Pilot Neighborhood Planning Program
We are excited to launch the pilot Neighborhood Planning Program (NPP). In response to a desire for more equitable delivery of services and to provide a grassroots response to neighborhoods' concerns, the Tacoma City Council provided funding for a Neighborhood Planning Program (NPP). The goal of the NPP is to support neighborhood identity and vitality. City Council identified McKinley Hill and Proctor as the pilot neighborhoods representing different locations on the spectrum of neighborhood development between growth creation and growth management. The planning effort will kick off in early 2022. Click on the below images to access the project pages.
McKinley Hill Proctor
During the pilot, the City Council allocated resources to support the implementation of short-term goals in the selected neighborhoods such as:
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Art installations
- Physical improvements
- Cleanup efforts
- Community identity/history
- Recognition/protection of cultural/historic resources
- Sustainability/Health
- Some elements of streetscape and public amenities
- Determining the use of specific sites or properties
Why Neighborhood Planning?
This program provides enhanced planning and development support to help communities create strong, vibrant, and diverse neighborhoods. Led by residents from the neighborhood and informed by community engagement processes, the Neighborhood Planning Program will consider immediate ways to make your surroundings more livable. The goal of a neighborhood planning process is not just creating and implementing a plan, the process itself is also a tool to help improve communities through building community capacity, constituent energy, relationships/partnerships, and co-creation opportunities for residents to shape their own neighborhoods.
Begin with what’s in front of you, what’s really there. If there is a there there, that’s where it is.--Ron Silliman.
How It Works
Step 1: Develop a community engagement strategy to inform the Neighborhood Profile, Demographics, Community Resources and Budget/Needs.
Step 2: Coordinate with local partners.
Step 3: Evaluate existing conditions including:
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Historic Resources
- Property Inventory
- Equity Index
- Infrastructure/Transportation
- Land Use/Zoning (in a limited context)
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Implementation of existing policy frameworks from PSRC: Vision 2050; Tacoma 2025; and the One Tacoma Plan.
Step 4: Review and incorporate current and emerging issues through:
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Surveys
- Mapping exercises
- Neighborhood visioning
- SWOT analysis
Step 5: Make community-centered recommendations
Step 6: Identify funding sources/project leads
Step 7: Implementation
For more information about the City’s Long-Term Zoning, Land-Use and Planning strategy, please visit
Planning and Development Services.
Become a Neighborhood Planning Partner
Neighborhood Planning starts with the neighbors. You are the expert on what works, what doesn’t work, what’s missing, and how it could work better in your neighborhood. Your involvement with your neighborhood plan is our main goal. The Stakeholder Committee--composed of residents (homeowners and renters), students, property owners, business operators and employees, and those who live, work, or spend significant time in the neighborhood--will determine the plan’s priorities and recommendations. You can be involved in the process by:
- Joining the Stakeholder Committee in your neighborhood
- Volunteering to assist with surveys, leading outreach, hosting an event, or helping build connections with community members who prefer Spanish, Russian, Khmer, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, ASL or other languages.
- Responding to surveys
- Helping to create art or greenspaces
Stipends will be provided for contributions.