City of Puyallup announcement.
Puyallup, WA – The City of Puyallup is revising the deadline to submit for amendments to the 2022 Comprehensive Plan update. The new deadline is February 28, 2022, to submit privately initiated site applications, which would go into effect in 2022.
The City’s Planning Division typically processes amendment applications for the Comprehensive Plan on an annual basis. However, the next periodic update to the Comprehensive Plan for 2024 will require additional staff time and resources to complete. The City is revising the deadline from April 1, 2022, to February 28, 2022. This revised deadline will allow staff to process applications sooner and bring them before Council in July 2022. In addition, there will not be a privately initiated amendment cycle in 2023 or 2024, but rather an opportunity for the community to provide suggestions for potential land use amendments through the 2024 Periodic Update.
Katie Baker, City Planning Manager, explains the reasoning behind the new deadline. “We plan to process the 2022 annual update earlier in the year, allowing us to kick off the Periodic Update in late-2022,” says Baker. “In addition, our goal for this Periodic Update is to review the Comprehensive Plan holistically to ensure consistency with state guidelines, City policies, and land use designations. Adjusting the deadline allows us to front-load review of the 2022 amendment applications so that we can dedicate the time needed to meet our state-required deadline of June 2024 for the next Periodic Comprehensive Plan update.”
To apply for an amendment to the City’s Comprehensive Plan, please fill out an application on the City’s website here. Applicants need to demonstrate, within their application, how their proposed amendment meets the criteria outlined in the Puyallup Municipal Code (PMC). In addition to a completed application, applicants must submit the required environmental SEPA checklist and pay the filing and environmental fees. For questions about the application process, please contact Kendall Wals, Senior Planner, at kwals@puyallupwa.gov.
Following the February 28, 2022 deadline, staff will begin processing amendment applications in March, with anticipated completion in August. All plan amendments need to go before the Planning Commission, which reviews and conducts public hearings on each application. Recommendations are then sent to the City Council for further review.
The next opportunity to submit for privately initiated Comprehensive Plan amendments will be in 2025. The City understands that this is a significant length of time between submission dates. Opportunities will be made available through 2023 for public input on suggested areas of focus. Staff and the Planning Commission will review these suggestions for possible inclusion in the 2024 Comprehensive Plan update.
The Puyallup Comprehensive Plan is a long-term vision for how the City plans to manage and direct policy towards land usage, housing, economic development, public services, environmental, and other important issues. The State of Washington requires that municipal governments need to update their Comprehensive Plans every eight years. To review the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which was updated in 2015, please visit our webpage here.
For more information about the Comprehensive Plan Amendments process, please contact Kendall Wals at kwals@puyallupwa.gov or 253-841-5462.Additional Info…
