Leavenworth's Community Visioning series comes to a close

LEAVENWORTH – The City of Leavenworth invited community members and Chelan County officials to review information collected over three community visioning sessions on Oct. 14. 

The sessions covered housing, sustainable tourism, and accountable stewardship in preparation for the 2026 Comprehensive Plan Update. The comprehensive plan is required to be periodically reviewed and updated by the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). 

The city invited Mike Kaputa, Director of Chelan County Natural Resources Department, to discuss the county’s involvement in trail management, fire safety, water, and climate resiliency.

While the county doesn’t directly manage trails in Leavenworth, Kaputa said, it was working on the Pathways Project, a proposed non-motorized trail system led by the Chelan-Douglas Transportation Council that would connect cities throughout the valley.

For fire safety, Kaputa referenced the county’s recent work on updating the Hazard Mitigation Plan, Community Wildfire Protection Plan, and collective work and partnerships from the county and other organizations to do fuels reduction work throughout the Upper Valley.

“Suffice to say, I think over the next three, four years, there are going to be some major investments and some pretty significant opportunities to get involved in wildfire risk reduction,” said Kaputa.

To address water management and climate resiliency, the county has been working within the Icicle Work Group to implement a new pump station at Shore Street, assess a rebuild of 8-Mile Dam, and sponsor a lawn buyback program. The group also performed climate modeling on Icicle Creek, Peshastin Creek, and Mission Creek, said Kaputa.

County Commissioner Shon Smith also addressed the concerns of the county readjusting caps on short-term rentals (STRs), which Smith said had been proposed by District #3 Commissioner Tiffany Gering.

“The topic of the conversation was, ‘What do we do to adjust those caps so that it can be more representative of the people who would want to use their property that way?” said Smith.

According to Smith, the Planning Commission will review the options and take public comment before recommending any action to county commissioners.

“I never was in favor of STRs and neighborhoods. I want to know who my neighbors are, and I want to know who is coming and going day and night,” said Smith.

Before the meeting closed, City Administrator Matthew Selby and Community Development Director Maggie Boles summarized their insights from the sustainable tourism and housing sessions.

“Some of the key insights that we learned from you was balancing growth and community needs. You wrote that sustainable tourism should prioritize local residents’ quality of life while attracting visitors, focusing on community well being, [and] fostering a more welcoming environment,” said Selby.

In addition to the vision sessions, the city sent out a survey to residents, which had a 71 percent completion rate. Of the 1,208 respondents, 42 percent said they lived within city limits, 21 percent were in the Urban Growth Area, and 32 percent said they lived within the school district limits.

Survey results, session videos, and a summary document can be found at cityofleavenworth.com/community/community-visioning/. The city plans to use the input collected to update the Comprehensive Plan.

“This is just the beginning, and the conversation has to continue as we do the planning….This planning process is about that bigger vision,” said Mayor Carl Florea.

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