2025 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review

Comprehensive Plan tabling at Farmer's Market

Above: Public engagement on the Comprehensive Plan at the Port Townsend Farmer's Market, summer 2024

Learn about the 2025 Comprehensive Plan on our project website www.pt2045planning.org. Find out where we are in the process and how you can help shape the future of Port Townsend for the next 20 years. Questions? Please contact Long Range Planner Adrian Smith at asmith@cityofpt.us.

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IN 2024 - 2025

City Council, Planning Commissioners, and City Staff participated in the T-Lab Moving in the Right Direction Conference, on April 19, 2024.
City Staff tabled the Jefferson County Connectivity Fair in Chimacum, WA, on April 20, 2024.
A Vision Workshop and Kick-off Event was held at the American Legion and Cotton Building, May 6, 2024.
July 20, August 17, and September 21 City Council, Planning Commissioners, and City Staff tabled three farmer's market Saturdays to gather community input from market shoppers.
Pop-Up Engagement events have been held at the Mountain View Commons Food Bank, The Nest, a youth-centered coffee shop, and the Port of Port Townsend's Boat Haven for Marine Trades conversations.
Three days of Planning Studios were held July 22 to 24, 2024 at the Cotton Building on long-term goals for Port Townsend, and how we want to reach the future.
On September 18, 2024, A People, Planet, and Prosperity Tour was held along the streetscape of three housing developments in Port Townsend with a quorum of Council and Planning Commission present.
An interactive Scenarios Workshop was held virtually with the community on October 23, 2024, resulting in key input on housing density alternatives for zoning nodes across the city. Click here for the workshop slides and scenarios worksheet on PT2045planning.or Click here for the workshop recording.
City Staff have been facilitating a series of discussions on planning with 4th grade classes at Salish Coast Elementary and Port Townsend High School English students.
The Active Transportation Plan Open House for Walking, Biking, and Connected Communities was held on January 15, 2025 at the Port Townsend Community Center.
On February 20 and March 12, 2025 Staff and consultants hosted two Shoreline Master Program Open Houses in a Future of Our Shorelines series. The first was an overview of the Shoreline Master Program Update, and the second was a focused workshop on Sea Level Rise and the proposed Port and City Waterwalk.
On March 7, 8, and 9, 2025 City staff hosted a table inviting youth and community members to engage in topics around the Comprehensive Plan at the 2025 Connectivity Summit at Chimacum High School.
On March 26, 2025, an Open House and Workshop for the Comprehensive Plan was hosted by Planning Commission, City Council, staff and consultants, at Salish Coast Elementary. The workshop included Active Transportation engagement, policy options for housing and arts, Parks Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan engagement, and an opportunity for the public to weigh in on priorities for implementation.
A series of joint Planning Commission and City Council Workshops give both bodies time to meet about the Comprehensive Plan docket and discuss priorities for policy drafting and implementation goals. These are ongoing through the process and the public is welcome to attend, listen, and share public comment at these meetings.

Click the graphic below to learn more!

What is a Comprehensive Plan?

Port Townsend uses a Comprehensive Plan, called a "Comp Plan" for short, to chart how we want the city to grow over the next 20 years. The Comp Plan goes under "Periodic Review" every 10 years and sets big goals and policies, like our land use zones. Development regulations, like height limits, and active plans, like the Urban Forestry Plan, are used to implement the goals and policies in the Comp Plan.

A Comp Plan’s parts are called “elements” and can include:

A Community Direction Statement	Utilities and Capital Facilities Elements
Land Use, Housing, and Transportation Elements	Economic Development Element
Other information like the Rainier Street & Upper Sims Way Subarea Plan

What is a Periodic Review?

Washington State’s Growth Management Act (GMA) requires us to thoroughly review our Comp Plan every 10 years. Our review is anticipated to be complete in December 2025. The periodic review is an opportunity for us to collectively look at the big picture, see connectivity, and share ideas. It is when we actively compare our current plans and policies with new legislation, ensuring our community is up-to-date, and when we work closely with our community to ensure we all have a voice in planning the future of Port Townsend. The last time we updated the Comp Plan was in 2016. Dive into the 2016 Comp Plan.

How can you get involved?

Share your vision for 2045! Over the course of two years, the City will hold a variety of events so that Port Townsend’s diverse residents and workers with diverse perspectives have equal access to providing input to the Comp Plan. Opportunities will include interviews, workshops, Planning Commission and City Council meetings, online outreach, and youth engagement through schools. Visit our project website https://www.pt2045planning.org/get-involved for a schedule of events.

How is the Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review funded?

Port Townsend has been awarded over $725,000 in state grants for City long range planning. These funds will be used for the 2025 Comprehensive Plan, Active Transportation Plan, Climate Action Plan, Shoreline Master Program, and our first Urban Forestry Plan. The City will engage the community in working on these plans through 2024 and 2025.

The 2025 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Review is being conducted in partnership with: