Long Range Planning

Long range planning develops and maintains the comprehensive plan and other strategic planning efforts like collaboration with boards and commissions and public engagement to help guide the city’s future. Staff manage updates to land use, zoning, and development code regulations, process annexation proposals, and ensure that the city complies with state legislative changes.

Planning and Programming

Critical Areas Ordinance Update

The Critical Areas Ordinance (CAO) is a set of development regulations to protect environmentally sensitive areas and safeguard the public from natural hazards such as floods and landslides.

Clean Economy Strategy (CES) 2.0

The Clean Economy Strategy (CES) 2.0 is designed to serve as a roadmap to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance environmental sustainability, and prepare for climate change while maintaining and building a strong economy for Renton.

Comprehensive Plan

The Renton Comprehensive Plan is a long-term guide for the city's growth, outlining goals and policies for land use, housing, transportation, and sustainability to support a vibrant, sustainable community.

Neighborhood Retail

The City of Renton is exploring opportunities to introduce small-scale commercial and retail uses into residential neighborhoods.

Rainier/Grady Junction TOD Subarea Plan

The Rainier/Grady Junction TOD Subarea Plan provides a vision and strategies to guide future growth and achieve a holistic, people-oriented neighborhood around Sound Transit's expanded bus rapid transit (BRT) line and transit center at the corner of Rainier Avenue S and S Grady Way.

Housing Legislatives

Washington State Housing Legislative Updates

Learn about housing legislation passed by Washington State and its effects on housing options, inventory and affordable housing.

Planning Commission

The Planning Commission, at the direction or referral by the City Council, reviews staff proposals, holds public hearings, and submits recommendations, as necessary, for implementation of the Comprehensive Plan, including:

Neighborhood or sub-area plans and studies
Shoreline Master Program amendments
Land use regulations and processes, development regulations
Short-range programs

Next Planning Commission Meeting

There will be no Planning Commission meeting this December.

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, January 7, 2026 at 6:00 PM at the 7F Council Chambers, Renton City Hall, 1055 S Grady Way, Renton WA and via Zoom conference (meeting details to follow). For questions, please email planningcommission@rentonwa.gov.

Agenda:
1. Public Hearing: Adoption of Parks, Recreation and Open Space (PROS) Plan
2. Election of 2026 Planning Commission Officers

Members

Full list of members and vacancies

Term
3 years

Requirements
Members must be residents or owners of a small business in the City of Renton. (City of Renton Ordinance 6064, Section II).

Meetings
First and third Wednesdays, 6 p.m.

Click here for All Meeting Agenda and Zoom Recordings

Contact
Community and Economic Development, Planning Division
425-430-7268 or planningcommission@rentonwa.gov

Annexations

As part of the implementation of the Growth Management Act (GMA), Renton and King County established the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) in 1995. Land inside that boundary is defined as urban, and must have urban densities, and land outside the UGB is to remain rural. All land within incorporated cities is “urban”. However, be-tween city limit lines and the UGB there are unincorporated urban areas that are designated as “Potential Annexation Areas” (PAA’s) and each area has been assigned to a city that agreed to consider annexing it at some point in the future. King County’s Countywide planning policies called for urban areas to be part of a city by 2012.

The City of Renton has three PAA’s, click HERE to view a map of them. The East Renton Plateau and Fairwood/Petrovitsky were designated as Renton PAA's in 1995. The West Hill area was added as a Renton PAA in 2005. If all three areas annexed to to City, Renton would be a city of 130,000 people - as many or more residents as the City of Bellevue. In 2008, a portion (4.2 square miles with 16,272 residents of the Fairwood/Petrovitsky PAA came into the City as the Benson Hill Community annexation. The Fairwood/Petrovitsky area voted not to annex to the City of Renton in 2010 and West Hill voted not to annex in 2012.

Until January 1, 2015, state law supported the annexation of unincorporated urban areas by offering a “credit” against the state portion of the sales tax to offset transition costs and deficits to serve these areas over ten years. The sales tax credit was available to annexing areas with populations over 10,000. This additional funding helped cities close the gap between expected service costs and potential revenues. Without this supportive funding from the state, the financial challenges of annexing the city’s PAA’s are compounded.

For additional information about annexations to the City, please call 425-430-6575.

How to Annex To A City

Annexation Special Census