Thurston County should plan to protect the natural environment and prepare for climate change, according to a majority of respondents to a recent survey.
The county launched the survey last year to gather public feedback on priorities for its upcoming periodic Comprehensive Plan Update. This plan will guide how county lands are used and developed through 2045.
Planning officials shared the results of the survey with the Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday. Respondents were asked to list topics most important to them.
According to a report on the results, about 57% asked the county to protect sensitive areas such as wildlife habitat, flood areas, landslide areas as well as surface and ground water.
Preparing for climate change and limiting its impacts came in second with 47%. About 36% of respondents asked for the county to protect agriculture and 33% wanted more affordable housing.
The least picked topics included increasing bicycle and pedestrian facilities (11%), adding more options for recreation (10%) and increasing land available for industrial commercial development (4%).
In all, the report says the county received 950 responses from across the region. About 40% of them reported being 45-64 years old, 31% reported being 65 or older, 25% reported being 25-44 and 1% reported being 18-24.
A plurality of respondents, 22%, said they resided in 98513. About 18% of respondents resided in 98501, 13% resided in 98502 and 10% resided in 98506. Single digit percentages of respondents came from the remaining zip codes.
The survey also included a section for written comments. In total, the county received 439 written responses, according to the report.
Nearly half of them reportedly expressed opposition to a new airport being situated in Thurston County, a local issue that drew organized opposition last year.
In second place, 46 respondents commented on a desire to address homelessness.
County officials branded the upcoming comprehensive plan update, Thurston 2045. This effort began late last year because the Washington State Growth Management Act requires periodic reviews to align the plan with newer state laws and future growth projections.
The county first adopted a comprehensive plan in 1975 when it had a population of less than 100,000. In June, the state determined the county population surpassed 300,000.
By 2045, the county's population is projected to near 390,000, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management.
The county says the next Comprehensive Plan update will guide land use, housing, economic development, population and employment growth, natural resource protection, county-funded construction projects and more through 2045.
Additionally, the plan affects specialized plans such as joint plans for urban growth areas, subarea plans and functional plans.
On Wednesday, Senior Planner Maya Teeple gave the board an overview of the scope of work ahead. She said the update includes mandatory and optional elements that will take at least two years to complete.
Among the mandatory elements is a new focus on planning for housing that would be affordable to residents across income levels.
The state Department of Commerce released a report on Thursday, indicating Thurston County must add at least 52,456 housing units by 2044. More than half of those must be affordable to those who earn up to 80% of area median income, The Olympian previously reported.
Teeple said the baseline budget for the update will be roughly 2.5 full-time-equivalents (FTE) over two years and $690,000 of professional services funding for mandatory updates.
Adding optional updates would require adding 0.7 FTE and $220,000 for professional services to the total budget, she said.
The county expects the project to enter a year-long phase of community outreach and internal reviews this month. This will be followed by a planning commission review from March to September 2024.
The board will consider what optional updates to purse in a follow-up hearing next month. They are scheduled to act on the update by June 2025.
