Eastside Neighborhood Sub-Area Planning Committee

Purpose

The purpose of this charter is to establish a planning committee and planning process to develop a Sub-area plan for the Eastside Neighborhood consistent with the City’s Comprehensive Plan goals and policies, specifically GP5: Sub-area planning is conducted through a collaborative effort by community members and the City, and is used to shape how neighborhoods grow and develop.

Mission and Vision

The mission of the Sub-area plan (plan) is to further the goals, policies, and values of Olympia’s Comprehensive Plan at the neighborhood level. The plan will strive to include broad and diverse neighborhood participation in order to improve our neighborhood in the areas most important to our neighborhood, which may include, but aren’t limited to the topics addressed in the Comprehensive Plan:

  • Public participation
  • Natural environment
  • Land Use and Urban Design
  • Transportation
  • Utilities
  • Public Health, Parks, Arts and Recreation
  • Economy
  • Public Services (Police, Fire, Emergency Medical, etc.)

This plan will lay the foundation for a neighborhood that is more inclusive, united, and cohesive, thus helping to achieve an improved quality of life for all people who are a part of our community.

Stakeholders/Partners

  • Olympia City Council, Planning Commission and Citizen Advisory Committees
  • City Manager, Executive Team and Staff
  • Community Planning and Development and other City departments
  • Eastside Neighborhood Board of Directors (Board)
  • Eastside Neighborhood at-large, including for example residents, businesses, religious groups, schools, non-profit organizations and associations
  • Adjacent Neighborhoods
  • Coalition of Neighborhood Associations

Scope & Objectives

The Eastside Neighborhood Subarea Planning Committee (Committee) will:

  • research the Eastside neighborhood’s history, natural environment, land use, transportation (including transit, bicycle and pedestrian as well as automobile), utilities, public services, crime and safety data, and other relevant subjects;
  • work with City staff to collect and analyze demographic information and geographical information system (GIS) maps;
  • develop recommendations to improve various aspects of the neighborhood;
  • create metrics to measure progress toward accomplishing a small number of priority goals;
  • use a variety of communication options to reach out extensively to members of the neighborhood for their opinions and ideas; and
  • work closely with City staff, the Council, and the Coalition of Neighborhood Associations to establish connections and benefit from their input and support.

Membership

  • The Committee will be comprised of members of the Board and other residents of the neighborhood.
  • Members of the Committee will be selected by the Board.
  • Committee members will be responsible for attending Committee meetings, participating in group discussions, assisting with research, reviewing data, establishing means for informing and getting input from community members, and developing sub-area plan recommendations.
  • The Board will select a small number of Committee members to comprise a “Core Team.”
  • The Core Team will be responsible for ensuring that the Committee has the information it needs to develop the plan, ensure that research is completed,gather and draft documents for Committee meetings, make connections with the neighborhood, develop drafts of sub-area plan components,communicate with the Board, work with City staff and other groups, and carry out additional tasks identified by the Committee.

Decision Making

The Committee is advisory to the Board and ultimately the City Council. City staff are advisory to the Core Team and Planning Committee. Formal communications with and presentations to the City or other outside entities will go through the Board President.

Sub-area plan recommendations will be developed by the Committee for review and approval by the Board. Recommendations approved by the Board will be forwarded to the Community Development and Planning staff and Council for their review. Upon acceptance by the Council the completed plan will be incorporated into the City’s future decision-making.

Meeting Frequency

The Committee will meet at least monthly. Meetings may be held in conjunction with Board meetings. The Core Team will meet one or more times between Committee meetings. Additional meetings, including single-purpose and community-wide meetings, may be added based on the work plan.

Communications and Engagement

The Committee will use the Eastside Neighborhood Association website to provide up-to-date information on Committee membership, contacts, community surveys, meetings and similar activities. The planning committee will deliver regular monthly reports to the ENA Board of directors. These reports will be included in the Board’s minutes. In addition, the Committee will draft a written‘public involvement and communications strategy’ describing in detail how we intend to engage all stakeholders.

Implementation

It is expected the sub-area planning process will continue after finalization of the plan through on-going engagement of Board members, Committee members, City representatives, and neighborhood residents.