Olympia Planning Commission works on Public Participation and Partners policy 

At a meeting on Monday, August 5, the City of Olympia’s Planning Commission received a briefing on the proposed amendments to the Public Participation and Partners chapter as part of its 2045 Comprehensive Plan update.  

The chapter has guidelines for community outreach and engagement of the community in a meaningful, inclusive, and equitable way.  

“This chapter is actually an optional one, according to the state, but the public, the community here, said this is an important one, so it was included in the last update,” Community Planning and Development Senior Planner David Gunther said.  

A survey on this chapter conducted last summer provided the opportunity to gather community input and comments.  

Out of 95 survey respondents, the majority expressed support for the overall intent and goals of the chapter, while some felt that some goals were not being adequately achieved and that the city needed to work harder to accomplish the chapter's goals.  

Gunther explained that although the number is low compared to the city population, it is a good turnout, considering public comments usually have roughly 60 people attending or sending comments. 

The community input shows that a substantial chapter rewrite is not fully supported. City staff has since revised the chapter to incorporate updates, such as a section about the accord between the city and the Squaxin Island Tribe and another section regarding equity, inclusiveness, and outreach methods.  

“What we really got back is that people thought the goals and policies were pretty good. They like the direction and guidance they give,” said Gunther.  

“But on the other hand,” Gunther continued, “the people took the survey said that the city should do more to inform the community about how they're implementing programs and what their implementation actions are, as well as highlight the successes the city is having in meeting those goals and policies.” 

Members of the planning commission raised some suggestions, such as placing a land use section in another chapter to make it relevant. 

The draft chapter has been available to the public since July 15 this year, and additional public comments are being sought during the review process. 

The meeting was an informational briefing for the commission.