As part of the major update of the Comprehensive Plan, the City of Mountlake Terrace is updating the Plan one chapter at a time. So far, draft updates to the Housing, Community Livability, Environment and Land Use Elements have been considered by the Planning Commission and recommendations to approve made to the City Council.

Up next is the Economic Vitality Element, which will be considered at Monday’s Planning Commission work session. All draft elements are posted on the city’s Comprehensive Plan Update website page.

The current Economic Vitality Element has not been substantially updated since 2003. Local economic conditions and employment opportunities have changed over the past decade affected by, among other things, regional and national, even global events. Since the 2003 update, the City has adopted an Economic Vitality Strategy (2008) and a Sustainability Strategy with an Economic Vitality section.

The intent of the current update is to make only minor changes to the narrative, tables, figures and maps, and to assure the text and data are as current, accurate and complete as possible.

Some findings from updating the chapter:

• The total number of jobs in the City has increased 6 percent since 2000.
• The major employment sectors changed between 2000-2012.
• The City has completed several subarea plans and planned actions.
• Economic Vitality and Sustainability Strategies were completed.

The Sept. 8 work session is an opportunity for the Planning Commission to discuss the issues in the chapter, goals and policy amendments, and actions to take in the near-term.