The city of North Bend could lose eligibility for critical state and regional grants if North Bend City Council doesn’t finish approving its 2024 Comprehensive Plan by Dec. 31.

At the Nov. 5 meeting, the council agenda included approval of two elements of the city’s updated Comprehensive Plan: housing and land use. The council voted three-two against approving the land use element after some councilmembers expressed concerns that these changes are not what citizens want. Councilmember Suzan Torguson abstained because she owns property affected by the elements.

Later in the meeting, after briefly discussing the Housing element as well, the council passed motions to redo the vote for the land use element and finish discussing the housing element at the Nov. 19 meeting. Mayor Mary Miller said if the council approves the two elements on Nov. 19, the city will maintain its schedule for an updated Comprehensive Plan and be ready to adopt the plan at the Dec. 3 meeting.

“[The Comprehensive Plan] is a massive undertaking that requires a tremendous amount of research and consideration,” she said. “I appreciate the council being thoughtful about each element of the plan … Similar to the other nine elements, Housing and Land Use are essential components that, once approved, will help guide our elected officials and staff for the next 20 years.”

Though the council has a plan to stay on track, some members were not pleased that the elements were not approved at the last meeting.

“Last night we failed as a city council,” Councilmember Errol Tremolada wrote in a Nov. 6 Instagram post. “There have been months of open dialogue and public hearings about these elements, and we failed the taxpayers.”

To maintain eligibility for several 2025 grants managed by the state and Puget Sound Regional Council, the city must have an updated Comprehensive Plan in line with the state’s Growth Management Act (GMA). Established in 1990, the GMA allows local governments to manage their own development while aligning with state goals and adhering to compliance deadlines.

In the last four years, North Bend has relied on more than $12 million in state and regional grants for capital improvement and maintenance projects, according to the city council agenda packet. The city anticipates at least an additional $13 million in grant support in the next few years. The city of North Bend is also staring down the barrel of a $26 million funding shortfall.

“[The land use element] is an integrated component of our overall Comprehensive Plan update, which is necessary for maintaining eligibility for very important grants from the state,” Mike McCarty, principal planner for the city, said during the Nov. 5 meeting.

North Bend’s Planning Commission has worked to update the housing element since 2022, and the land use element since 2023, including several points of outreach to collect community feedback. The commission recommended approval of the two elements at the Sept. 18 city council meeting, after a public hearing earlier that day. Now, it’s at the discretion of the city council to take the commission’s recommendations or make revisions.

Councilmember Brenden Elwood first raised concerns about the land use element, which includes new and revised policies, land use designations and zoning designations. Elwood doesn’t believe the elements, as they stood on Nov. 5, align with what citizens want.

“If we adopt this, it is going to be what it is and we’re going to have to live with that,” he said during the meeting. “I don’t know what the threat of the deadline is, other than we just didn’t meet it.”

City Administrator David Miller and some councilmembers expressed concern that not updating the Comprehensive Plan by the deadline would risk a lack of funding for the city’s extensive 2024-2029 Capital Improvement Plan that was approved last year.

“At this point it’s kind of the 11th hour to act as though we haven’t been given an opportunity to explore other options or to look at those. We have,” Miller said during the meeting. He added, “To do it at this point endangers a lot of our capital improvement funding and basically says the process that we spent a lot of time and effort on was fruitless.”

Tremolada said the council should approve the elements, in order to not risk grant funding, and then revisit the elements in January because the city is allowed to update the Comprehensive Plan once a year.

“If you go back to the voters and say ‘Are you willing to take a $12 million bet on that?’ That’s the conversation we should be having,” Tremolada said during the meeting. He added, “It’s our job to protect the funding for this town.”

Other councilmembers disagreed, saying it wasn’t a guarantee they were risking $12 million, and they didn’t want to give property developers an opportunity to take action the council does not agree with before it has a chance to update the elements.

Councilmember Mark Joselyn, as well as Mayor Miller, commented that city staff have put a lot of time and consideration into the suggested updates.

“The document we’ve been brought is an incredible balancing act already between a multitude of interests,” Joselyn said. He added: “You could build a case of support or lack of support or challenge or not challenge for any aspect of this plan. … But it’s come here through a process.”

For more details on the updates to North Bend’s Comprehensive Plan, go to northbendwa.gov.