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NEWPORT — A first look at the 2027 Comprehensive Plan draft ended after two hours of discussion between the Newport City Council and Planning Commission Monday night.
In those two hours, council members only managed to review the introduction of the 117page planning document, which contains nine chapters guiding the city’s projects, programs, policies and other actions over the next 10–20 years.
“None of the things you’re gonna see today are set in stone,” contract city planner Rachel Granrath said at the joint workshop Monday, Sept. 28. Mayor Keith Campbell and Planning Commission members Troy Moody, Chris Thomas and Elizabeth Nelson were absent from the meeting.
The Comprehensive Plan is due for adoption in June 2027. Prior to that, the city must submit it to the state for review in April 2027.
With both the council and commission occupied by year-end budget reviews and other agenda items, a few city officials expressed concerns about meeting the April 2027 deadline during Monday’s workshop. Granrath said she did not recommend the city delay submission.
“I don’t want us to miss this Commerce deadline, and then we miss out on fundings and grants,” council member Mark Collins said. “Because that’s a tangible thing that the city will get that we need, that we can’t get without this plan.”
City administrator Abby Gribi said she did not expect review of the remaining pages to take as significant an amount of time as the introduction. The council decided to review chapters one and nine — goals and policies, as well as implementation — at their next regular meeting.
“The Planning Commission has already done the hard work,” Collins said. The commission is the advisory body for the Comprehensive Plan. “We still need to make our recommendations on any change that we see fit and then just have them review that again.”
The 2027 Comprehensive Plan is a complete revision of the 2021 Comprehensive Plan, which Granrath said was “so outdated” and “not a working plan.”
Granrath and her team identified four as- pirational values via stakeholder and public outreach: “connected and collaborative,” “strong and prepared,” “opportunity and downtown revitalization” and “healthy, welcoming and beautiful.”
Per these aspirational values, the Comprehensive Plan plans for land use; economic development; housing; transportation; parks, recreation and open space; capital facilities and utilities; and environment and climate resiliency.
“What we thought would be really helpful is taking your previous plan, which was 25 pages of goals and policies, and linking them to community values,” Granrath said.
According to the Comprehensive Plan, coordination with the Kalispel Tribe is a core part of the planning effort and reflects a government-to-government approach to land use and community planning. However, council member Nathan Weathers took issue with the extent the Tribe is referenced in the Comprehensive Plan.
While Weathers said he recognized the Tribe was a partner of the city’s and he had a personal appreciation for some of the Tribe’s traditions and values, the Tribe was a nation-state about 10 miles away from Newport. He compared extensively referencing the Tribe to consulting foreign countries, specifically Bhutan, Sweden or North Korea.
Weathers also questioned a land acknowledgement and similar statements asserting that the Tribe had an “enduring connection” and “long-standing cultural, historical and economic ties” to the Newport area, adding that there was no precedent for land ownership or commerce among regional Tribes before Europeans’ arrival in the 15th century.
“Let’s talk about citizens, let’s talk about residents, let’s talk about businesses, local business owners, first and foremost,” Weathers said. “To keep that absolutely the forefront of this entire document.”
According to the Comprehensive Plan, the Newport area has supported human habitation for roughly 10,000 years. Land use here centered on river-based subsistence, seasonal movement, fishing, hunting and trade. Before Europeans’ arrival, the Pend Oreille River functioned as both an ecological system and a transportation corridor.
The city is required by the Growth Management Act to coordinate with the Tribe on the Comprehensive Plan, Granrath said. The Tribe provided her team with input on surface water runoff impacts, connections between city- and Tribe-owned properties, community engagement and funding opportunities, among other things.
She clarified that the statements were an acknowledgement that the land was important to the Tribe, and that the Tribe was a major stakeholder in surrounding natural resources.
“I am not sure if we can change certain language, but we can look into that,” Granrath said.
In the same vein, council members debated the inclusion of non-residents in data informing the Comprehensive Plan.
While Granrath and her team observed an above-average level of engagement during public outreach, council members called for more data from residents. Weathers said he did not support non-residents determining policies and other actions that would ultimately be paid for by residents. He suggested non-residents’ data be weighted less than residents’, a decision Granrath said was up to the council.
Gribi said resident and non-resident perspectives worked in tandem to establish the city’s needs. For example, non-residents knew what initiatives would attract and retain residents.
“So getting that broader viewpoint is important,” Gribi said.
Collins requested for more stakeholder involvement in the Comprehensive Plan, as Newport Hospital and Health Services had yet to be consulted despite many attempts, Gribi said. At the same time, Mayor pro tempore Mark Zorica cautioned against extensively referencing stakeholders with less proximity to Newport, such as Oldtown or Priest River.
In addition to the Tribe, Granrath and her team interviewed representatives from the Newport School District, Newport Creative District, Pend Oreille County Library District, South Pend Oreille Fire and Rescue, Public Utility District, Pend Oreille Conservation District and Port of Pend Oreille.
“It’s like Nathan’s question about the Tribe,” Collins said. “‘Cause they’re not actually in the city, so trying to limit the amount of things we discuss, I think we should do the same with anybody that’s outside the city.”
Overall, the council and commission agreed that the Comprehensive Plan was good, with Collins praising it as solid, thoughtful and directive. He and other members of the council and commission thanked Granrath for her team’s work, and for their presence.
“It’s an amazing plan so far,” Collins said. “We can just tweak a little bit and make it a little bit better, and that’s what our job is. That’s what we’re here to do.”
