Comprehensive Plan Update

Issaquah 2044

The City of Issaquah 2044 Comprehensive Plan update will guide growth over the next 20 years. Simultaneously, the Parks Strategic Plan and the Human Services Strategic Plan are being updated, and an Economic Development Action Plan is in development. 

Overview

Every 8 years, the City reviews the Comprehensive Plan for periodic updates as required by state law. These updates help the City refine and implement the community vision for how the community will look and function over the next 20 years.

The last major update (Issaquah 2035) was adopted in 2015. The ongoing 2023 update will look forward to 2044 and is expected to be adopted by City Council by Fall 2024. 

Upcoming Meetings 

The update will have topics reviewed at various upcoming Planning Policy Commission, City Council Committee and City Council meetings. 

The agendas, minutes and links to previous meetings can be found in the City’s Agenda portal.

Timeline

  • June 2023: Project Kickoff
  • June – November 2023: Housing and Land Use 
  • June – November 2023: Environmental Stewardship and Climate Resilience
  • June – December 2023: Transportation, Capital Facilities and Utilities
  • July – December 2023: Parks and Human Services
  • July – December 2023: Economic Development
  • Summer 2024: Draft Plan for review
  • Fall 2024: City Council Adoption

Resources 

For the Issaquah 2044 update, the following elements will undergo a review for compliance with new state and countywide regulations, consistency with recently adopted plans and relevance to the 2044 update. 

Housing: This element will be updated to consider the new requirements from House Bill (HB) 1220, HB 1110, and HB 1337. Minor updates will be incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan to comply with the new bills, however, a significant amount of changes that are required to comply with the bills will occur through updates to the land use code, which will follow this periodic update. 

Land Use: This element will be updated to consider new requirements from House Bill (HB) 1181 but the majority of updates will consider recently adopted plans and relevance to the 2044 update. 

Environment Stewardship and Climate Resilience: *NEW* This element will be created to comply with House Bill (HB) 1181 and will carry forward many existing goals and policies from the 2021 Issaquah Climate Action Plan which were incorporated into the previously adopted Land Use Element. 

Transportation: For this update, the City is conducting a Transit Study to evaluate more significant improvements to the City’s transit system, which will be incorporated into the Issaquah 2044 update and the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). This Element was recently updated in 2021 through the development of the City’s first Mobility Master Plan. 

Parks: Simultaneous with the Issaquah 2044 update, staff will update the Parks Strategic Plan,  originally developed in 2018. This effort will include discussions to update the goals and policies for the Comprehensive Plan, but primarily focus on capital project updates and priorities for the strategic plan. 

Economic Vitality: Concurrent with the Issaquah 2044 update, staff will develop an Economic Development Action Plan. This effort will initiate a discussion to update the goals and policies for the Comprehensive Plan alongside discussions to develop a short-term work plan to implement the City’s vision for Economic Vitality. 

Human Services: In 2022, the City adopted the Human Services Strategic Plan. The Human Services Element update provide goals and policies for the strategies that that went into the Strategic Plan. 

Cultural: The Cultural Element will be evaluated for new policies that support the City’s efforts for arts and culture in the community and will build upon the existing historic preservation policies. 

Capital Facilities: This Element’s update will incorporate the latest changes to the CIP that were adopted in 2023. 

Utilities: This Element’s update will incorporate the ongoing updates to the City’s Water System Plan, Sewer System Plan and Storm and Surface Water Master Plan.