The Future in Focus: Projecting Future Land Use Capacity With Greater Precision

Session 5B | Thursday | 10:45 AM – 12:00 PM (PT)

State guidance for applying HB 1110, HB 1337, and HB 1220 to update comprehensive plans is an invaluable starting point for all Washington communities. While some communities work with these baseline data and assumptions, others have additional data available to them, such as countywide Buildable Lands Studies, that can be drawn upon to make capacity projections under future land use plans more precise. In anticipation of the intense public spotlight on housing types and density in the comprehensive plan update process, the City of Edmonds and its consultants developed and applied a new method to pair future land use alternatives with robust and defensible capacity numbers. Furthermore, we will also share the way in which we explained the complex relationship between the GMA and local targets to the public. We wish to share our approach, answer your questions, and hear your experiences.

Paul Inghram, FAICP

Puget Sound Regional Council

Paul Inghram, FAICP, is the Director of Growth Management for the Puget Sound Regional Council, where he supports the implementation of the regional plan, VISION 2050, across four counties and 82 cities. Prior to PSRC, Paul worked with communities across Western Washington. Paul mentors students at the University of Washington and served as the president of the American Institute of Certified Planners. He holds a degree in planning and design from the University of Washington and an MBA from Seattle University.

Susan P. McLaughlin, AICP

Susan McLaughlin is passionate about sustainable cities and has dedicated her 25-year career to fostering vibrant, resilient communities and people-centric streets. She has worked in amazing cities over her career, including Santa Barbara, CA, Sydney, Australia, Rochester, NY, Christchurch, New Zealand, Seattle, and Edmonds, WA. Susan has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies from UC Santa Barbara and a master's degree in Urban Development & Design in Sydney, Australia.  She specializes in urban design, complete streets, land use planning, partnerships, and urban revitalization.

Brian Vanneman, MURP

Brian helps cities, developers, and citizens to understand the business of placemaking and to build places that are financially feasible while also meeting goals for community, sustainability, and equity. He has worked for cities throughout North America to plan and build transformative projects, including mixed-use projects in downtowns, urban waterfronts, and historic districts. Brian enables clients to understand how developers, investors, tenants, and other participants in the real estate marketplace make decisions, through market analysis, financial analysis, leading workshops, and negotiating public-private partnerships between multiple parties. Brian’s education and experience enable him to serve as a trusted advisor to both public and private sector leaders. Brian founded Forum in 2023, after leading real estate development and urban planning projects for other organizations for more than 18 years. In Woodinville, Washington, Brian worked closely with the city and private developers on the Schoolhouse District project, which transformed a four-acre brownfield property into 264 housing units, retail and restaurants, a series of public gathering spaces, YMCA, public parking, and renovated early 20th-century brick schoolhouse. In 2022, the project was named National Multifamily Project of the Year by Multifamily Executive, and Mixed-Use Development of the Year by NAIOP of Washington State. Brian served as owner’s representative for the Port of Vancouver, Washington to advise on the Vancouver Waterfront—now a national model for brownfield redevelopment that includes parks, waterfront trails, lodging, and housing, and has transformed Vancouver’s image. Brian has also advised on catalytic redevelopment projects in Boise, Missoula, Tacoma, Portland, Hood River, Wilsonville, Salem, Eugene, San Francisco, Albuquerque, and other cities.

Daniel Kennedy, AICP

Dan is an urban planner with degrees in both architecture and planning. Dan analyzes how the complex, dynamic forces that shape the built environment interact and how they can be aligned to create the best result for stakeholders. He reaches solutions through systems thinking, considering context, and a sensitivity to place.

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