Buckley saving bucks by using UW grad students
Published 3:56 pm Thursday, April 30, 2009
By Jessica Keller, The Courier-Herald
The city of Buckley is getting a little help on its comprehensive plan from an unlikely source - graduate students.
The University of Washington Masters Planning Course has selected Buckley to receive help preparing its comprehensive plan and will provide 15 graduate students in the department of urban planning and design to prepare a draft comprehensive plan update/revision.
As part of the class, the students go to communities they have selected and assist them with the cities' planning. It is one of the last classes the students take before they graduate.
The class actually has 30 students, but 15 will go to Buckley, and the other half will help the city of Duvall prepare its comprehensive plan.
The comprehensive plan update/revision is a project that would normally cost the city between $70,000 and $75,000, but the UW masters class is receiving only $7,500 in fees from the city to reimburse expenses and travel.
The master's class began its work in Buckley this month, and in the future will host public meetings, meet with the mayor, staff, City Council and Planning Commission to get ideas and visions for the community.
"It's a little different. You get a more personal service than when you hire a consultant," Schmidt said.
In the end, the class will present a draft document of the comprehensive plan to the city in June, which city officials will approve and revise throughout the summer before having public hearings in the fall. But the draft presented will not be the first time city officials have seen it, as they will have reviewed the material as it has been developed. Schmidt said there are many checks and balances along the way.
While in Buckley the students will be focusing on three things: land use, economic elements and housing elements.
Schmidt said each of the students have topics they will cover and gather data on, such as population, housing and income information, which they will compile for the draft. They will also be looking at Buckley maps and the existing comprehensive plan to give them ideas of where Buckley is headed.
As part of the process, the Planning Commission will be revising the zoning code so everything is compatible with the final product.
Schmidt said from what he's seen, the classes have done good things in Skagit County. Already, Schmidt said he is impressed with the class.
He said the students are enthusiastic to get to know the community. They went for a walk-through of Buckley not too long ago, and Schmidt said the students had many ideas of what could be done, and through the process, they will help set a vision for the community.
The first community forum the class will have is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 21.
Jessica Keller can be reached at jkeller@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald
