side to that concern and that is um making putting more uh how do we say this? Economic uh vitality makes people afford more things too. So um bringing money into into the into into the area. uh tourism not being the only approach and I appreciate the the goal 22 giving us some um motivation to stimulate diverse diversify in that uh whether that's around a rail line or other other things um for the for the city. So I'm excited to see where that goes. Thank you.

Yeah, thank you for that. Um the next theme is the housing and neighborhood scheme. Um so the housing goals are going to ensure that all residents have access to safe, affordable and diverse housing options. Um you know focusing on that variety. So different densities, different housing types all while preserving the quality of our existing homes. You know we don't want new developments to take over the existing neighborhoods. We want to make sure that they are cohesive with each other. um and just you know maintaining that livable neighborhood that you know all the survey respondents said that they they love about College Place. So we want to maintain um that feel and make sure that everyone is served in the community as far as housing goes. Um there was only one goal um that kind of fit into this housing um theme which I thought was kind of interesting because housing is usually a pretty important topic and usually rises to the top in discussion. So, I think that there's, you know, some room for expanding on goals for this theme. Um, that takeaway question is, how are we meeting housing needs across all income levels and how can we ensure that the updated comp plan supports this? Um, you know, the the comment about diversifying the economy, that's, you know, kind of ties into how we make sure that we're serving the community and we can ensure that through updated goals in the comp plan. Yeah, Commissioner I vegan. Um and and what I also noticed in the survey is that uh there was a fairly consistent focus on a familyfriendly um environment in College Place and the uh interest in single family homes I think aligns well with that at least my understanding. So uh just having a place for kids right to run and do things. So that might not that might not be available at all income levels, but I think that um

those are um things worth maybe putting together as a single family uh housing options affordably for uh family uh growth, whatever.

Mr. Santiano, along those same lines, um I wonder, and this is just a more of a phil philosophical question, is there a way to preserve housing for our youth that want to remain in the area, but are but are already priced out because of um whatever just because of their age. uh when they graduate college or when they graduate vocational school, they won't make enough to afford housing at the rates that we have them right now. Um and housing has only continued to increase. I mean, it has increased exponentially over the last 15 years. Is there a way that the city could preserve um a percentage of housing so that it could benefit our our local youth that want to remain in the area? I I'm not I'm looking for an answer. I'm just, you know, trying to just say I'll let John

Yeah. No, that's a great question. Um and definitely something to think about and I think kind of been on all of our minds and I'll let Michael or John chime in if they'd like. Um

I don't know there there's there's lots of tools um locally. There's Common Roots, which is a a um nonprofit um I'm blanking on the terminology. They they are a a nonprofit group that is attempting to provide uh housing options where they're they're a housing trust. They would m they maintain ownership of the land and then the uh people buy the homes and they have like a long-term uh secured lease that's low interest for the land and that there's stipulations on the way the loans are structured so that uh when the homes are when they sell the homes, resell them, they're allowed to make a certain profit but it's controlled and uh the homes remain affordable through that mechanism. and then the ownership of the land to the the land trust. So they have I believe they have a a subdivision that they're working on getting built in Walaw Wala. Um and they've looked at land in College Place. We'd love for them to you know to to be able to buy land in College Place and do a development.

I'm going to state the obvious here, but um this [clears throat] is the number one question the United States for pretty much anybody in the market for looking for a house. So it's not a simple answer, but a very heavily debated subject at hand, hence the 50-year mortgage they proposed last week. And I'll uh remind you um it's been a while since we had our workshop on the land capacity analysis and our urban growth area applications and whatnot, but uh using Washington State Department of Commerce tool to evaluate our housing needs and goals. Um we have or there guidance uh more than enough single family homes uh based on income level. We need to be providing as much multif family as possible.

Awesome. Thank you for you know comments and the feedback John Michael. Um there are no other questions or things that we'd like to add. I'll move on to the next theme which is infrastructure and services. So infrastructure, transportation, utilities, you know, those are kind of the backbone of the city and how the city operates. And so we want to make sure that these goals guide how we maintain and improve those, you know, utilities, the streets, the overall public services. Um, and you know, kind of talking about growth. We want to make sure that, you know, these goals are helping us plan for future growth and ensuring that those services are um efficient and cost-effective and sustainable. Um, so kind of as you as you look at these goals, I want you to consider which systems might need the most attention as um, we continue to grow and how those investments intersect with other priorities like economic development and housing. Um, you know, housing touches on all of these themes, but just kind of think where are we um behind the most or where do we need to improve um the quickest um to make sure that we can um ensure sustainable growth? Um questions, comments? Hearing none, we'll move on to the next theme, which is sustainability and environment. So, this is kind of a catch-all. You know, it ties together land use, environmental, um, downtown development, and focusing on pedestrian friendly, mixeduse downtown, ensuring parks and green spaces that are going to meet the community's needs. Um, also, you know, making sure we're growing in a sustainable way and protecting air, water, land, while also supporting that

vibrant growth. Um, so there's a couple goals um, listed on your sheet there. And that that takeaway question is how do we balance the growth areas with sustainability and preserving the city's sense of place. Um you know that's always kind of a tricky question. How do we grow as a city but also make sure it feels like a small town? Um that's a tricky question. So I don't expect there you know any answers tonight but definitely something that we want to keep in mind as we um go through the comp plan update process. Um any questions or comments on sustainability environment specifically? Hearing none, we can move on to the next slide. So here's really where I want your feedback. I want people to, you know, chime in if you can. Um I don't expect us to necessarily discuss all four of these goals. I asked, you know, plenty of um questions through each theme and we can go back to those if there's a question, you know, you want to touch back on again. Um, but definitely I want you to reflect on these after the meeting and as we continue to go through this process. Um, you know, and and including what we've been hearing from the community and looking at all of these goals, which goals feel right and which, you know, um, some might need to be revised and just tweaked a little bit or combined as um, other um, people have suggested um, or removing them all together like John had mentioned about um, the library. Um, so I guess we'll start with the first question. And so which of these 32 goals do you think best captures who we are college police? Um, today,

Commissioner Ivy. So I' I'd um point to goal number eight as it aligns with I think some of the top survey responses about affordability of housing. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. And that's in the housing and neighborhoods section on page four. Um as you look through um your PDF there.

I would agree. I think eight is probably is the one I would rank highest. I think um a [clears throat and snorts] second one that encompasses a lot of the feedback with the spirit of the goal is promoting a livable community with a strong sense of history. Goal 31. [clears throat] And is that in that's goal 31 on page one? Yes, ma'am. Okay, perfect. Any other comments or feedback on which goal you think represents the city today best?

I think goal 17. Um, [clears throat] I think the city does well in the services that they provide. Um, but we should continue to to do to do well in that because it affects all the residents.

Absolutely, Mary Elizabeth. That's on page four in the infrastructure and services section. So providing reliable services at the lowest reasonable cost consistent with the city's environmental stewardship, equity, economic development, and protection of public health. Okay. So sounds like there's a handful of goals that feel like really are, you know, a represent a good representation of who College Place is today. Um I would add

I would add goal 25. um as a as a good one under sustainable sustain sustainability in the environment um support and develop and redevelopment of a walkable college avenue from Rose Street to 13th Street. We just have created and me you can elaborate on this but we have the new downtown foundation downtown college place association. So I I think that's pretty important in my opinion. Yeah,

I'm seeing nodding heads, so that's good. I'm going to go with uh goal number seven. [snorts] Um the Walaw Wala University is a very large uh group of people who gather for church vaspers Friday night, Saturday, sporting events. You get a very very large group and I bet that attracts more people than anything in college place does probably combined. Great. Last calls on favorites.

Cool. Okay. Thank you for sharing those. So, now looking at the other end of the spectrum, which goals do we feel are no longer achievable, relevant, which have we completed? Um, I know John uh made a comment and if you can remember what goal it was. Um, looking through the list real quick here. 12 was the one that John brought up as um already accomplished.

Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yep. We can write that down as we've achieved. That can be um removed and replaced with something else or um just removed from the list. Are there any others that we feel are maybe outdated or that we've achieved or maybe, you know, things have changed, goals have changed? Maybe that's not, you know, a goal that we want to pursue moving forward. I'm a small town guy. I'm not really interested in the gold 26 personally, the big box stores and chain. I mean, within reason restaurants, but it just develops the community a little differently than I guess I would envision.

I can definitely see where you're coming from on that one. I just from conversations I've had with people in the community, I think there's a very mixed sentiment on that particular one. Um, [clears throat] so for that reason, I would advocate for keeping the goal because there's enough of a population saying those are the things that they do want. Yeah. And that would be a good opportunity to look back at the survey results and I believe it was 56%, don't quote me quote me on that, but wanted a mix of local and regional stores. So, you know, something to think about as we revise these goals. Um, it's always nice to look back to that data.

One thing I like about goal 26 is that it it is focusing those big box stores on the Myra Road and the 125 corridor which is already, you know, heavy the the big theme is big box through there and it's got great access. Um, not to say that a private business wouldn't do, you know, a small business wouldn't do well in there, but um, it is kind of focusing into a a corridor. I I kind of have a question about 27 grow and sustain a qualified workforce. I'm I'm not quite sure how that how the city would do that and how that fits into our goals. Yeah, it's a little tricky with some of these. They aren't um you know super clear on what the next steps would be. And um one of the suggestions our internal team is to develop policies that also um accompany these schools, you know, grow and sustain qualified workforce. And those policies would help support the next steps. Um, so I think that would be a good opportunity or a reminder, you know, as we're taking notes and things to reflect on, make sure that we are really creating actionable policies that accompany these goals. Um,

yeah, I feel like, you know, if you can increase affordability, if you can provide services that walkable stuff that kind of allows our community to grow, which provides jobs, which that sustains a workforce. But yeah, the way it's written, [clears throat] I mean, are we asking our school system to grow qualified workforce or I yeah, it's hard to say what the intent was because it I I think it's probably leaning towards the educational system like but it could be wordsmith or um you know, pro grow and sustain a well balanced workforce or something. I you know, I don't I don't know. Um Michael, maybe you can answer this question. Is the urban growth development stuff that we were going is going to all reflect what we want on growth or don't want. Do we like the growth at where it's at? If we don't, what do we do? Box stores are going to increase that, decrease it if we don't. I mean it all kind of falls back on that percentage of growth for college place in a healthy manner. So with the UG we're we don't have a lot of growth opportunities right now with our land capacity analysis. You know we've looked at it. We have not heard from the county yet and we'll go over that later on this meeting. Um, but we don't have a lot of acreage to work with. What we can do and discuss with you all in the future is looking internally at our zoning and land use maps [snorts] as we currently exist and we could

propose changes there as well. So that's something to keep in mind. I I have a comment on the goal infrastructure and service. How is that goal number 10 relevant to the community? I mean, how does it benefit the community and or is that just a niche?

That's on page four. Mary Elizabeth, um John, do you want to take this one? support the continued operation of Martin Airfield as a unique and community asset. Is that the one you're talking about? 10.

So, it's in our city limits. Um there is a there's significant potential um for development of that. the property owner um has shared some plans for expanding the hanger space. Um uh it's a unique asset in that most cities don't have small you know cities our size have airports. Um you know what what can be done with that? Um there's opportunities for you know flight schools. There's opportunities for um other types of businesses there. Um there's you know there's been talk of like drone manufacturing. I mean that this is kind of might be far-fetched thoughts but um there are I believe there are other activities that um work can work around a small airfield. Um and in addition to that um you know there are you know we've done uh a light industrial study around the area for you know the availability of space for small um small buildings uh to be placed around the perimeter of it. There's capacity there obviously we have to get infrastructure out to it. So um so I think that's the intent behind that. Um, back when this goal was developed, uh, it was, you know, when we first adopted this comprehensive plan, um, the the initial intent intent was to, um, pull that out of our UG. It wasn't in the city limits yet. Um and then it changed ownership and the new owner um at the very last minute basically the 11th hour um notified the city that they they

wanted to stay in the urban growth area and the city opted to to keep it in. Um, so we had to come back a couple years later, I think the following year actually, after we'd adopted the plan and add some goals into the comp plan that supported keeping it in there. Um, so, uh, and then there just hasn't been a lot of of activity, um, regarding that other than it's been annexed in. So, um, you know, we've done some studies. We we do keep in communication with the property owner. Um but yeah, I think there's um there is a unique opportunity for um for something out there.

Is it necessary for it to be tied specifically to Martin Airfield or could the goal simply be to support the continued operation of unique community assets? Possibly. Um, sometimes the language if it's specific enough, I mean, it could it it may help us if if we were applying for a grant or something to specifically mention Martin Martin Airfield potentially. Um, or, you know, maybe we have a list in our competent plan of community assets or something too that we've identified that might help be helpful so we could broaden and identify all of our community assets.

I would be more in favor of that. I think it also could be a little bit of a hangover of just working in public transit where like you go and you name a this is the Kmart bus stop for example and then Kmart is gone and now you have a ton of signage you have to go change

to to jump back really quick to that uh grow and sustain a qualified workforce. I dove into our existing comp plan and under economic development policies um one under of economic pol development policy number seven the city and university should explore the feasibility of establishing a joint entrepreneurial center. Um, economic development policy 8, encourage partnerships that focus resources towards increasing the employment of all citizens, uh, local job training, public, private sponsorship of entrepreur, [snorts] entrepreneurial and vocational education programs, and then student internship programs with local businesses. Um, there were some policies in there, but you have to evaluate our resources and our purview and what we can actually accomplish at the same time, I think.

Yeah. So, we're inter interleations here. I think the 27 of the qualified workforce uh sounds interesting, but uh the way I look at it, it's probably lower priority than the housing issues. And if we needed to drop something, that'd be pretty high in my list of things to drop. Um [clears throat] not sure what the consequence is of that, but um I think just relative to other conversations, I um I don't know if I need to make a motion on that or is that we're not in that kind of mode right now. We're just conversing. Okay, cool. U and then so if we can come back to then number 10 right we're flipping around [clears throat] here. Um, Angie, I agree with you. Uh, creating that, um, reference to an external list where proper nouns are identified and can be maintained more easily, uh, with, you know, if there's like a rebranding of the airfield maybe came to mind when you described your bus stop situation. But um yeah, so I uh I'm I'm excited by the opportunity for Martin Airfield and I'm glad that we're thinking about that uh the proximity of that to the rail line and and uh um what some speculative thoughts come to mind. I'll just keep those to myself. but u with technologies coming on on on the horizon. But the um I'm glad that we're thinking about that and it's uh um so I would encourage us to keep that in the goals somehow even if referenced to um on another list.

Yeah, thank you. Lots of good discussions especially on goal 10. John, I appreciate you calling out that that need for having you know that specific asset called out in the goal for funding. um you know there's an opportunity to say operation of Barton airfield as you know and other unique community assets that maybe are another list that we developed that can be updated um as needed um which would open up more potential funding opportunities. Are there any other goals that no longer feel like they fit um the vision of college place that we haven't touched on yet? I'm not necessarily advocating for like a specific one to be removed, but just noting that under community and character, we have, I believe, four goals related to the historic value. Um, so that would be the category where I would most advocate for some um not condensation. The word escapes me. Thank you. Yeah, condense. Maybe that's the word you're thinking of.

Yes. Thank you.

Yeah. Okay. So, perfect. Yeah, we'll make a note of that and I agree. I think you know I the tag and both you know this group the planning commission looked at those 32 goals and you know kind of the resounding theme was there are a lot of goals. So, we definitely want to look at refining and reducing um uh repetitive goals um if possible. Um so, if there are no um other com or goals that we want to call out that no longer fit um or feel achievable or relevant, I I kind of want to flip the script a little bit and think of what challenges that are emerging are not addressed in this list of goals. um you know that could cover a wide variety of things, but I'd love to hear from this group if there's anything that just is blaring like this is not covered. We need to make sure that we cover this in some aspect. Commissioner Ivy, so I think that u the the goals are fairly broad and cover a lot of things. Uh so things that come to mind would be like potential for additional convenience stores or vehicle chargers or whatever and but a lot of that falls under infrastructure and things we've discussed already. I don't I hesitate to add more to the list. One of the challenges that I'm I see and this isn't a new challenge but uh with the economy the way that it is and it has been if it continues to decline that will be um a sign for concern for the for employers um being able to provide work. I know that budgets are being cut you know everywhere and so um employers that used to have a bigger number of employees now have lower number of employees. So, if there's a way that we

can look ahead at that and you know, if a big employer um ends up not being like what you were mentioning, you know, if Walmart ends up not being here anymore, you know, what um what do we do? How can we prepare for something like that? Yeah, I think I'd look to John for a little bit just to confirm. Um, but I guess that is a valid concern.

Yeah, that sounds like a a resiliency to me. Um, and I I I think we we could certainly look to see if we have something that addresses resiliency and I'm not seeing that from what I've seen tonight. Um that's a really good that that that scenario you have mentioned is a fear of mine. Um really they are they provide so much revenue uh that one particular store to the city that it would be major major issue.

Yeah. Along the same lines, I was thinking also with um um people being able to work from home a lot easier now than they used to, you know, even 10 years ago. Is there a way that we can um um I don't know, capitalize on that. Um, and so the more people we have here, the the [clears throat] better our economy because then they're spending, you know, their income locally and stuff. And but anyway, [clears throat] sort of piggybacking off of that comment, should we have any sort of goal related to broadband access?

Uh, Commissioner Ivy, I um I I think that uh the infrastructure might be solved for us as it comes from a different upward direction. And I wanted to note too that the the goals that you see today are for the entire comprehensive plan and as we are updating the comp plan each element um you know there's that list of mandatory elements with the addition of some of the optional elements the city has opted into. Um there will be goals developed for those elements. So, you know, broadband would would fall under that capital, facilities, utilities element um that had goals and policies related to that. And I don't have those list that list in front of me. So, there there quite possibly could be an existing policy related to broadband under that capital facilities and utilities element. Um I wanted to get this list in front of you because this is the first thing you see um you know, the first list of goals when you open the comp plan. Um, and I guess if there are no other like comments or questions, I can kind of go into what I um discussed earlier about condensing some of these.

But any other challenges, things that we need to touch on? I just have a a quick comment based on the previous one is um 17 and 23 kind of touch on that part of infrastructure. So I don't think it needs a specific call out. Okay. And Elizabeth, you worked on a parks plan for us. So, I think 14 could either be removed or rewarded. [clears throat]

Yes. Yeah. That parks plan has to be updated every six years for RCO funding. So, that goal could be rewarded to, you know, meet that requirement. Maintain or Yeah.

Yep. Page five. Yeah, we got it. [clears throat] Um, perfect. Okay. So, as I mentioned earlier, these, you know, 32 goals are the first thing, the first list of goals that you see in the comp plan. And internally, we are, you know, formulating that recommendation to condense these into goal statements. So, each of these themes would, you know, kind of get an accompanying statement that kind of embodies what these the purpose of these goals are. um they were kind of listed on that PowerPoint of like the purpose of those themes. Um and then respecting all of the work and the effort that the city and you know the past team has done with these goals, I would like to translate the goals where they fit in and put them into the elements. Um you know, if there's the infrastructure goals, put those into the capital facilities and utilities element and then rework those existing policies to fit those goals. um or vice versa. Um so that's kind of the direction that we're moving and you know we're going to take these themes and some of the recommendations from this group um and include them in our discussions with our tag at our second tag meeting. Um so any feedback you have now is great and appreciated and is going to help the tag um you know make you know future recommendations that we will then bring back to you for further you know refinement and feedback. Um, so there is one last question I have for the group. So how do these goals or tradeoffs or how do these goals guide trade-offs between preservation and progress? Kind of a hard, you know, it's a tricky question. So I just like to hear how does that make you feel? What do you think? What are those like first things that come to mind?

Commissioner Ivy, I didn't hear any strong um like competition between different uses of land. Like the big box stuff was on one place and the houses were in another. It didn't seem like we had necessarily prior I mean each thing had its place. So um so that that part seems like it meshes okay from what I understand. And then the I mean the the rest of the the goals I think the I mean they cover a lot um but the survey helps us I think um to understand the the community's um feelings about affordability of housing relative to some of the other um goals I think or

great thank And do you feel like these these themes these goal themes generally touch on all the aspects of college place or is there a theme that we're missing in this list of themes? You know, translating these into goal statements similar like what we did for the parks plan. you know, we had those goal statements and then we broke down the goals and policies for each, you know, section of the plan. So, that's, you know, the the format that we'll be moving toward for the comp plan update as well. Um,

you know, those [clears throat] statements are going to be that kind of first list. Oh, you're right. Okay. Sorry about that. They were like, what? Yeah. Personally, I thought that you guys did a good job um breaking those 32 things down into thematic categories.

Great. Um any other questions, comments, feedback? Not hearing any. Um, so unless we have a final comment. I saw Yeah, I uh maybe wait almost at the last minute, but um if it's not too late, could we What? Preservation. What are we preserving? We're preserving historic properties. We're preserving culture. What are we preserving? Small town.

I think that's up to the city. Yeah. like the priority is are we preserving you know that single family feel the single family dwelling feel or I think it's up to interpretation and I kind of left it open to kind of see what what that initial gut feeling was from you guys from the group what what are you worried about preserving what are you worried about you know how progress might affect something that might need to be preserved

yeah I was thinking that same thing commissioner I like what are we preserving? And it could be it could be historical buildings, but it also could be our some of our predominantly single family neighborhoods. Is it important to preserve those or are we willing do we want our comp plan to allow those neighborhoods to evolve into more dense neighborhoods? That's probably what we're, you know, being asked in, you know, air quotes to do, um, from, you know, the state and their expectations on on how we absorb our future growth. Um, so are, you know, do these do any of these are these goals and policies meeting that or are there things that, you know, we need to keep in mind? along those lines. When we think about [clears throat] um single family uh dwellings are preferred by by families by small families or you know bigger families. um if we were to convert that um because of state regulations or whatever or incentives um and we wanted to have more like apartment buildings or we need to make sure that we have um ways for people to um I don't know get out there like do their thing that they would do if they had a a small you know when you have a house you have to take care of it and so there's certain activity there's certain things that you do that you don't do with an department. The city doesn't have right now the city doesn't have a a community pool. Um it doesn't have um u places for youth to I mean they find um the the parks and things but there isn't like a sports complex there isn't uh you know things like that. And so when you have more apartment buildings, you have more

density of people, then you you need more of those st those outlets uh for people to get out and you know not just be I don't know more cramped. Um and so if we are thinking of going that direction because of um expectations from the state, then we also need to make sure that our town continues to have that feel of a small town and active and um outdoorsy [clears throat] and you know all of those things that make this a special place.

Yeah. I think it's kind of just a catch 22 these days of you know when you look at our main street and if you're approaching commercial builders and tenants and whatnot, they're going to want that density to support them, but then we're saying we don't have the amenities to build the density. And you're going to get into this loop. And at some point, you have to make a decision of where do we want to head? Where where do we want to progress? And uh something has to give. Yep, absolutely. Um, okay. There are no um additional comments, questions. You don't need to pull it up, Mary Elizabeth. This is just a timeline slide again that Angela shared earlier. Um, but just to reiterate, we're going to continue reviewing these goals um with this group, with the tag, with the community. um you know, we're going to take your feedback that we received today and refine these goals and kind of place them into the elements that you know makes the most sense. Um kind of rework those goal statements and have those ready for the tag to react to. Um and they'll provide you know recommendations for um planning commission. Um so, you know, making sure we're looking at community input, the data and any trends that we're seeing um in those survey responses. um and wanted to say thank you to the group. This is a really important first step um especially with the goals and it's really going to help us bridge, you know, what we've heard from the public and making sure that we're echoing that in the um updated comp plan and making sure the direction that we're going um is where, you know, the community wants to go and what we want to see for the next 20 years. Um again, thank you. You have a very important role in the comp plan update. So, I appreciate your time

and all of your feedback and your participation um in tonight's workshop. Um so, keep your inboxes open, look at the website, check social media, there'll be more updates coming from us or from, you know, staff. Um with that, I'll just leave it open to any other questions, comments, feedback. Um yeah, anything else from the commissioners? Thank you so much, Elizabeth. and Angela.

Awesome. Yeah, thank you so much. Um, you know how to get a hold of us. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out. Um, yeah, I will let you enjoy the rest of your evening. Um, [clears throat] fee update. Um, fee resolution update.

All right. So, as um I don't think we've talked about it with you all yet, but we're going to move to a new um permitting and licensing software. Uh it's going to be much more user friendly for the public. We'll have a civic access portal where people can kind of uh apply, pay, track their building permit applications, their planning applications, etc. uh with the city. And as we went through that buildout process, we were looking at our old uh fee schedule, comparing it to other municipalities and uh just wanting to stay up to date and also just clean it up a lot, reorganize it a little bit. So, um we have a fee ordinance in front of you with uh what we believe is uh I would call it pretty status quo. Um we aren't raising our prices significantly. Uh we are making things sometimes a little bit more um maybe adjusting for our time and energy, but uh for the most part it's mostly just organization and uh getting it ready to go into this new digital system. So uh if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them as you look through that red line. Um but otherwise we would just ask for a motion uh either recommending approval or not to uh city council as they will make the final decision on this.

I have a question. Um so this is self so you're recommending um software for um building um so like um contractors are the ones that are paying the fee or like citizens residents that are building. So it's not like a fee for the population the entire population of college place. It's only those that are building that are and it's uh for them to have access um online and to be able to track their process online. So, we're implementing this new software that's being that's happening. Um, while we were doing that implementation buildout process, we looked at our fees, compared them to other municipalities, the county, the city of Walawala, even Tri Cities. Um, just making sure our fees are up to date. We're capturing our time and energy and effort. And uh there is also a technology fee and because this is a pretty expensive platform. Um so every application will also have a small fee to kind of keep that system up to date. Um we have licenses, user licenses and whatnot for all of our staff. Um maintain the system uh and whatnot. Do you know if the fees are significantly higher or are they like minimal? Um

u we tried to keep it pretty minimal. Uh if you look at the the charges um you know one moved to from $500 to $600. Most of them stayed pretty even. Here's a one that even dropped in price. when when we do these this is the first time we've brought a fee resolution um to a planning commission but we felt that it was revolent um and the timing was right um when we do these evaluate so this whole fee resolution covers all fees for the city but the only ones that are being changed are related to community development but we um we always try to keep our fees just below what our neighboring jurisdictions are typically so we're more competitive Um, Michael mentioned the 3% technology fee. Um, we had our finance department look at um, the cost of the software and um, what our revenue is has been in the last five years and what we're projecting out the cost to be to recover the implementation of the software. Um, and so at 3% I want to say it was like 10 year

10 year. So it's it's it's it's a fraction of what the actual software cost us and but it's it's something um to help cover um the annual expenses. Um so that's probably the most significant change. It is the most significant change is that 3%. the the county and the city of Wavala also have similar systems and a similar fee as well. Does that system allow um people to pay online and do they is the person paying responsible for the service fee?

The city currently is is taking on the expense for the credit card transaction fee. Um Walwall and the county actually are are passing that on to the customers. Um, that's something that I'm guessing will probably happen. Right now, between our utility and permits that are paid right now, it's somewhere between 100 and $150,000 a year that the taxpayers are covering through that credit card transaction fee. Um, which is a significant amount of money. Um and my recommendation would be to pass it on to the individual paying for that and not have the chance

and and and I think that will be something that's happening. Um council, you know, is in budget cycle right now and they're looking at, you know, taking their 1% property tax um increase. I think they're looking at doing three or 4%. But um so there there's already going to be some additional um taxes that are going to be increased um in this next year. So this this is one of those things that I think that they'll probably put a punt um for you know next year or maybe the year after um you know this next year will it'll be telling to see how much revenue you know how many transactions are being paid through credit cards additional with this new system. Um the some of the changes also are reflected based off of workflow. Um we our current pro uh program doesn't doesn't help the city with workflow. And so it it we realized that like oh we should actually you know have a permit for this or we should be charging an inspection fee for this. We hadn't been in the past. So there's some little things like that but it's relatively insignificant um in the whole scheme of things. Um, Commissioner IV, I'm um want to congratulate you for or I'm just I'm glad that you're looking at these uh these kind of systems. Although that may add a little bit of cost, I think that it's a leverage point. We can get the permits flowing higher quality output and get the city growing and moving plus friction. I think that will benefit us. Um, and I don't know, you know, what kind of payoff that is or whatever, but um, uh, I have no objection. And in fact, I was going to recommend, how do I say this? I move to recommend that the city approve the proposed fee ordinance as presented.

I second it. Um, it's been moved and seconded. Is there further discussion? I have one more question before calling for a vote. Um, under it's in section 4, you've got different fees um, related to reviews. Are those also subject to a technology fee? Cuz I didn't think I saw one. Every fee except for like the state fees is subject to the 3%.

Okay. It seemed like in every other category we did call that out within the category and I don't see it anywhere in um section 4. Um I don't think that's a reason to not move. I think that's a a correction that could be made if it is in fact missing and I'm not just overlooking it. Yeah. The intent is that there would be a the that charge. Yes. Okay. Um, any other comment or question? Okay. All those in favor of wording this to the city council with a recommendation for approval signify by saying I. I. I.

Any opposed? Same sign. Passes unanimously. I think we are into um staff reports.

Yeah. So, the comprehensive plan amendment um application that was turned in on July 1st and unfortunately we have had pretty much zero communication from the county on where we're at in that process. Um, I did I wouldn't say it was a complaint. I did send an email to county commissioner's clerk um outlining my concerns and did hear a response back from uh two of the commissioners individually and they are working towards getting the schedule ironed out. Um so hopefully we will know more um in this coming month. There has been a significant staffing change at community development. Um their director was released um and so they're down a person. So um I don't think that's going to help anything in the short term, but in the long term um hopefully things will get back on track. And um so we're hopeful that in in January or February their planning commission will have a workshop on our application and we'll you know we will appraise you of the information we have when we have it and let you know what the schedule's going to be. So

thank you. Any questions on that from the commissioners? Tyler Tech Enterprise. Is that the software we were just talking about?

Yep. So, just to piggyback on that last conversation, um our go live date is December 8th. We will be doing some public outreach regarding that go live. Um hopefully reaching out to some of our contractors and whatnot and letting them know. Uh if you want a little bit of information, you can go to the link that was provided regarding uh that Tyler Techch Enterprise permitting and licensing software. Um for about two solid weeks uh at the beginning of December, we're going to be heavy into it. They're going to send a uh end user trainer out to walk all of our staff through the the system um for a week and then they will have a support staff on site for the go live week uh December 8th and then we get about a month of support before they uh [laughter] turn the system completely over to us. So, we're hoping to iron out as many kinks as we can in this last little bit of time before we go live. But,

uh, Michael has been instrumental in the process of this. if if it doesn't go well. I will take all the blame as the department head, but um I don't know if you were aware of this, but um one of the reasons why Michael works for the city is that uh we were awarded a a grant from commerce to help streamline our permitting process. And so, um the first half of his employment here was covered through that grant. Um, and uh, so that's one of his primary goals right now is getting this implemented. He's done a great job. Um, I couldn't have done it without him. In fact, I tried to do it without him and it was a miserable fail. We started over. Um, and so, uh, yeah, he's been doing a great job. U, he's been working closely with all the, you know, the building inspectors and public works inspectors and reviewers, um, and our IT department. Um, so it's we're we are optimistic. It's it is the same company that Walawala just rolled out um this summer. Um, their permitting system. There are there are differences in that um their workflows are different than ours and whatnot. But from the customer side, we're hoping that it'll be a fairly similar experience, especially for the contractors um out there. um you'll still have to have your own account with College Place and Wall Wall. They'll be separate accounts, but still the we're hoping that the processes are going to be very similar. Um and then it also interties in with our finance side. Um it's the same company, so um that'll be a streamlined effort from staffing side. Um finance department was heavily influential in selection of this because of that feature. So

thank you Michael and to you to to you both for helping the city move forward. Um can you tell me with uh the so there's the implementation for for you for the city to use it um will the um will your customers so contractors or I don't know residents whom whomever needs to use it will they also have some kind of training? Will they have instructions so that it's easier for them? I'm thinking of the ones that are not very, you know, techy that um have been doing, you know, construction for years but have never had to deal with like, you know, the technology part of it. [laughter]

Say the name. So, we will retain just our regular old applications [snorts] and whatnot uh and accept them in person on paper or or via email if if necessary and we can scan them into the system and and put them in manually. Um so, we will retain those those services uh for sure. While we would love everybody to apply online, it it just does not happen. Um, in the meantime, uh, we will try to produce some PDF walkthroughs of the system to try to familiarize everybody. Um, I know Walabala has like 18 different little PDF walkthroughs um, on different parts of the system, which I believe they hijacked from another city, which we might hijack from them. Um, [laughter] so, uh, yeah,

smart. We will make sure that we change all the headings, I guess. [laughter] Correct. Does Tyler Technologies offer any training videos or are they all geared towards um, backend system users if they have them? I would have to ask that. Um, I would assume the the civic access site is the most uniform probably because every municipality has to build their back office private facing side from the ground up, which is a lot.

Yeah. [laughter] and mind-blowing because there's a there's a lot of jurisdictions in Washington state that we're not the first ones to implement Tyler. Um there's a number of them on the west side and we're like we all do it the same way. It's Washington state. It's all RCWs and building codes like and and they're like no you have to build it your way. And we're like you don't understand. We don't have a way. We came from a system that didn't have workflow so like help us. understanding that. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it's been a lot. Um,

can I make a comment of um I just don't feel like 76 people are representing this accurately in that I know they said that's a good representation. Is there a way we can get this in the mayor's notes or something? Everybody gets a bill. They're gonna see it a little more visually on the may your your bill for each month. your mayor's comments. I guess that goes out and Christmas tree lightning. Uh uh I mean

yeah, sorry. We really hammered that and it was a little bit demoralizing to like only get that many. But in today's day and age, I just don't think

we we hit we had social media posts um uh push out on our we had it on our web page. I hit every business in town and where I could put hangup flyers with the QR code on it. I did that. Um North College Avenue, South College Avenue. Um we the coaster idea was our idea. So, we had those at Rogers Bakery and Coffee Shops and down Hop Thief and and Happy Wander. Um, on all the buses, bridge, have we reached out?

Stops. Yes, thank you, Angie. Um, you know, so, you know, he Yeah, sure. No, I just wondered if I was the only one thinking that way, but the other the other thought that comes to mind is the number one concern is housing. So the number one reach out should be to builders. I happen to know a fair bit. Um have we reached out to them individually for their comments since they're building individually? No. Um, I mean, we provided I gave a presentation to every board and commission that I could and I've sent emails to all of our tag members, all of you, all of the contacts that I possibly can with the survey to distribute if [snorts] they could push it further than I can. And that's all we got.

I I shared the same sentiments that um Brandon shares um shared and I wonder if um we could do more in terms of um reaching people what he was saying about the the mayor used to send the newsletter with the with the water bill. I I haven't seen that. Um I don't know that she does. I I don't know if she sends a message. I don't know. But um I do see the bill, but that's all I see because I used to see both and now I only see the one. So there is the newsletter and I as far as I'm aware she still does her monthly last week

and so I um but I wonder if uh reaching out to the schools and have them they have parent teacher conference. Yeah, I worked with Jim and he I think he put it out in their within their system and we worked with Walu and we actually asked Walu actually weighed in on the survey questions itself because we asked them to push it out to their students and they wanted to make sure that the questions were appropriate. And so like we I mean we might have missed a rock or two, but I'm pretty sure Yeah. No, you guys. Don't get offended. We're just

No, no, we're not. No, it's I'm I'm glad you're bringing it up because it I want everyone to know that like we we did really try hard and and it is I mean that's less than 1% of our population, right? And may maybe it's a longer window

and I'm Yeah. or something. But um these are very big decisions being made for the entirety of college plays and so the number and the window to you know I'm just what comes across. I think the the interesting thing I would what I would say is that the responses that we got in the survey really do seem to echo what I hear personally when I talk when community members find out who I am and they're like, "Oh, I really love what's going on at College Place. Like you guys have got it going on like I wishala would do this." Um the being in that park, I mean, constantly because that project's not done yet and I'm that's my project. Um you know, I'm in in there not so much right now, but every time I was in that park, somebody would come up to me and and say how wonderful it is. I love the community events and we need, you know, we need more affordable housing. I mean, you know, so and and and every single one of them is mostly saying we want houses, not not apartments, but you know, but then when we do talk about that and when I get in conversations with people, they understand like, well, yeah, we have to have some apartment complexes, too. But it's not all or want. I uh I'll just say that I saw the opportunity on more than one location and I did not participate and [clears throat] giving me more time would not have made me participate. So,

um I don't I don't want to make it sound like I'm discrediting this conversation. I think it's really important, but I also think we should acknowledge that people are very surveyed out and we have three different jurisdictions hitting up the local community for the same survey. Like technically the questions will be different and they're four different people, but as a just general consumer, it's the same survey. I already did that. Why would I do it again? Wh which are the other jurisdictions? uh the city of Walaw Wala and the Walaw Wala County and they have results for their surveys.

I don't have the answer to that, but I do know that they're all in the same phase of update and doing their outreach right now. They would have presented to their planning commissions. Um yeah, and and sorry, they're and they're getting they're getting similar results. They're wall is probably getting a little bit higher number on their surveys, but and they're probably doing a little better on their turnout on for like their open houses, but the county apparently their open house was 10 people. Yeah.

So, I was the director of marketing for Brookdale. I know. Don't worry about that. But [laughter] the best results we had were giving away a free turkey. a bazillion people show up from all across. Finding the right mechanism to get the people to show up is the key.

May I make a comment? [laughter]

May I make comment on that uh survey? Um my observation is that um the target audience might be different. Okay. Because we we are serving the the people the resident here but what the the bigger needs out there as as uh commissioner stepper was mentioning a lot of the activity in college please revolve around the big event of the university. Okay. So whether it's alumni weekend, whether it's graduation weekend, those are the time when the the real need is accommodation. There is really nothing to accommodate the influx of visitor whether it's parents, whether it's alumni coming back, you know, people have to stay all the way to Penitentan for example. Okay, just to find a place to stay. So the survey is whether it's from the perspective of the resident who does not want um you know hotel or this uh you know a place that can accommodate people versus the actual need of you know the the the crowd that come to this place. So, those are my thoughts.

Yeah, thank you, uh, Commissioner King. Um, we actually did a study on, um, the on whether or not there was a need for um for hotel motel in College Place and and there is. um that doesn't necessarily mean the community wants it, but that that's an interesting the results on I was surprised to see that because I don't hear that when I talk to people. People are like, "We need a hotel." Like we I don't when people come to town like they have to stay in W Hall or my basement and that, you know, so I was surprised to see that number so low. And and we have commercially zoned property that if a hotel showed up and built to the standards that they needed to, we wouldn't stop them by any means. uh we would welcome them, but it's it's a matter of getting people that, you know, getting a client that wants to come here and and and develop.

Any other questions about Tyler Technologies? We do have a couple of other business items if if um that aren't on there, but um one I just wanted to give a quick update on how many single family units we built this year. We've permitted uh 16 um so far and I think we have a couple more, three more that are approved and they just haven't paid for them so they don't count yet. But um so that's up from two of last year. So that's yay for us, but [laughter] um was hoping that we would have all of the the villages of Garrison Creek that first phase or phase 12 built out or close to it, but it's been a little slower with the interest rates where they're at. And so um but they are um they're selling slowly uh and they're still, you know, planning on the putting the infrastructure in. As far as I know, that's what they've committed to me for the next phase. So, getting that going next year. So,

do you know what the price range for is for those for that community? They're in the six to 700,000 66 650 I think. Um kind of steep, but um you know that fills a need for there's a market for that. um it takes the alleviates some of the pressure off of the other affordable units in the area. So,

yes. Um and then the other thing we wanted to talk about is the meeting start time. Would people the commission be in favor of an earlier start time? Um, maybe 5:30 or 6. Doesn't take long to Please. Yes. Is there a consensus with the group on a time that would be better? Uh, I'm in favor of six. Same. I I would be more in favor of six than 5:30.

So, this would be something we would need a motion on to change. Yes. Okay. Was that a motion? The person who said six, [laughter] uh, Commissioner Ivy makes a motion that we change the start time of the planning commission meetings to 6 p.m. Commissioner Rice would second. It's been first and seconded. Is there any further discussion? All those in favor of adjusting the schedule for future meetings to start at 6 p.m. signify by saying I. I. I. I. Any oppose? Same sign passes unanimously. Yay. I haven't been wanting to do that for 21 years. [laughter]

Angie, did did we vote on the recommendation to the council for the fee schedule? We did. We did. Okay. Thank you.

Can I make one comment as a builder that the fees are a direct reflection on the cost of the house and if we want to build with a city and I was happy to build with a city, but that relationship is key. Anything else? I do have one really important question before we close the meeting. Will there be a baby shower for your baby Tyler to be born on December 8th? Oh, I'm disappointed. [laughter] No, I'm talking about the technology. I follow. [laughter]

Okay. Do we have to do a formal motion or can we just conclude? We need a motion. Okay. Would anyone like to move to conclude the meeting? Yes. Motion. It's been moved. Second. It's moved and seconded. Any further discussion? All those in favor of concluding the meeting signify by saying I. I. I. Anyone opposed? Your mic does not work. Oh. Um, our next meeting is scheduled for December 16th now to start at 6 PM.