Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, it is 6.01, sorry for the delay. I'll go ahead and call this meeting of the Planning Commission to order. Shari, can we have a roll call, please?

Chair Richardson?

Here.

Vice Chair Lambert?

Here.

Member Anderson? Here. Member Hernandez? Here. Member Arm? Here. Member Leonard?

Not here.

Not here. And then member LeConte.

Officer. He told me he.

He's not going to make it, but I don't know if I'm still supposed to actually call their name.

Well, I think if they're excused, we note it for the record. Okay. Because he's on a work trip.

I didn't know if it was supposed to be me who notes it or if I wait for you guys. So maybe I'll just.

I only know it because I work with him. Okay. So I guess for others, if anybody knows it, we probably should just put it to the record.

Okay. Perfect. So he did let me know, so he is not going to be here, but I didn't know if I still need to call his name. So I will in the future just note it.

Sorry. Thank you. Can I have a motion and a second for the approval of tonight's agenda, please?

Motion to approve tonight's agenda.

Thank you. Second. All in favor? Aye.

Aye.

Motion passes. Thank you. And we move right into public comments. So Shirari, will you please give us the definition or the rules for the public comments, please?

The purpose for a public comment period is to give the audience an opportunity to speak to the Planning Commission concerning items that are not on tonight's agenda. If you are here to speak on an item that is on the agenda, please wait until the hearing is opened on that particular agenda item. To provide an orderly process, audience members who wish to speak during this comment period, please raise your hand to be recognized by the chair. Approach to the lectern and speak into the microphone. State your name and address for the record. Fill out a card and hand it to staff. Please limit your comments to no more than two minutes. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anybody here who wishes to make public comment today? All right. Seeing none, we will move on. The approval of the minutes for May 27th, 2026 planning commission meetings. Can I have a motion, please?

Motion to approve minutes from May 27th, 2026 meeting.

Second. All right. Are there any comments from commissioners about the minutes? Any changes that need to be made? Then all in favor, aye.

Aye.

All right, all opposed, same sign. Motion passes. Unfinished business, is there any unfinished business? Doesn't look like it. Okay. New business, great. Nicole, welcome. Overview of the city development codes and code adoption process.

Thank you. My name is Nicole Stickney. I'm with AHBL. We are the prime consultant on the comprehensive plan update. And tonight I wanted to give kind of some background information that I think will be helpful to you in the future when we bring proposed code updates. So the purpose of tonight's discussion is just to kind of talk about it a little bit, get questions answered and prepare you for next steps. So for anyone who might have thought we were gonna talk about coding tonight, like computer coding, that's not what we're talking about. But as a quick comparison, when we are working on development codes, zoning codes and subdivision code, I would say there are some similarities. You want to make sure that you are very well organized, that it's logical, and you want to make sure that you don't have little bugs and things like that. So that's about as creative as I could get with that, but yeah, we're not talking about computer coding, we are talking about development codes. The development codes for the city of Richland include the zoning code, the subdivision code, and also we look at the critical areas ordinance which is in the environmental chapter of the code. There's also of course building codes and things like that. So we'll talk a little bit about the context and how it all fits together. And we gave you a little primer, I guess, of things to read from an older document. It was provided in your packets. It came from the short course guide from the Department of Commerce. Again, it's from a couple years ago, but It's a little hard to come by something that's more general to give you an introduction, so that's there if it's helpful to you. But today we are going to be talking specifically to how Richland's code is organized and used in the community. And the reason why we're going to go over this is because, of course, any proposed changes to the code are reviewed by the Planning Commission. You're looking at any of those proposed changes and updates and how they align with community goals and comprehensive plans Eventually, you'll be making a recommendation to City Council for adoption We want you to consider how adjustments will guide permitting and planning decisions for community growth and And we acknowledge that you all come with different experience levels. And it's by design that we come to the Planning Commission for this type of review and to hold the public hearings for these types of proposed changes. because you come with different experience levels, you're gonna view it in different ways. You are going to help ensure that there's informed and consistent participation in reviews. So you'd be listening to the public and hearing testimony if folks come forward and have comments. And I would also note that this thoughtful process of reviewing the code is good for transparency. It's also good for predictable development and then leads to the long-term, ideally the long-term community health and vitality. So once again, I would emphasize that you are here in an advisory role to council to look at proposed changes, which will be coming. You might remember a couple months back I gave a description about some of the state mandated changes related directly to housing. So certainly that will be a big focus area. And just to reiterate, development codes are how we implement the comprehensive plan. So comprehensive plan has policies, it has a vision, it has different goals, but the actual code is how it gets implemented in the community. Any questions about that before I move to my next slide? Oh, and we're not using Java, we're not using C or C+, I learned C back in school. We are hopefully in really good clear English providing our codes and so that it's very clear and understandable to the public. We try to reduce the amount of jargon and things like that in the code. It's a little hard to totally get away from that, of course, but I would emphasize that's important, really looking at language. So what are the development codes? I talked a little bit about the different specific types in the city. Municipal code language is often very technical, it's precise, and ideally it's designed to reduce ambiguity and ensure consistent Application so we want to be consistent with different permit applications. We want to be consistent with different activities in the city so that Folks who are maybe in the same zoning district as one another even if they're across town. It's basically the same rules applied and it's straightforward So there's predictability FOR PLANNING COMMISSIONERS DEVELOPING FAMILIARITY WITH HOW CODE SECTIONS ARE STRUCTURED AND WRITTEN IS IMPORTANT TO YOU, SO THAT'S WHY WE'RE GOING TO KIND OF TRY TO BREAK THIS DOWN. THIS INCLUDES UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE'S DEFINITIONS, THERE'S CROSS REFERENCES, SOMETIMES CONDITIONAL LANGUAGE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S MANY TIMES DIFFERENT REFERENCES THROUGHOUT. SO WHEN YOU'RE REVIEWING OUR PROPOSED CODE AMENDMENTS, WE'LL TRY TO WRITE YOU VERY GOOD STAFF REPORTS TO LEAD YOU THROUGH IT AND TO CALL THINGS OUT. And we'll help you interpret how specific provisions might apply to a particular situation. I want to emphasize that clear interpretation helps to ensure those decisions are grounded in adopted regulations rather than a personal preference. This also helps support legal defensibility. This also has to do with property rights. What can people develop on their land? It's not supposed to be arbitrarily decided by a person. It's decided by the community, and then the codes are applied uniformly. So the codes might cover things like what uses can be done with the land, how buildings are placed. They might have design guidance or requirements, just specifications about infrastructure requirements. All of those things can get packaged in together. So let's pause for a minute and think about the difference between building codes and zoning. So I'm gonna lean in a little bit to read this better, but the zoning things that we see are zoning classifications, a list of permitted uses, conditional uses, what are the rules for parking and say loading requirements. How much of a lot can you cover? And how do you get a permit processed? And what's the appeal process? Those things all fall under zoning. Whereas the building code is more prescriptive in terms of construction, how many exits you need, about fire suppression, it's more safety, it's about number of occupants, things like that. Now the building code, as you may know, is typically adopted by reference, and that might be tweaked a little bit for the local community, but for the most part we're using a uniform standard, which is known as the International Building Code. So this kind of illustrates a little bit of that for you.

Nicole, is the building code something that we will look at at all during this comprehensive plan?

No, that does not come to the Planning Commission, and it's not part of the comprehensive plan update. That is more of a ministerial process. the city is following state requirements for certain code adoptions in that case. So the fire code, the building code, that's the kind of stuff that doesn't come to you because it's not really discretionary in nature.

I understand that, but I meant, is it at all, it's not at all part of the comprehensive plan?

No.

Okay, thank you.

Any other questions? Okay. So when we're successful, what do development codes do for us? First of all, they can implement the long-term community vision, and that's really what we've been talking about for the last several months and different meetings that we've held. So we're looking at what is Richland going to be in the future? And once we get that formed up, we have a comprehensive plan either before that or with it. We're thinking about the codes, how to implement these plans and policies so that those daily decisions add up to the right outcome. As I mentioned, property rights are a big part of consideration when we're looking at codes and permitting. So we want to make sure that we're balancing private property rights with the public interest things like health safety and welfare Kind of the classic examples there So we're looking at all of that and And then we want to ensure predictability and investment. This is really important to people who are investing in our communities, doing development, doing projects, local business owners, and homeowners. You know, homeowners making improvements or moving to the community. We want our codes to be very clear and user-friendly, easy to understand. Like I was saying, it should be... EASY TO FOLLOW ALONG. WE WANT TO PROVIDE PREDICTABILITY AND SUPPORT THOSE INVESTMENTS BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE PUTTING A LOT OF MONEY IN INVESTMENT FORWARD AND YOU WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE'S THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF FLEXIBILITY BUT ALSO YOU CAN BE LEGALLY DEFENSIBLE. SO IT'S A TOUGH BALANCE. BUT THIS IS WHAT WE'RE DOING. AND WE'RE ALSO LOOKING TO REDUCE PERMITTING UNCERTAINTIES. Okay, so let's talk for a minute about zoning districts. And I know you're familiar with the land use map and the zoning map. I'll go over that a little more in detail on the next slide. But what I want you to think about is that zoning doesn't just regulate buildings. It also organizes what activities can happen where. It talks about what level of review is required or type of permit. And all of this has to do with how the community grows. One thing I do want to call out is that some state bills have emerged in the past few years. I think this is pretty new. There might be other examples from the past, but I haven't seen a lot in the say past 10 or 15 years, but certainly the last couple years, some state bills have emerged that preempt or dictate some of the zoning codes. So I just wanted to make that clear. There are some things that say cities must adopt these regulations by a certain date or they take effect by default. And so there's less discretion locally, and we'll be very clear with you about when those occur and what's happening with that. The best example off the top of my head is the middle housing bill. We've talked a little bit about that before, but it is a... set of automatic regulations that go into effect even if we don't take action locally. But of course we want to be able to craft the language and cater it to the community. So we probably don't want to bring the default code in. We want to make sure we're complying with the state regulations but catering it within the boundaries that we can, if that makes sense. SO THE ZONING DISTRICTS DO DIVIDE THE CITY INTO DIFFERENT AREAS THAT COULD HAVE SPECIFIC LAND USES OR A RANGE OF LAND USES COUPLED WITH DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS. AND IT'S TO ORGANIZE GROWTH. IT'S TO CREATE GOOD SEPARATION BETWEEN USES THAT ARE NOT COMPATIBLE. THERE'S A LOT OF REASONS WHY CITIES WENT TO DO ZONING. It mostly had to do with pollution and trying to keep people safe distance from industrial uses, things like that. And so it really comes back to what are the impacts of different uses and how it can affect people and how we can organize our built environment so that people can be comfortable, have safe living situations, things like that. In general, you're looking at these kind of different buckets, which is typically residential zoning, commercial zoning, industrial zoning. We also do have mixed use districts, which can be any of the above. Public lands are sometimes zoned in their own category. It kind of depends on the local community objectives and goals that they decide to do that. You could also have things for like institutional zoning, like a for university campuses, we know we've got that zone in town, or schools, different categories. But the idea is that there's usually these bigger categories and then different subcategories for each type. Each one does support unique development patterns and hopefully creates compatible land uses in their geographic arrangement. Now, the zoning also can set the building size, like a maximum, the maximum building height, density. Density could be a minimum, it could be a maximum. Usually it's maximum only. Setback standards, things like that. So kind of those bulk and width dimensional aspects to buildings is addressed The State also has a new regulation that's come out talking about vacant commercial spaces and putting residential uses in them. So that's another issue where the state is going to preempt local zoning in some ways. So we'll be looking at that very closely in the future. I just wanted to call that out. It's like reuse of commercial buildings. Okay. So let's take a minute and talk about the land use map and the zoning map. This, these are the current, um, current maps. And I just showed a portion of the city, um, on the left hand side, we've depicted the land use map. That is a policy document that lives inside of the comprehensive plan. If we want to change the land use map, we have to go through a comprehensive plan amendment or periodic update in this case. Um, Typically a land use maps can have fewer categories than a zoning map and it's gonna guide the future That being said we do try to make sure they're aligned we don't really like conflicts between the land use map and the zoning map but I In some cases, that is exactly what is done. The land use map is going to put out these different categories. I usually try to call them classifications, and then when we're looking at a zoning map, I try to say zoning districts, just so that I'm not mixing up the two. So the zoning map is shown on the right. That is a regulatory document. So that is what is actually used when a person comes to the permit counter and they want to apply for a building permit for a new use. Say, I'm gonna build a building, it's gonna be a bakery. So we look at what the zoning is to make sure that they can operate where they propose to. In some cases, they'll come in and say, where can I do X, Y, Z, right? And so then it's the opposite question. Let's find those places where those opportunities exist. There are many different zoning districts, as you can see, and typically we'll have I don't know, maybe twice as many zoning districts as land use or a one to three. It just depends on how a city just chooses to organize. I will say that through this process, we are trying to reduce stuff down. There's some zoning districts that are only in a few parcels on the map. Those lands can be reassigned. So later on, you'll kind of see what I'm talking about, how we've kind of thought through how we might make things a little more simple. But yes, there are always many zoning districts. And then also, I would also call out, you can also have zoning overlays. And that's things where we need to create another sort of usually protective district. And I think the best example is that it would be really good to have an airport overlay in Richland. so that the area that's around the airport can be geographically delineated for what land uses nearby can be compatible. It's a small airport, We still want to follow kind of the state's guidance in terms of that stuff. PASCO does have an overlay for their airport. And so there are certain areas where even if you're zoned and you're allowed to have a school, you can't because you're in maybe the landing path of the airport. of the airport. So it's really about safety. Usually there's land use compatibility overlay and then a separate overlay which has to do with building height because we want to make sure that we're not building large structures where it's going to cause a problem with airspace above for the airport. Other overlays might be example, you might have examples, well in our current Richland code, there's three different plates, is what they're called in the code, but they're delineations of certain sub areas of the central business district. So there's like a medical one, there's uptown, and those are used just to guide design type stuff. So that's another example. So it can vary from municipality to another one, but I wanted to call that out as well, that these overlay districts are in addition to zoning. And they might give or take in terms of, you know, however they function in terms of uses or regulatory aspects.

I just have one quick question before we move on. Not sure if you would know the answer to this, but Would there need to be any proposed changes for say the data center project that's getting a lot of visibility right now? Is there anything that we would be reviewing or that would be requested in changing what's on these two currently for that to happen?

I believe so. It will either occur in the near term with this comp plan update or the city is also doing a separate process to look at economic development type zoning reform. And I don't know too much about that because that... opportunity just was published. And I just have had some preliminary conversations with staff. So I would say likely you can expect that either now or in the next year or two.

Okay. And then similar to with the parking ordinance, are we going to have Someone come in and do an analysis of the impact of that potential change due to what they're requesting to go there Or is it more just focused on like the comprehensive plan and the zoning changes themselves?

Yeah, good question What I would anticipate is that project level so many different projects can come about of a particular use data center or anything else and And so what we try to do when we're crafting our code is not try to look at all the different possibilities but come up with a review structure. So what is the criteria that needs to be looked at when a permit is considered, things like that. So that's how it will look. Parking was a little bit different because they were trying to look at the actual functionality and the ramifications of the code because it was more of a standard that was being changed. as you've seen in the code, that we do allow industrial uses already. I don't know where a data center would fit in with existing uses right now, but I would anticipate that since it is so important, being talked about in the community, that that will come about.

Thank you.

Any other questions? On the land use map, zoning map? Oh, and we're going to do our best to really I'm going to tell you it's tricky because there's so many different zones. We get so many different colors. Some eyes can't see certain color differentiations. Different printers look different. Different screens look different. So I painstakingly work with my staff to try to get this to where it's approachable. I can't promise that every color will be a good color, but we try to. And sometimes they're ugly because we're trying to put the different colors on the map. Bear with us, but if you ever have questions or you're like, this isn't working for me, let us know. The other thing that we're doing is the city is so big and stretches so far north to south, we're looking like area by area so that we can actually just look at a page that's just the area we want to focus on. So when you get those materials, hopefully it will all work for you. And I will guarantee that you won't get black and white copies of any of these maps because, yeah, that's kind of an over my dead body situation because I've seen that happen before and it doesn't help anybody. So we're going to make sure you can actually read and interpret this stuff. Okay, I digress. So how do development codes shape the community form? We've been talking about this a little bit, but I just want to go a little bit into more depth. So zoning controls land uses. Everything from, yes, can I have a bakery to can I have a house? Are there certain limitations on the size of the house? All of that... THIS HELPS DICTATE AND GUIDE IF NEIGHBORHOODS DEVELOP AS RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, OR MIXED USE. THERE'S ALSO THINGS LIKE GRANDFATHERED USES AND GRANDFATHERED, LIKE, SAY, STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS. THOSE WE CALL NONCONFORMING USES. SO OUR CODE HAS TO SORT OF RELATE TO ALL OF THOSE DIFFERENT SITUATIONS. One thing you're going to notice a lot is that density is a very important topic in the code. And this is things like what's the minimum lot size for a house. That's going to change the overall density of a neighborhood, which changes the intensity. It changes what you need in terms of water demand. access to schools, things like that. So density is something that I want you to start thinking about in terms of what review and what land use patterns we're looking at. When we're talking about that, I'm also gonna give you information about where we are in terms of our land capacity for future development, with or without different changes to the zoning map and the code, because changes in either way is gonna skew things. and also what the state is requiring in terms of the different income bands for housing so we can meet those targets in terms of what's potentially available for growth and development. Okay, next, we use setbacks and height standards to inform the character of a neighborhood. So it's going to look different if you're building a house in, say, a more dense neighborhood than another because they're going to have different setbacks. There's going to be a different rhythm to the neighborhood street, things like that. When we do this, we're also thinking about access to light many times. Now that's more of like downtown areas because you're worried about tall buildings, casting shadows, things like that. But these types of things need to come into consideration even for cities the size of Richland. And then also we're looking at public spaces, how people can move around and that's why transportation is such an integral part of this land use planning as well. These development codes will influence the group patterns and influence those changes for different infrastructure needs over time. Any questions on that? Okay. So as a Planning Commission member, what are some key considerations and questions to ask? And this is also for people who are interested in the community and participating in this process. So you might ask things like, or maybe we would hopefully share this out in our briefings to you, our staff reports, but what is the purpose of a proposed amendment? Another question might be, what problem can this solve? We would wanna ask, is the proposed change in alignment with the city's comprehensive plan? So is it getting us closer to our future vision or is it too divergent? What are the potential impacts? And that's kind of thinking through at a project level, like what could be built. What are the effects on the overall development patterns? How will this affect housing availability and neighborhood character? And also, is the change tailored to be very narrow or does it have broader consequences? You might think about those kind of balancing items. SO IT'S IMPORTANT TO JUST KIND OF THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX A LITTLE BIT WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT THE CODES AND THINK, WELL, WHERE ARE WE ACTUALLY HEADED? EVEN MINOR CODE CHANGES, THINGS THAT LOOK MINOR CAN REALLY HAVE MAJOR LONG-TERM IMPACTS. AND SO CAREFULLY REVIEWING PROPOSED AMENDMENTS HELPS TO ENSURE ALIGNMENT WITH COMMUNITY GOALS. REAL QUICK, I JUST WANTED TO SHARE SOME DIFFERENT EXAMPLES. Because we're not just looking at state directives, we're looking at best practices as well. And so I just wanted to kind of call out a few things that have occurred across the state. So Walla Walla became the first city in the state to eliminate single family only zoning. So they got rid of that designation that said you could only have single family homes, instead they broadened it. That happened back in 2018. So they were sort of an early adopter of what now a lot of us have to do. They also notably relaxed their parking minimums and legalized ADUs at that time. So I think there were a lot of accessory dwelling units that were built in town that weren't necessarily legal because they weren't allowed in the zoning district. So I think it resolved that issue and kind of brought everyone into the fold where they It wasn't an illegal use. Something was actually permitted in the code. There was a great article in the Planning Magazine, which is a trade publication that featured Walla Walla. It was great when I got it in the mail one day and I saw Walla Walla on the cover. That was really cool because it's a nationwide publication, monthly type thing. Next, I would call out that Yakima, Washington changed their administrative procedures and codes. They were looking at improving development flexibility. One of the things they did was they clarified rules for tenant improvements and change of use permits. So they were looking very closely at that. They did kind of a focused overhaul of their code. COVINGTON DOESN'T FOCUS PRIMARILY ON LAND USE. INSTEAD, THEIR CODE ORGANIZES DEVELOPMENT AROUND PHYSICAL FORM, WHICH IS KIND OF PUT IN THE PRIMARY POSITION. THAT'S BUILDING PLACEMENT, HEIGHT AND MASSING, THE DESIGN OF THE FRONTAGE. relationship to the street, those types of things, first and foremost. And then they also look at connectivity, streets and sidewalks, kind of the elements of the public realm. The code is designed you could think, so that you can visualize the result before it's built. They use lots of drawings and different things like that. And they are primarily regulating their physical form of buildings rather than separating uses. So it's a different kind of approach. It's a different way of prioritizing how the city is organized in the zoning code. So that happened back in 2021. That was just for their downtown area. It wasn't the whole city, but it was their town center area where they applied that.

Nicole, quick question. On Walla Walla, have you heard any... feedback from the citizens, maybe staff there, or maybe in the, I don't know if you're reading ULI or what, but about their success or negative results from their code change?

Yeah. I remember their now city manager but former Development director Elizabeth Chamberlain she presented at a planning conference that was hosted here in the state and really That example has been kind of brought out as a showcase many times You know Walla Walla is unique. It's a it's a college town. It's also got a beautiful historic downtown There's just there's a lot of different uses there and I think that they just looked at what they had already in the community, and they said, how can we deregulate? Because we really want to... open up those opportunities, you know, where people... Maybe there's a nice big historic home. Like, why should this home just remain single family forever and ever? If somebody wants to make it into, say, three different units and divide it up, they should be able to do that. That was, I think, part of the impetus.

But they... Any... How many units have come online? Have they had any results? I know it's not really that long in the grand scheme of things, but...

I would have to look to see and get back to you on maybe how this... was a impetus for new housing starts, things like that. But certainly those that are kind of the policy walks were supportive of it. So in terms of outcomes, I'll have to look and see if there's a report out there or a evaluation of how it benefited the community in terms of creating new housing opportunities.

I guess it doesn't matter as much since we're kind of forced to do it now. Yeah, yeah.

could look at it that way um Mike Rizzitello also asked that I present a little bit about just another case study outside the state, looking at Buffalo, New York's green code. So this is a form-based code. So as you can see, it's got lots of pictures. It's got descriptions about different frontage elements. And so you kind of figure out what zoning district you're in. And then you might look at these different building types. building typologies, then you might look at the different uses that you want to do secondarily to that. And then they kind of have, I don't know, maybe different modules is the way to think about it. Like what are those requirements? Do you have to come out to the street? Can you be further back? It's very design oriented, right? To me, this looks a lot like what we have in the LUDAR. for Badger Mountain South, and that community was planned kind of a long, different set of building typologies and patterns and things like that. So that might be the best example I have for that. Oh, goodness, the other things we have to think about, we want to align codes with policies that foster community trust, have legal defensibility, and support also the strategic outcomes that we want. But these are some of the things, you know, if I did a mind dump of things that you have to think about nowadays. So we have new GMA requirements. We've talked about that a lot. um we might think well how have the community needs shifted right like the zoning code should be more or less a living document because there's uh we're not living the same way that we did in the year 2000 or in 1992 or in the 70s so we you know have to take that all into consideration um The other big picture things we have to think about, technology and how that impacts different things. We get around town differently. We're using GPS navigation. We're different. beings in a way and so we have to think about those types of things there's also new technologies and trends that have emerged that we didn't have before like food trucks you know weren't really a thing before maybe maybe there were some food trucks in a couple places but they didn't have the they weren't trending and now they are so we have to think about all of that Battery energy storage systems is another example. I did, and I think I'm just going out in the weeds a little too much, but I did want to just mention project timing investing. That has to be addressed in the code as well, so I just wanted to make sure I mentioned that. And then up in the right-hand corner, I noted that development agreements and private covenants have a role, and that's the HOA stuff, right? So we're going to be aware that that's also something that's out there, but the city does not review and regulate. But certainly there are potential restrictions beyond just the municipal code that might apply to a property. Just a quick reminder of that. Now this next slide is just for illustration. Before we made this presentation, kind of analysis to see what could be built today in terms of these different middle housing types that the state put into legislation. So what this exercise was all about was saying, okay, stacked flat, like we don't have that in our code, but could you build it? Yes, you could build it in several different zoning districts. So this was just kind of a takedown of just trying to understand how the code works right now with respect to our current zoning. The reason why I bring this up is just to show that with our analysis, we can look at these different key questions and focus in on certain topics specifically. So just an idea. And then the other reason I wanted to show this here is to explain that our use tables are going to be very important as you're reviewing the zoning codes. So that's where we're actually separating out what kind of use is permitted or allowed. You have to get a permit, depending on what the use is, certainly if you're building a structure. Do you have to get a conditional use permit? What type of review is required? Things like that. So now I'm going to go through a series of quick slides, almost done here, but talk to you about kind of how the code is organized, just so you know what you're looking at when the time comes to review some proposed changes. So building blocks. First of all, definitions I think are core to our code and making sure that the code can be successfully applied and well understood. So when we're talking about different terms, that are used in the code and you might look at what we have right now in chapter 2306. We know that clarity and precision really counts. We want to have plain and unambiguous language. We want to be consistent and we want to align the terms that we have in there with the regulatory intent. Misinterpretation is a real issue. We want to make sure that we try to prevent that to the extent feasible with very effective and well-written code. So for example, you might have somebody who wants to do a short-term rental. Is that gonna be considered lodging? Is that a residential use? Or is it something else? That depends on how we define it. So definitions are a critical backbone to our work. So we'll be updating that chapter, and then next, the chapter's listed here. Zones are what determine different uses are allowed in the city and where. And typically, the way we structure that is something, as I mentioned, is permitted or allowed. Maybe it's accessory to a permitted use, meaning you have to have that principal primary use before you can do the accessory use. Classic example is an accessory dwelling unit. Special use, so something that needs a special use permit. A minute ago I said conditional use permits, synonymous. And then if something's not allowed, that needs to also be clearly set out. Doesn't mean that you have to put symbols everywhere, but you have to say, okay, if it doesn't say that it's allowed, then it's not allowed. That's kind of the approach usually. So allowed uses, which are sometimes called permitted uses, as I mentioned, are those that are allowed by right when a project meets all of the applicable development standards. And those don't require any further review by a board or a commission. In the case of Richland, we have a hearing examiner or board of adjustments that look at different conditional uses or special uses. So those are allowed only after additional review and approval. Typically a public hearing is involved. And the reason is those have greater potential impacts on surrounding properties. Going through that process allows the city to tack on to a project certain special conditions or requirements to mitigate what those impacts might be. and to ensure compatibility with the selected area. So it's more of a specific look at, okay, where are you proposing to do it, and what's the extent of this project, and what are the impacts? Again, impacts is the key word there. So zoning codes don't just say yes or no. Instead, they define how a use is allowed. For example, single family homes are allowed in a residential zone, or In the case of special uses, it means that it may be allowed but requires additional review, typically needs a public hearing. An example for that might be a daycare in a residential neighborhood. Any questions on that? If you've spent any time looking at the code you've seen. what I'm talking about here. Next, we want to highlight that supplementary standards apply to many of the districts, and we organize that in a separate chapter, because many times it's a one-to-many relationship. You might have a set of standards that are for use or for certain configuration, and you'll know which zoning districts that goes to. This is organized in Chapter 2338 of your code, and right now the topics include architectural features, carports, patios and porches, fences, landscape maintenance. Moving along, we have general provisions and special conditions organized in Chapter 2342. The examples here are maybe you might have operating standards for various businesses, like limiting hours or... whether or not you can have a drive-through with a restaurant, things like that. Rules for swimming pools, rules about outdoor storage. You might have limitations on how that is done. So these regulations provide specific requirements for those special accessory uses throughout the city. Moving on, we'll talk again about dimensional standards. These are currently organized according to the zoning district. So each zoning district has the development standards set out. So we're looking at the minimum yard size. That also comes into play when we're doing subdivision review, right? Like what's the smallest lot that we can create? So we look at overall size, but also minimum lot width and depth, street frontage requirement. So how much, is there enough room for a driveway? Is there enough room for a front yard? Things like that is what we're looking at. The percent of lot coverage is another topic that you'll see there. Sometimes it's... In addition to or in place of, it could be called impervious surface coverage. That's just more about stormwater. We have requirements for building heights, minimum setbacks, requirements for screening is another example there. And then another key element or pair of key elements is, well, what do you have to do for your different uses for parking? And parking's been talked about a lot here. Landscaping is also included in chapter 2354. We have outdoor lighting standards at 2358. So you might have different lighting standards for commercial development, industrial, and so forth. So that's my kind of overview just to get you kind of primed and prepared down the road so you'll know what you're looking at when we bring forth some proposed zoning amendments.

Thank you.

Yeah. Any questions that I can answer on that?

I have a question. Are you expecting that you're gonna come with a brand new layout format for the zoning code or build from what we have?

It'll be a riot line document. So you'll see exactly like what's currently in the code and then what's proposed to be replaced I think that's the way that we can get through the process the best Whether or not there's kind of more of an overhaul that you will see that we're going to be reducing as I said the number of zoning districts, so we'll be consolidating things down We will Also include notation when something is required by state law so that you can very clearly see like okay, this is the requirement and then maybe we'll even tell you like city could go between this option and this option and we're recommending 20 feet or whatever the case may be. So yeah, we're gonna try to make it so it's very clear. Anybody could pick it up and see exactly what the city's proposing once we get to that point. But it's no small effort. It's going to be detailed and it's for writing code. It's like computer code, it's complex.

Yes. Thank you so much. And I don't know if this is the exact right time to do it, but I did want to bring something up. If you could go back to the slide that has the questions that we should be asking. And it sounds like there's some proposed changes that we're potentially going to be reviewing. So I would just like to say, Chair, fellow commissioners, over the past several months, we've heard considerable public interest regarding large-scale data center development in Richland. While I'm not asking the commission to take a position on any specific project, I would like to ask whether the commission would consider recommending that city council evaluate conducting a comprehensive study of the infrastructure, land use, utility, and long-term planning implications associated with data center development before additional decisions are made.

Not at this time.

Understood, my request is that staff place the topic on future planning commission agenda for discussion and if appropriate consideration for a recommendation to city council.

Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Okay, thank you, Nicole.

Yes, thank you.

Moving along. Transportation system plan project list presentation from Daniel Hendricks with the Transpo Group.

Getting back to your side. Here you go. Thank you, Nicole.

ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING, PLANNING COMMISSION. THANK YOU FOR HAVING US TONIGHT. SO LET ME JUST MAKE SURE THIS IS FINE FOR ME. THERE WE GO. SO MY NAME IS DANIEL HENDRIX. I AM WITH TRANSPO GROUP. WE ARE WORKING WITH THE CITY AND NICOLE ON UPDATING THE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM PLAN FOR THE CITY. to present some of our work, sort of show our progress, what we're coming to. The main discussion tonight is going to be around the project list, how we developed those projects and sort of identified what the needs are for the community looking out into that 20 year planning window. So first, I want to just sort of back up, give a high level overview. What is the transportation system plan and what are its objectives? So number one, it's supporting the overall comprehensive plan. It's really supporting and being used to develop the transportation element of the comprehensive plan, really identifying what the vision is for the transportation network over the next 20 years. So as part of that, we're looking to update it to make sure that we're meeting the Growth Management Act requirements, make sure that we're aligning with what the state is mandating, make sure that's being incorporated into this update. This third bullet here is what we'll be talking about tonight, is integrating and prioritizing those transportation improvements, making sure that they're serving all travel modes. That's one of the mandates from the state that we're planning for multi-modality, looking not only at vehicle travel, but also pedestrians, bicycles, transit as well. As part of this, we've reviewed and updated transportation goals and policies in the transportation element. I believe that has been brought to you in a previous discussion. And then one of the things, like I mentioned, the state is mandating looking at multimodal travel. So as part of that, they're requiring cities and agencies to set multimodal level of service standards. So we'll get into that in a little bit. I'll discuss what a level of service standard is, how it's used, and how that is sort of taken into the project development phase. And finally, the last part of the transportation system plan is looking at all those improvements that we've identified and figuring out how that compares against historical transportation revenues and sort of build a plan for how this transportation system plan can get implemented. So I will pause there for a second if anybody has any questions on the transportation system plan. But if not, I can move forward into the project list.

Quick question. Is that a new title, the system, that word? Is that added? There's always transportation plan.

So, yeah. So, the transportation element is a chapter in the larger comprehensive plan. The transportation system plan is essentially a separate document that gives more detail that supports the transportation element. Okay. So, it's essentially a supplemental document that gives you, like, all the meat and potatoes that goes into the transportation element.

Thank you.

Okay. So, diving into the project development. Okay. So I just want to give a high level overview of how we develop the project list, where the projects come from, how we identify what the needs are. So we first start by looking at all the previous transportation planning work that has been done by the city and throughout the region. So we start with the city's six-year transportation improvement program. Those have already identified a lot of the immediate transportation needs throughout the city, so that is the foundation of our project list. But then we also look at other regional and local transportation plans. So that includes the previous comprehensive plan, as well as some of the other studies that have been conducted throughout the region, and looking at the recommendations that have come out of those planning efforts. And so here I will mention that we really look to regional agencies and other regional plans to make sure that we've identified and include any of those projects of regional importance within the plan. So that includes the Benton Franklin Council of Government's Regional Transportation Plan. Projects in that plan that have been identified in the City of Richland are incorporated into our project list. And we also look at project recommendations from the Benton Franklin Good Road Association, making sure that their recommendations get incorporated into our list as well. And so here I also mentioned that we look at projects and identify them based off those level of service standards that I mentioned. So level of service standards are essentially metrics that the city adopts against which the transportation network is evaluated. And so I mentioned that the state is requiring that these standards be set for all travel modes now. So we'll get into this as we walk through this presentation. The city has adopted or is adopting level service standards for vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles and transit as well. And the final thing that I will note here that goes into the project list are new roadway connections. So as the city grows and develops, additional construction and development of the transportation network is going to be required to accommodate those new uses and the new areas that are developed. So we've included a lot of those on our project list as well. I will note here that a lot of the projects on our project list are identified for federally classified roadways. So those are roadways that are incorporated into a larger network of roads. federal classification. So essentially the benefit of doing that is that those roadways are the ones that are more eligible for a lot of funding programs. So really in order to be, to get grant funding for these projects, they need to be on a federally classified roadways. that would be a principal arterial, a minor arterial, or a collector. And so really by focusing on those projects, not really identifying improvements for local streets, we want to make sure that the projects that we've identified have an opportunity to be funded through grant funding. So I will pause again here, see if there are any questions on sort of some of the sources that we use to identify the project list. But if not, we can sort of dive into some of the details about level of service, how we come to these different project recommendations that we have. OK, great. So let's start with the vehicular projects. So I mentioned level of service standards. So the level of service standard that's set for vehicles is based off of intersection delay. So that's looking at the average delay that a vehicle experiences when traveling through an intersection. That's typically measured on this A through F scale, where A is really no congestion, very little delay when you're going through an intersection, and then F is all the way at the bottom, extensive delay, extensive queuing. So the city sets their level of service standard at level of service D, sort of right there in the middle. The importance of that is that you're sizing the system to make sure that it can accommodate your peak demands, but also isn't operating with excess capacity throughout the day. If you're planning for level of service A, that essentially means that you're planning for really wide roadways, really big intersections, which are operating way under capacity a lot of the time. So you really want to plan for something in the D or E level, which is consistent with other agencies throughout the state.

Just a quick question real quick on that. Is safety considered at all during the level of service? Is it strictly the waiting time?

So the level of service really just focuses on the waiting time. That's not to say that safety isn't considered elsewhere. So as you know, the city has a comprehensive safety action plan. So through that plan, the city has looked at historical crash data to identify what those safety concerns are. And so a lot of those recommendations get pulled into the transportation element and the project list, but it's not specifically looked at here through this level of service standard. OK, and so this slide here summarizes and shows a map of how the intersections throughout the city are forecast to operate in 2045 after that 20 year planning window with the expected growth in the city. So future traffic volume forecasts have been developed for the city based off the land use assumptions that Nicole and her team have developed. And so based off that, we have identified this list of intersections that are expected to operate below that level of service D standard. I guess let me back up. I will say that level of service D is applied to signalized intersections and roundabouts. Level of service E is applied to stop-controlled intersections. There are some additional nuances in some of the other level service standards. I won't get into those tonight. That's a very detailed discussion. So we'll leave it with that. So these intersections are those that are forecast to operate below the level service standard and therefore would require improvements as development occurs.

So these level of service standards right here are based on their current operation. They don't take into account the couplet project that's happening in Richland and what that would project.

So these look at future volumes. So this incorporates some of those improvements as well. So yeah. It would take that into account. Yes. OK. Thank you. So the analysis looks at sort of PLANNED IMPROVEMENTS THAT ARE SORT OF SCHEDULED FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN THE CITY AS LIKE A BASELINE CONDITION. SO THIS LOOKS AT PROJECTS THAT HAVE BEEN IDENTIFIED, PLANNED, ARE BEING DEVELOPED, AND ARE LIKELY FOR IMPLEMENTATION IN THE NEAR FUTURE. AND SO A LOT OF THESE PROJECTS ON THE LIST, THESE ARE AREAS improvements are needed, where initial plans and ideas for improvement have been discussed, but sort of they're not scheduled for near-term implementation. So you'll see like some of these intersections, like the Duper Tail, the first two intersections on this list, there's plans for improvements there. But those aren't near-term improvements that we've identified as like the baseline condition, if that makes sense. So sort of piggybacking on all of that, a lot of these intersections on this list are intersections that are already on the city's radar. So all of these that have the asterisks, either one or two, are intersections that are already planned for sort of long-term improvements or intersections that have been identified for improvements as part of other traffic analyses that have been conducted throughout the region. That's for the Lewis and Clark Ranch project in West Richland. Um, so these are areas where improvements would be needed and we will get into that on the next slide, uh, as to the types of improvements that are necessary. Um, but I will pause again here to see if there's any thoughts, questions about any of these intersections in these operations.

I just found it. It was thought it was interesting. Like do you ever tell, maybe today it's not considered to be bad. That's why I was asking about the safety piece, because if two 40, is there and there's no planned changes and it's in between two residential areas, so you have a lot of foot traffic and other modes of transportation going through there, I guess it kind of, like hopefully there's other areas of opportunity to improve it based on the data that we're collecting there now, but if we're not analyzing the level of service to consider safety, then I don't know, it would just be nice to see like flashing lights when they're about to change and stuff because the speed limit is so high. It feels like stuff needs to change, but it might not if it's still going to be an F in 20 years. Seemed like much will happen there.

Yeah, I will say that safety gets incorporated into some of the other level of service standards. So we're starting with vehicles here. We're going to switch over after we get through this discussion and talk about pedestrian bicyclists. And so we've identified and are setting level of service standards that look at the level of comfort that the roadways provide for pedestrians and bicyclists. So those level of service standards sort of get at safety in that way.

So this is just one metric and there's multiple metrics. You're just starting with the first one.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Okay. So based off that map that I showed previously, a lot of those areas where you saw the reds, the level of service Fs, are those areas where we've identified improvement projects. And so On this list here, I've identified what the sort of high-level improvement types that we've identified to address some of those issues. So at a lot of those intersections, it's either adding lanes, making changes to signal timing, or at some two-way stop control intersections, that's adding a new signal or putting in a roundabout to address some of those high side street travel delays. When we're looking at roadways, some of these corridor segments that are shown with the solid blue lines here, we're looking at some more like corridor-wide improvements. So you can see on this list, we have the downtown loop project shown, but we also have some roadway extension projects, some roadway improvement projects. We have improvements to Vantage Highway up there to add additional capacity through the corridor as development occurs in the northwest part of the city. And then the last thing on this map are the dash connections. So those are new road connections. So I talked about that at the top. As development occurs throughout the city, some new roadways are going to be needed to provide connectivity and accessibility for some of these new areas of development. And so you can see a lot of those new roadway connections are located in the Badger Mountain South area and up in Horn Rapids. Those are the areas that are being developed. And so those are the areas where a lot of the new roadway network is going to need to be completed.

But you also have like new roadways going into through the critical areas. Is that to alleviate traffic like on SR 240 or?

Yes, so I think you're talking about RW27, if I read correctly. Yes, so that's the Kingsgate Way Extension project. So that's a new roadway connection that's intended to parallel 240. And so as development occurs, that is needed to provide additional accessibility in the north-south direction as R240 already experiences congestion. And so as development occurs, that's only going to get worse. And so that is intended to help alleviate it and help provide additional accessibility in the western part of the city.

In the plan, it didn't cross south of Van Giesen. So what is the RW30?

Yeah, so we're planning a new or we're looking at a new connection that's going to extend from essentially Keene down in South City, go up through that part that's shown there, extend into the county land that's there, that's the segment that's missing, and then extend up to Van Giesen. I think that's a long-term connection that has been identified and discussed.

Oh, I'm confused. Oh, so like the RW6 is supposed to go all the way up and connect to R30?

Yes, exactly, yes. So we've just not shown the part that's not within the city. So it's going to be a continuous connection. Yeah, it's just not shown on here because it's not. Yes, yeah, no, apologies for that, yes. So that'll be a continuous road just to provide connectivity basically from Vantage Highway down there all the way down to Keene.

Thank you.

Of course. OK. All right. So this slide here gives some more specific details about some of the specific intersection improvements that have been identified on this list. And so the first two on this list are improvements to intersections along SR240. And so the first two that you'll see are grade separation of the intersections on SR 240 at Van Giesen and Dupertail. So these are improvements that have been identified as part of the 2020 north-south corridor study that was conducted in the region. And so those are pretty... Pretty big improvements that are going to have to be further discussed and figured out with WSDOT. So as part of this process, we began some of those conversations with WSDOT. They were part of our steering committee that helped us identify and build out this project list. And so in the future, further discussions will have to be held to exactly identify and nail down exactly what those improvements look like. But this is sort of setting the groundwork to figure out more specifics on how to best address congestion at those intersections. And then we go along here on this list. We have some improvements at some of those other intersections on 240 at Jadwin and at Swift. Those are some signal timing changes like you don't need the full grade separation at those intersections. So just some simple intersection improvements or signal improvements will be sufficient to address some of the future congestion that we're seeing at those locations. I won't walk through everything on this list. I guess I will pause if there's any specific intersection on this list that you'd like me to discuss in more detail. I'm happy to, but I won't sort of walk through everything if there's nothing of greater interest to you all. I guess I will also touch on the last intersection there, the Columbia Park Trail and the Step 2 intersection at the exit to the SR240 off ramp. So again, that's another WSDOT intersection that is experiencing some delay congestion issues today. So we've identified potential improvements for that intersection, whether that's a bypass lane, added lanes, metering. But again, that's an improvement that's going to have to be discussed and further identified with WSDOT since it's one of their intersections. And so we recognize that that's a challenge today and that more work is needed at that intersection.

You're talking about RW39 on your slide?

RW 39, I believe so.

So do your discussions and your planning, do you also on that one in particular work with the railroad? Because that's when it's worse is when the railroad is, when the trains are coming through.

Yeah. That will have to be a discussion. I mean, that'll be something that goes into all the analysis as well. I mean, because future analysis is going to be needed at that intersection. And so all of that will go into those discussions. I will say right now all the discussions are very preliminary. It's just right now we want to make sure that we establish as part of the transportation element, as part of the transportation system plan, that there is a need at this intersection. What exactly that need is will need to be further defined in the future. Thank you. OK, and then I have the slide here talking about some of the new roadway connections. I won't dwell too much on this since we already touched on it, but again, sort of just looking at providing additional roadway connectivity in those developing parts of the city. OK, and so those are our vehicle projects, I will pause before we move on to active transportation. but if there's any additional thoughts, comments, discussion, questions about any of the vehicle projects, happy to take them here. Okay, perfect. So getting into active transportation, I'll start walking us through the level of service standards for pedestrians and bicyclists. So like you were talking about, there's a need to look at safety as part of transportation needs going out into the future. And so this metric that we're using to identify pedestrian bicycle needs, it gets at that. And so the metric that we're using is called level of traffic stress. Level of traffic stress is a measure of the level of comfort and safety provided by a pedestrian bicycle facility. It really looks at the degree of separation provided between pedestrian and bicyclists and vehicle travel, and sort of what the volume, speed, and sort of roadway size is that the vehicles travel along. And so we've set these standards to really look at identifying how a, I guess not only where a bicycle and pedestrian facility is provided, but also how well it performs on this comfort level scale. Because we wanna make sure that the bicycle and pedestrian facilities that are provided within the roadway network are identified and constructed to match the roadway context on which they're provided. So in order to do so, the first step that we did of this process was to identify a pedestrian network where we wanna provide pedestrian facilities. So as part of this, we identified a network that's made up of primary and secondary roadways. The primary network is really the backbone of the system. It's really connecting major destinations throughout the city and is meant to provide those most comfortable routes. And then the secondary network is more so supportive of the primary network. It's providing connections between parts of the primary network, oftentimes on less direct routes or areas where walking is a secondary mode. And so we've identified this network here to really highlight the locations where we want to make sure that we're providing pedestrian connectivity. So this is meant to provide access to key destinations, whether that's schools, parks, commercial areas, making sure that those areas are served by pedestrian facilities and that pedestrian facilities on these roadways are developed and identified to be consistent with the context of the roadway. And so I will move forward and show how the level of traffic stress got evaluated for this network. And so based off of the level of traffic stress matrices, we assign a, oh sorry, I skipped over that on the previous slide, let me go back. So level of traffic stress is measured on a one through four scale. It's sort of similar to the A through F scale that I discussed for the vehicles, where a level of traffic stress one is essentially comfortable for users of all ages and all abilities. That's essentially your best score. Then level of traffic stress four is on the other end, where it's really only used by those most confident of riders or other people who really have no other choice. So the goal here is often to provide level of traffic stress one, two, or three. Those are sort of indicating areas where users of sort of a greater degree of range of abilities are able to use those facilities and would be comfortable using them. So going back to the scoring of the pedestrian network here. we are looking at this network here. And so we're seeing that pedestrian level of traffic stress one is shown in blue, two is shown in green, three is shown in yellow, and four in red.

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand the LTS levels. Is it based on, so there's nothing, it's not the amount of use, it's just how easily it's used, or it's, I'm,

Yeah, so it's based off of the sort of degree of separation provided by that facility. And so the metrics that are used to measure level of traffic stress are vehicle speed, vehicle volume, and the speed limit of the road. Speed, volume, and number of travel lanes, excuse me. And so those are measured also against the level of separation from the vehicles. So different scoring tables are used based off of whether a sidewalk adjacent to the roadway is provided or no sidewalk is provided at all. And so based off those metrics, a score of one through four is assigned to get at sort of how comfortable that facility would be for a user. Does that make sense? Is that a little bit more clear? Great, okay. And so looking at this network here, you can see that a lot of the city is in these blue and green level of traffic stress one and two colors. So that sort of indicates that more of the network, especially in the downtown part of the city in central Richland, is achieving this decent level of traffic stress. And so a lot of this area already actually has sidewalks constructed. So it's really showing that those sidewalks in those areas are providing this good level of comfort for pedestrians.

Raise my hand, sorry, hi. Question on, so I understand that this is pedestrians and bicycles, but I think what provides an LTS of one for a pedestrian potentially might be an LTS of three for a cyclist. And how do you differentiate between the two or consider that for planning?

Yeah, that's a great question. We actually have two different scoring metrics for both of them. So what we're looking at right now is just pedestrians. And so you will see that a lot of what's out there today currently scores pretty decently for pedestrians. Once we get into bicycles, it goes down a little bit more. So a lot more roadways are level traffic stress three and four currently. But we can get to that in a bit. And so the way we've set our level of traffic stress standards for pedestrians is based off of the two different network priorities that we've identified. So for the primary network, we're trying to achieve a level of traffic stress one or two, really because the primary network is where we wanna provide those more comfortable facilities. For our secondary network, the one that's supportive of that primary network, we're saying that a level of traffic stress one, two, or three is acceptable. So really anything that's LTS four is only what needs to be improved.

I think, Daniel, just for the commission, just the way I'm thinking about this is like on 240, they just added that separate sidewalk. Okay, yeah, so that's where, but talking to the bicyclist, he's supposed to be on the road, not on that trail, right? Okay.

Yeah, that I believe is a multi-use path. So those multi-use paths are something that we've identified for use by both pedestrians and bicyclists here, so they would achieve a better level of traffic stress for both the pedestrian and bicycle modes. Exactly, yeah. So that's essentially where the bicyclists or pedestrians would have to move onto the roadway, be right next to really high-speed, high-volume vehicles, which would indicate that level of traffic stress for them. OK, I will move forward and we can move into the bikes now. So this is basically the same setup. We identified a primary and secondary network. This is very analogous to the pedestrian network that I just talked about. Primary really being the backbone of the system, really providing direct access to a lot of those key destinations. And then your secondary network is supportive of that primary network. I will say that for the bicycle network, the secondary network is often identified on low volume, low speed local streets. Just noting that those streets can accommodate shared use between bicycles and vehicles because the level of vehicle use is a lot lower. And so I'll move forward here to the level of traffic stress map that we've identified for the bicycles. And again, if we sort of compare this to that pedestrian level of traffic stress network, you see a lot more yellow and red on this map, indicating the LTS 3 and 4. So that's sort of... because your bicycles are on the roadway with your vehicles. They're a lot closer to the vehicle traffic. And so when you have bike lanes there, they provide less of a separation from the vehicles. So that would indicate potentially a level of traffic stress three or four.

Hi, Mike can't be here, but he did have a question about the pedestrian network.

Yeah, absolutely.

He asked if we had a linear footage or percentage of transportation system in town that lack pedestrian infrastructure.

Yes, absolutely, great question, thank you. So yes, we looked at the network. Only about 20% of the city's pedestrian network does not include pedestrian facilities currently. And even of that 20%, about 7% of it is on local streets. So local streets oftentimes do not require sidewalks because, like I mentioned, lower speed, lower volumes. You can share the road with both vehicles and pedestrians, not have quite as big of a safety concern. And so, yeah, a lot of the pedestrian network within the city is already pretty well built out. Great. Thank you. Thank you for that question. Okay. Yeah. So for the bicycle network level traffic stress, like I was saying, a lot more of the city is at the level of traffic stress three or four. So how that translates into the project list is that a lot of our projects that we've identified are trying to improve the level of traffic stress for a lot more of these bicycle facilities out there, making sure that there's a lot more continuous connections of level of traffic stress one and two on the primary network. So the standards that we're setting for the bicycle level of traffic stress are the same as what we're setting for pedestrians. Primary network, we're trying to achieve level of traffic stress one or two. And then for bicycle or for the secondary network, excuse me, level of traffic stress one, two, or three is acceptable. OK. And so this map here identifies the pedestrian and bicycle projects that we've identified throughout the city. And so these projects are intended to fill in those level of traffic stress gaps, we'll call them, shown on those previous maps. So the purple projects are bicycle projects. You can see there's quite a few more of those. Yellowish orange ones are pedestrian projects. And then the green ones are multi-use paths. So those would be facilities that are used by both pedestrians and bicyclists. So the range of improvements that we've identified are both infrastructure and non-infrastructure related. So the non-infrastructure projects can include reducing speed limits or providing alternative connections, say provide a parallel route where you can't achieve the desired level of traffic stress because the speed and volume on a particular roadway is too high. And then on the infrastructure side, we're looking at sort of your range of pedestrian bicycle facilities. So for pedestrians, that's typically either a multiuse path or a sidewalk for a sidewalk. We look at different types of separation from the vehicle travel lanes, whether that's providing a landscape buffer, providing a parking buffer or something like that to provide a little bit of additional separation from the between the pedestrians and the vehicles. For the bicycle network, we're looking at different types of bicycle facilities. So that's bicycle lanes and different types of separation of that bicycle lane from the vehicle traffic. So that can include just a painted buffer on the side of the road. That would be something like is a long swift right now today. um or if there is a greater degree of separation where you have a painted buffer plus some sort of vertical separation in the buffer between the bicyclists and the vehicle travel lane so that would be something like what is proposed as part of the downtown loop project um and so I won't walk through all of these projects here and what exactly is provided at each of them, but those are sort of the range of options that we're looking at for some of these bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

Hi, sorry. Is AT18, is that George Washington Way at McMurray?

Yes, yes it is.

Perfect.

Yeah, and so I will, oh, what I should also mention is that there's some of those DOT projects, those are essentially like spot improvements for pedestrian and bicycle connectivity. So there's two, AT17 and 18, I believe, are the numbers that I'm seeing up there. are two improvements on George Washington Way. So those are areas along George Washington where the bike lane drops through the intersection. The bike lane goes away to accommodate a left turn lane. So we're looking at options there to widen the sidewalk to provide opportunities for bikes to ramp up onto the sidewalks, get through the intersections, and then ramp back down to get back into the bike lane as they travel between intersections.

So that wouldn't be an area where there would be like a strip in between, not necessarily a barrier, but like a vacant space between traffic and cycling bike lanes, they would be, the cyclists would then just go up onto the sidewalk?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah, just because the limited right-of-way there, there's not a whole lot of additional room to widen the road to provide that additional separation.

Yeah, I'm curious. That's a section, like the McMurray-George Washington Way intersection is where we've had several car versus pedestrian or cyclist accidents. I don't know that it's necessarily related, like it's during crossing. So how do you address that when it's not necessarily even a bike lane issue? It's a... Driving issue? I mean, I don't know.

Safety, visibility.

Yeah.

Yeah. So there's opportunities. I believe leading pedestrian intervals have been implemented at that intersection. So that's one option to improve the pedestrian visibility. The main thing at a lot of those locations is really making sure that there's better driver awareness of high crossing activity, that people are crossing the road. Um, and so we don't have any of those specific improvements in those projects. Uh, those are again, are some more of those safety, like systematic safety improvements that can be identified. Um, and so, yeah, I mean, I think that those are all good things to think about, but I will say that they're not included in that specific project.

That's helpful. Thank you.

Okay.

Any additional questions on specific projects? So as part of the packet tonight, we provided the full project list that goes through and gives all the details about all the projects on this list and on these maps. So if there's any questions about any of those, I'm happy to pop open the map and walk through any specific questions.

I don't think we have any questions at this time, but was your presentation part of the part of the packet, was that included as well?

Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So the packet includes these maps plus the project list, so you can sort of cross-reference the two to put these project numbers to specific improvement descriptions.

Thank you.

OK.

And so with that, I will just give a high level overview of our next steps. So we will be holding an open house tomorrow to present this project list to the community, get some feedback on the projects on this list. I think Nicole will be touching on this in a second. And then we're looking to finalize the draft of the TSP next month. So that will be available for Planning Commission review soon thereafter.

Great. Thank you. Great. Thank you. Any questions from commissioners? All right. All right. Appreciate it. All right. Communications. Upcoming community outreach and public meetings. Nicole.

Yes. Thank you. Yeah, so tomorrow we're excited to have our transportation system plan open house. We will be walking through the project list with community members that come. I do have flyers if you're interested in that. They're also at the entrance there. We've been advertising through the Richland in a Minute feature that they put out on social media, the city put that together. It's been out on Facebook, so we're looking forward to that. We've also invited the steering committee members, the people who helped formulate the early construction of the plan and direction. The meeting will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. It's something that anybody can drop in any time. And we will be in the fire apparatus bay at the new fire station at Badger Mountain South. So we're kind of taking it on the road a little bit instead of doing another meeting here at City Hall, go to a different part of the city. The address is 4307 Trowbridge Boulevard. So we invite anyone to come who might be interested. I also did bring just in advance the comment forms that we'll have for tomorrow night's event. So if anybody wanted to fill one out tonight or provide it later, I can get that to you so that we can capture comments if you're not able to attend tomorrow. Following that, on July 8th, excuse me, we'll have a planning commission workshop. And then I also wanted to mention that we will be going to the Parks and Recreation Commission, either one of their workshop meetings or maybe their regular meeting, We're still determining that but we will be talking to them about the transportation system plan focused on the non motorized transportation part of it because they do have a role according to city code and Gonna be an advisory to an extent in that capacity. So that's kind of what we've got queued up. I should also mention, we haven't finalized it yet, but we plan to be at National Night Out in August. We try to do these pop-up events, and it'll be exciting because we'll be able to tell people kind of where we've gotten so far with the comprehensive plan and maybe attract some interest in it for future meetings, especially as we get further along, getting through all the different elements and getting closer to a public hearing and all of that. So any questions about schedule?

What is the topic of discussion for the workshop next week? On the 8th?

I don't know if staff has other items that are not related to the comprehensive plan update, but I'll have to, I actually don't know at this point. But packets will go out fairly quickly.

Sure, can we make sure that we're gonna have a quorum? Because I know I won't be there for that meeting. Okay. And so we just need to, we should probably double check that.

Does anybody else know if they won't be able to make it?

I'll be here.

I'm available.

So three of the five of us. But if Leonard and the comp aren't, then we won't have quorum.

Perfect. Thank you. That's a good heads up. We don't want to get everything together and then have to reschedule. And so, yeah. We also want to stay on pace with all of the things we're getting through. So, yeah. the more that the planning commission members, I'm not a city person, but I can say that the more that you can arrange your schedule to hopefully be available, especially in the coming months, it's going to be critical time. So we really appreciate it. And also, we want you to hear the information we're sharing. So yeah, thank you.

All right, with that, any other communications from staff or our council liaison? Anything from commission members? Meeting adjourned, thank you.