Bridgeport Council greenlights comprehensive plan grant application

BRIDGEPORT — City planner Kurt Danison addressed the city council's regular monthly meeting on April 17 to update members on the latest discussions of the Planning Commission and advise the council of a grant funding opportunity.

“The city plans under the Growth Management Act (GMA), and we are required to have a Comprehensive Plan,” said Danison. “Every 10 years we have to update it and every year we only are allowed to amend it once.”

Danison explained that to make those annual updates the commission must complete a docketing process to bring forward the recommended changes.

“The Planning Commission has done that,” said Danison. “We had our public workshop, advertised, and asked people to come in but we really didn’t get any input.”

Danison added that several items were left over from last year’s docket because the commission got sidetracked into a zoning issue and did not get to most of its docketed items.

“This year the Planning Commission recommends:

1. A review of the Comprehensive Plan to ensure consistency with the Downtown Revitalization Plan.
2. Look at the transportation element and produce a non-motorized component of that.
3. Review Title 19 administrative procedures: how you process permits, what kind of permits, what process they go through, how long it takes, who makes decisions, etc.
4. Address property that is zoned central business but is all residential. Residential limitations restrict owners’ ability to remodel some buildings and make them into residences.

“Those are the four items the Planning Commission would like to look into for 2024,” Danison said.

Then he told the council the good news part of his visit.

“We got a letter from the Department of Commerce that says DOC has $100,000 reserved for the City of Bridgeport to update our comprehensive plan and our zoning code and other implementing regulations,” said Danison. “I would certainly like the council to say: ‘Yes, you can go and get that $100,000’.”

Danison said the city must apply for the money, which is divided into $50,000 for the 2024-25 biennium and another $50,000 for the 2025-26 biennium. 

“Whatever we do has to be done by June 30, 2026,” Danison said.

Danison said the city needed to authorize the application for the funds, a decision that took about as long as it took to write this sentence.

Danison added that the commission plans to return to the June 18 council meeting with a PowerPoint presentation outlining the scope, timeline, and requirements of the grant, referencing the Comp Plan and GMA.

Mike Maltais: 360-333-8483 or michael@ward.media