***** UPDATE: On September 16, 2021, the Lacey City Council voted to adopt the TCMP and included it within the Lacey Comprehensive Plan. Implementation and funding of the 30-year Plan will become part of Lacey’s normal annual budget cycle.*****
Are you concerned for your children’s and grandchildren’s future? The disruption to our lives from COVID-19 is just a rehearsal to the devastation that climate change will cause to our standard of living if we ignore the warning signs and the recommendations from the scientists. We are just beginning to see the effects of how our carbon emissions are changing the world’s climate, and these effects will continue to worsen until we shift to a net-zero greenhouse gas emission world.
The final version of the Thurston Climate Mitigation Plan (TCMP) is available for your review at https://www.trpc.org/909/Thurston-Climate-Mitigation-Plan and at the City of Lacey website https://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/climatechange . The Plan lays out the pathway for local governments and residents to reduce Thurston County’s carbon emissions 45% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 from the baseline level of 2015.
All four jurisdictions (Thurston County, Olympia, Lacey, and Tumwater) have accepted the TCMP in early 2021. Subsequently, Lacey added an additional round of virtual open house, survey, and public hearings to assess the degree of public acceptance of the TCMP. The Lacey Planning Commission then forwarded the TCMP to the City Council in May with strong recommendation for adoption, judging a greater than 70% favorable response from Lacey residents, including 100% favorable testimony at the public hearing (5 out of 11 were Panorama residents). Summary of the Planning Commission’s and Lacey staff’s endorsement is at http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/Portals/0/docs/city_council/council_committees/land_use/2021/05.25.2021%20Land%20Use%20Committee%20Agenda%20(Agenda)%20PACKET.pdf . In June, the City Council further tasked the Staff to develop more detailed cost estimates to execute the first 20 years of the TCMP.
We have a few remaining opportunities to gain further TCMP information and/or to provide additional public comment for City Council members to consider prior to their TCMP vote.
- Thursday, July 8, 4:00 p.m. – Lacey City Council Worksession will consider the TCMP with additional cost estimates. No public comment will be taken. Expect disagreements among council members. Register to watch the meeting at
http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/city-government/city-council/city-council-2/city-council-meetings/council-worksessions, click on the “Agenda” for July 8th meeting when it is underlined (usually within 6 days of meeting), then click on Zoom link at top of agenda page.
- Thursday, September 2, 4:00 p.m. – Last regular City Council meeting before Council votes on TCMP. Last chance to provide two minutes of verbal public comment regarding the TCMP. We encourage you to do so. Pre-registration is required at http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/city-government/city-council/city-council-2/city-council-meetings/council-meetingsbefore 3:00 p.m. to speak. As above, click on the “Agenda” for July 15th meeting when it is underlined, then follow directions in paragraph 4 of the agenda to register.
- Thursday, September 16, 4:00 p.m. – Lacey City Council votes to adopt the TCMP and include in the Comprehensive Plan Update. No verbal public comment will be allowed during the meeting; however, we encourage you to send an email to be received prior to noon on September 16. Comments received via email before noon are distributed to Council members prior to the meeting. We encourage you to view the meeting using the same Zoom route as above, but select “No” instead of “Yes” to the question asking if you want to speak. (There are other ways to watch, but this is the only way the Council members know if anyone is watching. Numbers count sometimes.)
- We strongly encourage you to contact the Lacey City Council any time, or multiple times, between now and September 16, and especially just before the September 16th meeting to let them know your thoughts or concerns about the TCMP implementation. Email Lacey City Council at publiccomment@ci.lacey.wa.usor to individual Council members whose email addresses are listed at http://www.ci.lacey.wa.us/city-government/city-council/city-council-2/meet-the-lacey-city-council
The TCMP Steering Committee, made up of an elected official from each city plus the county, is also in phase 3 of the TCMP, tasked to coordinate implementation of 29 additional TCMP action items. Their meetings are on the fourth Monday of each month at 3:00 p.m. at least through March 2022. Public verbal comments are encouraged at each meeting, as well as emails. See https://www.trpc.org/909/Thurston-Climate-Mitigation-Plan for details.
On an earlier version of this webpage, we sponsored a petition from Panorama residents supporting the TCMP. The petition with 129 names was emailed to the Lacey City Council and County Commissioners on January 3, 2021. We believe it played a small but meaningful part in the Lacey City Council’s decision to accept the TCMP. We also resubmitted this petition to the Lacey Planning Commission to be included with their assessment of Lacey resident support for the TCMP. The petition names were counted, which was a major factor in the Commission’s strong recommendation to the Lacey City Council in May. Thank you again to those who added their names to the petition.
Last updated September 30, 2021