Shoreline to Hold Speaker Series on 2012 Comprehensive Plan Update

On January 25, the City kicks off a five-month speaker series on themes related to the City’s Comprehensive Plan. Each month, a speaker will present a topic relating to the Comprehensive Plan component that will be before the Planning Commission the following week. The first speaker will focus on Community Design, followed by February’s speaker who will focus on Transportation. The January 25 event will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Shoreline City Council Chambers.

In the fall of 2008, the City of Shoreline began working with the community to create a Shoreline Vision for the next 20 years. More than 300 Shoreline residents participated in the process generating over 2,500 individual comments. With the community’s input, the Shoreline City Council adopted Shoreline’s Vision 2029 statement.

Throughout 2012, the City will be embarking on setting goals and creating policies that are specifically intended to support the realization of Shoreline’s vision. The speakers’ series will bring enlightening and inspiring speakers to Shoreline with hopes of growing ideas within the community that will lead to actualizing Vision 2029.

Following each speaker’s presentation, attendees will be invited to mingle and share ideas with staff and other participants. These ideas will be transformed into new goals and policies for the Comprehensive Plan that will guide future decisions made by City officials and staff. The Comprehensive Plan is the primary tool used by local governments to guide decisions regarding the use of land, housing, transportation, community design, economic development, infrastructure and natural resources.

The first speaker will be Charles R. Wolfe. Wolfe is a writer and contributor of articles on urban development topics to The Atlantic and The Huffington Post as well as being an attorney in Seattle where he focuses on land use and environmental law and permitting. He will be speaking on “The Six Urbanist Themes for 2012” as they relate to Shoreline’s Vision and Community Design. He is known for his innovative use of land use regulatory tools and sustainable development techniques on behalf of both the private and public sectors to successfully redevelop infill properties.

Wolfe is an accomplished speaker and author on growth management and innovative zoning, “transit-oriented development” and brownfield/sustainable development topics. He regularly participates in regional and national seminars and serves as a reporter for the national publication Planning & Environmental Law. He is also an Affiliate Associate Professor in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington, where he teaches land use law and a range of planning and development courses to planners and future design professionals. Recently, he was appointed as a non-voting member of the Growth Management Policy Board of the Puget Sound Regional Council.

Check the City’s website and future issues of Currents for information on  upcoming speakers and topics and other Comprehensive Planning events in 2012.

Source: City of Shoreline