Leavenworth Planning Commission backs 2026 Comprehensive Plan

LEAVENWORTH — A draft of the 2026 Comprehensive Plan will be put in front of Leavenworth City Council for consideration after the Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend it during an Aug. 5 meeting.

The city's 2026 Comprehensive Plan update, which is mandated by the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA), revises nine chapters of the plan to comply with new state laws, accommodate updated population allocations, and integrate a new Climate Resilience element.

Six of those nine chapters are “elements” mandated for every GMA city: land use, housing, transportation, utilities, capital facilities, and (as of 2023) climate resilience. Economic development and parks & recreation are two optional elements the City of Leavenworth chose to retain. The ninth element, community vision & context, is more of an introductory chapter establishing the plan's vision, history, and public participation record.

State law requires the city to complete the update on or before Dec. 31 of this year and every 10 years thereafter. The plan accounts for forecasted population growth through 2046, anticipating 3,539 people in the city and the Urban Growth Area (UGA) combined. This is an increase of approximately 410 people and requires the City to plan for approximately 361 additional housing units, according to the plan. 

According to the Department of Community Development, the total number of goals across the plan has roughly doubled, with the largest change being the addition of a new state-mandated climate resilience element.

The housing element was also expanded from two broad goals to six detailed ones, intended to reflect 2021 legislation directing cities to plan for housing affordable to all income levels, identify and address racially disparate impacts and displacement risk, and plan for emergency and permanent supportive housing. With those requirements, the plan includes new policies on anti-displacement, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and other moderate density “middle housing” types, workforce housing, and the climate resilience of the housing stock.

During the meeting, Community Development Director Maggie Boles said there was one written public comment submitted ahead of the public hearing from the Residents Coalition of Chelan County (RC3) Board of Directors regarding land use, housing and parks and recreation elements in the draft. RC3 asserted that the Planning Commission, city staff, and retained consultants discounted the importance of several community concerns in putting forth the current draft plan.

“Leavenworth residents showed up. They completed surveys, attended visioning sessions, and shared what matters most to them about the future of their city. The 2026 Comprehensive Plan update should reflect what they said,” RC3 said in its statement. “ In several important respects, the current draft does not.”

Under land use, RC3 requested that the land use element include a goal and policy directed at preserving existing neighborhoods, such as explicitly requiring development impact on existing residential neighborhoods is minimized, and that small-town, close knit character is preserved.

In response to those requests, Senior Planner Celeste Barry said the city was bound to state directives to leave out such language, because "it creates a barrier for people that are trying to build something a little more affordable.”

“It looks like we're not listening when we really are,” said Barry. “It's an impossible balance. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get it right.”

RC3 had several notes for the housing element, including proposed goals focused on ensuring existing housing units are preserved, adopting inclusionary zoning, and ensuring all new residential developments contribute to the addition of affordable housing.

RC3 also said the parks and recreation element fails to explicitly acknowledge the impacts of development on existing parks, open space and recreational facilities. The group suggested a goal of implementing requirements in development codes to ensure that private development contributes to common open space or recreational facilities to offset its impact.

“Referencing RC3’s letter, I think they have some legitimate concerns,” said councilmember Zeke Reister, who sat in on the meeting. “I don't really know how to address those. I think I got the gist that they were concerned about the density issue, which has always been there, and how to balance that with the state requirements.”

Reister brought up concerns that there was no safeguard to protect ADUs from deviating from their intended purpose as affordable housing options, such as becoming bed and breakfasts or second homes.

Echoing RC3’s desires for inclusionary zoning, former councilmember Marco Aurilio challenged the Planning Commission on why it didn’t support imposing an inclusionary zoning policy on the development of the Leavenworth Haus and Autumn Haus apartments. Inclusionary zoning would place a fee on building and development permits to fund affordable and workforce

housing initiatives. Barry expressed that the city had been talking about it, but that its feasibility was a challenge for a town of Leavenworth’s size.

Planning Commissioner Simon Farivar expressed frustration over RC3’s comments, asserting that the group did not pay attention to previous Planning Commission and council meetings, where he believed those concerns were discussed at length over the past year.

“I just want the constituency to know and understand that not only have we looked at a lot of these things, we have looked at every angle to try to figure out a good way to include these things and bring them into the Comp Plan, to bring them into the vision of where and what's happening,” said Farivar.

Commissioner James Whitesides emphasized the intended purpose of the Planning Commission.

“I think the Comp Plan is more holistic than anything has been before,” said Whitesides. “It's actually just leaving more doors open for the city planners and the Planning Commission to work with the council to deliver better code. And again, the Planning Commission's responsibility is code.”

The Planning Commission unanimously approved the draft plan for recommendation to the Leavenworth City Council, where it will be reviewed and voted on for adoption.

Taylor Caldwell: 509-433-7276 or taylor@ward.media