2025 Comprehensive Plan Climate Element

NOVEMBER 2025 UPDATE:   The Lake Forest Park City Council is reviewing a draft Climate Element produced in 2024 and 2025 by the city’s Climate Policy Advisory Team (CPAT) and Planning Commission.  The Climate Element is a policy level document to be added as an amendment to the city's adopted Comprehensive Plan.  A public hearing on the current draft document will now be held by the City Council to receive additional public comment and input on these policy amendments prior to taking action.  The public hearing will be conducted during the Council's regular meeting on Thursday, November 13, 2025.  The meeting will begin at 7:00 P.M. and the public hearing will commence shortly thereafter and be held in the Council Chambers upstairs at the Lake Forest Park City Hall located at 17425 Ballinger Way NE in Lake Forest Park.  Written and verbal testimony will be accepted during the public hearing.


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OCTOBER 2025 UPDATE:   The city’s Planning Commission has been reviewing a draft Climate Element produced in 2024 and 2025 by the city’s Climate Policy Advisory Team (CPAT).  A public hearing on the current draft document will now be held by the Planning Commission to receive additional public comment and input on these policy amendments prior to making a formal recommendation to the City Council.  The public hearing will be conducted during the Planning Commission’s regular meeting on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.  The meeting will begin at 7:00 P.M. and the public hearing will commence shortly thereafter and be held in the Council Chambers upstairs at the Lake Forest Park City Hall located at 17425 Ballinger Way NE in Lake Forest Park.  Written and verbal testimony will be accepted during the public hearing.  


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The Lake Forest Park Climate Element is open for public comment now through August 11, 2025


The City began the development of the Climate Element in the fall of 2024. Since then, the Lake Forest Park community has shared input about local climate change experiences, concerns, and solutions to inform the draft. In June 2025, the City submitted the draft Climate Element to Department of Commerce and will bring the draft Climate Element to Planning Commission and City Council for review throughout the remainder of 2025. The draft Climate Element is available for public comment June 16 through August 11.

 

How to Provide Public Comment

Visit the public comment webpage to read the draft Climate Element and leave feedback directly in the document.

To learn more about the Climate Element, visit Climate Policy Advisory Team | Lake Forest Park, WA - Official Website. If you have any questions, please email sarahf@cascadiaconsulting.com and mhofman@cityoflfp.gov.

 

 

Climate Element Documents- City Council

  1. Climate Element Comp Plan Amend Notice of Public Hearing CC 11132025
  2. ClimateElement_10.23 PC Recommendation Version
  3. LFP_CE_PolicyDevelopmentMemo_Update10.03.2025
  4. DNS City of LFP Climate Element Amend to Comp Plan 10202025
  5. SEPA Checklist 2025 Climate Element Amends to Comp Plan 10212025
  6. Acknowledge-Letter-2025-S-9878
  7. WA State Department of Commerce Staff Comment EMail re_ Draft Climate Element

Climate Element Documents- PC                                City of Lake Forest Park Planning Commission (PC) Documents

  1. Climate Element Comp Plan Amend Notice of Public Hearing PC 10142025
  2. LFP Draft Climate Element October 2025 for PC
  3. LFP Climate Element Policy Development Memo Oct 2025
  4. LFP_ClimateElementEngagementSummary_Aug2025

Climate Element Documents- CPAT

City of Lake Forest Park Climate Policy Advisory Team (CPAT) Documents & WA State Department of Commerce Grant Deliverables- June 30, 2025:

  1. StatusReportforCommerce_June2025
  2. 1_LFPEngagementStrategy_Final
  3. 2_LFPClimateImpactsSummary_Final
  4. 3_LFPPolicyAudit_Workbook
  5. 3_LFPPolicyAuditMemo_Final
  6. 4_LFPClimateVulnerabilityAssessment_Final
  7. 5_6_10_LFPClimateElementWorkbook_Final
  8. 5_LFP_CEPolicyDevelopmentMemo_Final
  9. 7_LFPGHGSummaryMemo
  10. 8_LFPVMT_Study_Final
  11. 9_LFPWedgeMemo_Final
  12. 11_LFPClimateElement_FinalReviewDraft

About the Climate Element

In 2023, Washington State signed into law House Bill 1181, which requires Washington's cities and counties to use their principal planning document — the comprehensive plan — to build climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. In response, the City of Lake Forest Park is excited to announce the development of a new Climate Element in 2025.  The city has enlisted Cascadia Consulting Group (teamed with SCJ Alliance and Fehr & Peers) to assist in drafting the new Climate Element to be considered in 2025 as an annual docketing amendment to the 2024 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update (adopted by the City Council on December 12, 2024, to meet Growth Management Act timelines).

What does it mean to build climate resilience and reduce greenhouse gas emissions?  

 

  • Building climate resilience means preparing Lake Forest Park to adapt to the impacts of climate change, such as rising temperatures, wildfire smoke, more intense storms, and flooding—natural hazards that are becoming more severe.
  • Reducing greenhouse gas emissions focuses on lowering emissions from activities like energy use in buildings and vehicle transportation, with the goal of helping the city meet Washington State’s target of net-zero emissions by 2050.

Lake Forest Park’s Climate Element

The City of Lake Forest Park’s Climate Element will focus on building resilience to climate impacts while reducing GHG emissions within the Lake Forest Part community. This new Climate Element will be integrated into the City’s Comprehensive Plan, which serves as the guiding framework to achieve Lake Forest Park’s vision for the future.

 As part of the Climate Element process, the project team will work to understand Lake Forest Park’s unique climate impacts and emissions, gather input from the community, and assess climate risk and community vulnerabilities, by conducting a GHG inventory, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment, and community engagement.

The Climate Element will also build on the recently adopted Climate Action Plan (CAP), which was developed by the Climate Action Committee (CAC) and adopted by the City Council in June 2024. The CAP identifies specific strategies and actions to address climate change and will be implemented alongside the Comprehensive Plan. For more information on the CAP, please see the Climate Action Committee webpage.

Key Components of the Climate Element

Guided by the findings from the Climate Element process and the strategies described in the CAP, the Climate Element will outline actionable initiatives to meet the City’s climate goals.

The Climate Element will consist of two key sub-elements:

  • The Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction Sub-Element aims to reduce Lake Forest Park’s GHG emissions in line with Washington State's net-zero target by 2050. Key goals include reducing overall emissions, cutting per-person driving miles, and prioritizing actions that benefit overburdened communities.
  • The Resilience Sub-Element focuses on improving the city’s ability to adapt to climate impacts like rising temperatures, wildfire smoke, and intense storms. Policies will address climate-related natural hazards, protect and enhance natural areas, and strengthen community resilience.

Climate Policy Advisory Team

During the meeting on April 25, 2024, the City Council created the Climate Policy Advisory Team. The Climate Policy Advisory Team is temporarily established to advise the City on policy and regulations resulting in the addition of a climate element to the Comprehensive Plan (Resolution No 24-1948, Section 2).

CPAT webpage

Timeline

Get Involved

Community engagement is crucial to the success of this Climate Element project. We invite the Lake Forest Park community and residents to share their thoughts, concerns, and ideas as we develop the Climate Element. Your input will help shape our priorities and strategies.

We will be hosting a survey (early 2025), public open house (spring 2025), and comment period (summer 2025) to gather your feedback and foster detailed discussions on these important topics. Stay tuned for updates on upcoming opportunities to participate.

As we progress in this process, we will continually update this page with information about engagement opportunities. Thank you for being an active participant in our community’s climate initiatives!

Receive Updates

Stay in touch by signing up for email updates.

Resources

Climate Action Plan

Comprehensive Plan


Contact

Mark Hofman, AICP, Community Development Director
Email Mark Hofman
206-957-2824

 

The Lake Forest Park Climate Element is supported with funding from Washington’s Climate Commitment Act. The CCA supports Washington’s climate action efforts by putting cap-and-invest dollars to work reducing climate pollution, creating jobs, and improving public health. Information about the CCA is available at www.climate.wa.gov.

 

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