Guidelines for
Comprehensive Plan Amendment Selection

Adopted on May 14, 2007 by Resolution 30976

The City Council considers a variety of factors in determining whether a proposed Comprehensive Plan amendment will be placed on the amendment docket for a given year. Among those factors are the following:

1. The amendment is appropriate for the Comprehensive Plan:
1. The amendment is consistent with the role of the Comprehensive Plan under the State Growth Management Act;
2. The amendment is consistent with the Countywide Planning Policies;
3. The intent of the amendment cannot be accomplished by a change in regulations only;
4. The amendment is not better addressed as a budgetary or programmatic decision; or
5. The amendment is not better addressed through another process, such as neighborhood planning.
2. The amendment is legal - the amendment meets existing state and local laws.
3. It is practical to consider the amendment:
1. The timing of the amendment is appropriate and Council will have sufficient information necessary to make an informed decision.
2. Within the time available City staff will be able to develop the text for the amendments to the Comprehensive Plan and, if necessary, the Municipal Code, and conduct sufficient analysis.
3. The proposed amendment is consistent with the overall vision of the Comprehensive Plan and well-established Comprehensive Plan policy, or the Mayor or Council is interested in significantly changing existing policy.
4. The amendment has not been recently rejected by the City Council.
4. There has been a neighborhood review process to develop any proposed change to a neighborhood plan, or a neighborhood review process can be conducted prior to final Council consideration of the amendment.