MUKILTEO, Wash., August 22, 2023—The City of Mukilteo is updating its Comprehensive Plan and wants to hear from you about how you want Mukilteo to look and feel over the next twenty years.
Share what you like about Mukilteo, what you hope it looks like in the future, and how you think we should get there. Your survey responses will be reviewed by staff and used to guide the update process.
The Comprehensive Plan is a policy document that provides guidance for Mukilteo’s future growth and development over a 20-year period. When adopted, the 2024 Mukilteo County Comprehensive Plan Update will address the planning period 2024-2044 as required by state law. The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires cities and counties to develop a comprehensive plan to manage economic and population growth. The next update of the County’s Comprehensive Plan is due in December of 2024.
The Mukilteo City Council adopted an updated Comprehensive Plan on October 5, 2015, led by former Councilman Bob Champion, that was amended February 1, 2021, and June 4, 2018. Work on the update began with a strategic vision of what Mukilteo’s guiding land use document should look like, including an extensive outreach effort in the community. Staff, Planning Commission, and Council strived to ensure the document represents Mukilteo’s values.
The next major periodic Comprehensive Plan update is due in June 2024.
The Mukilteo City Council passed its Housing Action Plan (HAP) with a vote of 4-3 during its four-and-a-half hour contentious Business Meeting on June 7, 2021. Councilmembers Sarah Kneller, Elisabeth Crawford, Richard Emery and Councilman Louis Harris voted for the adoption of the HAP. Councilmen Joe Marine, Bob Champion and Riaz Khan voted against.
The adopted HAP is a shell of its original 13 strategies to address housing needs in Mukilteo. The three strategy categories presented by Councilman Louis Harris and seconded by Councilwoman Elisabeth Crawford, focused on amending housing and land use policies in Mukilteo’s existing Comprehensive Plan.
The three strategy categories adopted were:
- Strategy 1: Review Comprehensive Plan Language;
- Strategy 2: Educate About Programs to Help Residents Stay in Their Homes; and
- Strategy 3: Expand Senior Housing Options.
Strategy 1, “Review Comprehensive Plan Language,” solely focuses on considering changes to Mukilteo’s existing Comprehensive Plan.
The Comprehensive Plan is “a strategic vision of what Mukilteo’s guiding land use document should look like” and to serve as guidelines for the “City of Mukilteo Comprehensive Plan 2035 – Moving Mukilteo Forward.”
Mukilteo’s existing Comprehensive Plan states there is “very little undeveloped land left in the City,” therefore its focus is “sustaining what we have” by “managing redevelopment and preserving and improving the existing quality of life” for residents.
The Growth Management Act (GMA) requires cities and counties to develop a comprehensive plan to manage population growth. According to the city’s website, its current plan meets the state’s GMA requirements. The next major periodic Comprehensive Plan update is scheduled for June 2024.
In 2015, the adopted city of Mukilteo Comprehensive Plan, won the Comprehensive Planning for Small Cities & Counties Award by the American Planning Association and Planning Association of Washington. The plan was described as “a compelling and easy-to-read plan that contains a clear ‘intent statement’ at the beginning of the document.”
According to the adopted HAP, Strategy 1 recommends that the existing Comprehensive Plan updates its “language and policies” by identifying metrics, impact of fees, redefining the plan’s intent, and impacts between diverse housing units that affect the following policies: H04, H05, H06, LU2, LU6, and LU11.
The document titled, “Attachment 2: Mukilteo Housing Policy Review and Recommendations” of the HAP, calls for evaluating sections of the City’s Comprehensive Plan and land use regulations for routine policy and regulation updates.
Below are the policy considerations specified in the Mukilteo Housing Policy Review and Recommendations document:
- Policy HO4: To identify actions and metrics to acknowledge that there is an undersupply of affordable homes for lower income persons
- Policy HO5: To identify actions and metrics for diverse housing options – Duplexes, triplexes, condominiums, townhouses, accessory dwelling units and cottage housing – for residential and mixed-use zoning districts
- Policy HO6: Calls for identifying methods to consider the impact of fees on those needing rental housing who earn less than 50% Area Median Income (AMI) which is $54,268, according to the 2019 U.S. Census Bureau
- Policy LU2: To redefine the intent of the City’s land use policy to no longer prioritize single-family residential dwellings by adopting policies that balance the “housing needs of all economic segments” at more attainable price points than low-density single-family homes by considering the following dwellings: duplexes, triplexes, condominiums, townhouses, accessory dwelling units and cottage housing
- Policy LU6: To amend code regulations to open up the potential for higher density mixed use projects throughout the city of Mukilteo
- Policy LU11: Develop policies that spur a redevelopment of a pedestrian-centric Downtown Business District by offering housing bonus densities for condos or senior housing
In the 2021 General Election, Mukilteans overwhelmingly voted, 81.85%, on an advisory measure against encouraging more high-density housing to be built in Mukilteo.
Author: Lynnwood Times Staff
