The number of people living in Enumclaw has a major impact on the area, from housing to traffic and city services.

So if you have any concerns about the way your city is growing, consider attending Enumclaw’s upcoming Land Use Workshop at the Enumclaw Senior Center on June 13, from 6 to 8 p.m.

The workshop is just one of many opportunities local residents can weigh in on Enumclaw’s newest Comprehensive Plan.

The Comprehensive Plan, or Comp Plan for short, is a document required from the state that outlines how Enumclaw plans to grow, from population growth and land use and improved capital facilities to economic development and parks and recreation. While not a binding document (and is often amended), the Comp Plan is necessary to receive grants for various projects — meaning less pressure on local taxpayers and the city’s budget.

This Land Use Workshop will focus on population growth and how the city can encourage employment over the next two decades.

“At the meeting the facilitators will provide the audience with land use scenarios that could include changing the Comprehensive Plan Land Use Designation of an area in the city to another designation or allowing new uses,” Isaac Anzlovat, an Enumclaw associate planner, said in an email; in short, how the city can re-zone change, expand, or shrink residential, commercial, mixed-use, and other areas. “Then the facilitators will lead a discussion with the audience about the effect that each scenario will have on population growth, housing, employment opportunities, traffic, and services. The meeting will be focused around the city’s Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map and will be an exercise in cause and effect and tradeoffs.”

Enumclaw has been growing steadily since 1990, from a population of 7,200 to nearly 13,000 in 2023.

With that population has come additional housing. In 1990, the city recorded about 3,000 total housing units, according to its 2015 Comp Plan. That’s increased to just over 5,500 units in 2022, according to the Washington State Office of Financial Management.

Housing affordability has also changed over the last few years. According to the city’s 2015 Comp Plan, the median housing unit value was $251,600; this has increased about 47% to more than $358,000.

Meanwhile, the local median household income has increased from $58,400 to $91,800, a 57% increase.

In 2015, King County required cities to have about 25% of its housing to be affordable to those making 50% of the county’s median income.

That policy has now changed, and the state is requiring counties and cities to allocate a specific number of housing units available for various household income levels.

According to Enumclaw’s Community Development Department, the city will need to have 247 housing units available for households making 0% to 30% of the median county income (and have 202 of those units be for emergency housing); 39 units for those making between 31% and 50% the median county income; 61 units for those making between 51% and 80%; 93 units for those making between 81% and 100%; and 617 units for those making above 100% by 2044.

According to city Community Development Director Chris Pasinetti, the 2021 Urban Growth Capacity Report showed the city was not generating enough housing to meet this housing allocation, but the city could see more housing development projects, and pass legislation to attract housing projects, in the next 20 years to meet that allocation.