Many of the city's long-range planning activities fall under the Growth Management Act (GMA) and are encompassed in the City's main Comprehensive Plan document (4.7 MB
) which contains the following chapters and plan elements:
The comprehensive plan also includes additional plans which are adopted by reference and contained in separate documents:
For land use designations and patterns, you should also consult the Comprehensive Plan Map (2018) (4.3 MB
). You may also want to explore other maps and studies that are available for reference.
The Highway 99 corridor is a key feature of Edmonds. It is comprised of a two-mile stretch of Highway 99 (a state highway) and the land area around it. Parts of this corridor abut the jurisdictions of Shoreline, Lynnwood, Mountlake Terrace, and Snohomish County. The Highway 99 Subarea Plan project focuses on a community vision and approaches for making long-term improvements to land use and transportation in the area.
Five Corners / Westgate Commercial Centers
The City of Edmonds has been working with a team of faculty and students from the University of Washington's Green Futures Lab — with assistance from Forterra (formerly the Cascade Land Conservancy) — to create plans for expanding the role of neighborhood centers to serve as more active and vital parts of the community. The first two neighborhood commercial areas to be addressed are Westgate and Five Corners. The project will develop concepts that exemplify sustainable approaches for redevelopment in suburban cities and preparation of a Special District Plan for each of the two neighborhood commercial areas. View information on this project here.
4th Avenue Cultural Corridor
Linking key activity centers within downtown Edmonds is an important priority for the city. The city adopted a new master plan for the 4th Avenue corridor linking the Edmonds Center for the Arts with the downtown retail core in 2006, and followed that up with a design implementation and funding plan for the renamed "4th Avenue Cultural Corridor" in 2009. View information on this project here.
Highway 99 Enhancement
Beginning in 2004 with an enhancement study (3.2MB
) and market analysis (3.9MB
), the city has been working to identify and promote differentiation and identity along Highway 99. More recent projects have focused on updating codes to streamline permitting and simplify regulatory processes as well as installing artistic/identity elements. View more information on this project here.
Click here to
view the material on Edmonds' 2011-2012 Strategic Planning process.

Click on the logo (above) to view information on the Shoreline Master Program Periodic Review.
Puget Sound Regional Council
The City of Edmonds is located within Snohomish County, and is a member organization of the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). PSRC performs regional transportation, growth management, and economic development planning including:
Snohomish County Tomorrow
Within Snohomish County, the city participates in Snohomish County Tomorrow, a collaborative inter-jurisdictional forum consisting of representatives from the county, each of the cities, and the Tulalip Tribes.
SCT's mission is to adopt a publicly shared vision, including goals and policies, to guide effective growth management and to preserve Snohomish County's unique quality of life. SCT 's primary function is to oversee the Countywide Planning Policies (CPPs) which are written policies used to establish a countywide framework from which the county and city's comprehensive plans are developed.