Work on Langley’s comprehensive plan update is picking up speed.

Director of Community Planning Michael Davolio told the city council July 20 that the city’s report to the county will likely be accepted, but only after several more public meetings.

Much of the comp plan work is done with the Planning Advisory Board, which doubled its once-a-month meeting schedule to accommodate more meetings solely about the document.

Councilman Jim Sundberg asked the planner to consider committees to help tackle the major update to the 20-year document. In the past, he said, more than 100 people helped draft it. With so many people involved in the process, it had widespread buy-in, Sundberg said.

A former planning board member, Councilman Thomas Gill, supported the idea.

“It’s going to affect a lot of people,” Gill said.

One point of concern for the council was the urban growth area. Davolio has recommended shrinking the area, but not as severely as the planning board. Past population projections were high and off the mark, and current projections forecast a modest growth to the city’s roughly 1,000 residents.

“It’s pretty easy to reduce a UGA, it’s much harder to increase it,” said Davolio, who added he has worked on more than a dozen comprehensive plans throughout his career.

“As long as what you propose is defensible, they’re unlikely to change it,” he added, referring to the county.

More information about the comp plan can be found online on the city’s design and planning blog, designlangley.com, and the city website, langleywa.org.