We’ve posted the following meeting material and notes on our website:

• Seattle Comprehensive Plan and Climate Action Plan Presentation
• May 3 Display Boards (on the Climate Action Plan, the Seattle Comprehensive Plan, transit communities and urban design)
• Table Discussion Questions
• Table Discussion Notes

Did you miss the meeting? We still want to hear from you. Take a look at our meeting material, then send us your comments, thoughts, and questions. Or, host a discussion in your community. Gather a group, review that material, and answer the discussion questions.

Send your comments, questions, and ideas to DPD_CompPlan2030Vision@seattle.gov.

Where can I learn more?

Visit us at:

• Seattle Comprehensive Plan: www.seattle.gov/dpd/planning/compplan
• Seattle Climate Plan: www.seattle.gov/environment/climate_plan.htm

Follow us on:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/SEA2030
• Twitter: #SeaCompPlan

Thursday, May 3, 2012
5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
City Hall – Bertha Knight Landes room
600 4th Avenue, Seattle, Washington

What are we doing?

Seattle will add more than 100,000 residents by 2035, along with thousands of new jobs.  The City’s Comprehensive Plan is a blueprint for how and where we handle all that growth.  We want your ideas on how we can best guide smart and sustainable growth for future generations.

How can I participate?

On May 3rd, you are invited to join the Seattle Planning Commission and City planners at an interactive and thought-provoking discussion.  Our breakout sessions will focus on climate change actions, walkable communities, and attractive and functional buildings and streets.

This meeting is an important step for developing amendments to the Seattle Comprehensive Plan and the update to the Climate Action Plan.  Please spread the word to your friends and neighbors about this opportunity and join us on May 3rd.

Where can I learn more?

Visit us at:

www.seattle.gov/dpd/planning/compplan

www.facebook.com/SEA2030

www.seattle.gov/environment/climate_plan.htm

The Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is beginning a new initiative for Seattle’s University District. Information about the University District Urban Design Framework (UDF) initiative is available on a new web site and Facebook page. The web site includes an “existing conditions” report and other project information.

The UDF will provide direction for the University District neighborhood as the area grows and changes, including the design of streets, public space and future development. The focus of the effort is on areas generally within ½ mile of the Sound Transit Brooklyn light rail station, and will include discussion and study of the area bounded by NE Ravenna Boulevard, Interstate 5, Portage Bay and 15th Avenue NE.

“Light rail and the Brooklyn light rail station will bring a new era to the University District, opening up many opportunities. This is an important time for the community to be thinking about how this important area can evolve, starting with what is great about the neighborhood today,” said Diane Sugimura, Director of Seattle DPD. “We are pleased to be working with the community to make sure we move toward a thriving, safe, walkable place for everyone.”

DPD is working with many partners including the Greater University District Chamber of Commerce, area residents, the University of Washington, members of social service agencies and faith communities, numerous other community organizations and City agencies including the Seattle Office of Economic Development and the Seattle Police Department North Precinct.

The University District UDF is part of the University District Livability Partnership—a three year strategic initiative to encourage investment for a vibrant, walkable University District neighborhood. The project will include extensive outreach and public engagement opportunities.

For information:

City of Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD) www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/University_District/

Susan McLain, Senior Urban Planner, susan.mclain@seattle.gov

Radhika Nair, Urban Planner, radhika.nair@seattle.gov

We made a significant transition during the March meetings. The community is now leading the effort to shape the future of their neighborhood; the City will play a supportive role. We are excited that 19 Broadview – Bitter Lake – Haller Lake community members signed up for at least one of the three Action Teams: create a town center on Linden; improve safe walking and biking; and build community. In Rainier Beach, 64 people signed up to participate on Action Teams! Their teams will work on: a place for everyone; lifelong learning; growing food to develop healthy industry; and a beautiful safe place.

We are grateful to the community members who demonstrated their commitment to their neighborhood by helping us update the neighborhood plans Thank you for being willing to roll up your sleeves and get the work done!

The U District is also changing with new developments, planned open spaces, and new investments by the UW. Of special importance, the Brooklyn light rail station is planned for NE 43rd and Brooklyn Avenue NE. The station will open in 2021.

Planning for a Transit Community

DPD is beginning work to develop an Urban Design Framework for the U District. An Urban Design Framework is a planning tool to envision and guide the physical development of the community. The UDF will look at how the community, the City and the UW may partner together to meet the challenges of a vibrant and growing area of the city.

The University District project area is defined as the area with15th Avenue NE to the east, Interstate 5 to the west, Ravenna Boulevard to the north and Portage Bay to the south. Consistent with a focus on transit community planning, DPD is beginning this project by focusing on areas within a ten-minute walk of the planned Brooklyn light rail station.

The project will include extensive stakeholder and community engagement about the future of the neighborhood. The project will identify strategies to:

• Support a thriving commercial district
• Welcome a diversity of housing
• Encourage new jobs and businesses
• Create public and private spaces for everyone
• Ensure great urban design for safe, attractive public spaces and buildings
• Integrate transportation planning
• Sustain the environment

Partnership Opportunities

The University District Urban Design Framework is an element of the U District Livability Partnership, a three-year strategic initiative to encourage investment in a vibrant, walkable University District neighborhood.

For further information about the project contact:

Susan McLain
susan.mclain@seattle.gov

Radhika Nair
radhika.nair@seattle.gov

Additionally the document will be available to the public on a CD (available at the Public Resource Center) or on DPD’s South Lake Union website www.seattle.gov/DPD/Planning/slu.

City recommendations for height & zoning changes in South Lake Uniong will follow the publication of the Final EIS. No date is set for the recommendations. 

If you have any questions, please contact:

 Jim Holmes
(206) 684-8372
jim.holmes@seattle.gov

This March, the communities of Broadview – Bitter Lake – Haller Lake and Rainier Beach will start taking action on priorities for their neighborhoods. Two upcoming workshops will give the communities the chance to celebrate the completion of their neighborhood plan updates and begin the implementation of priorities to achieve the respective communities’ goals.

The community workshops are hosted by the Neighborhood Advisory Committees in partnership with the City of Seattle . The meetings are part of the second round of updating Seattle’s neighborhood plans: Broadview – Bitter Lake – Haller Lake Vision 2020 Neighborhood Plan, and the Rainier Beach 2014: A Plan for a Sustainable Future. Community members and City staff have worked together the past year and a half to update goals, policies and strategies for the two neighborhood plans. Throughout the process, community ideas have driven the direction of these updates including the priorities below.

Priorities for Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake include:

• Create a Linden Avenue N Village Center: that is a vibrant neighborhood and where neighbors come together to shop, dine, and play.
• Transform Aurora Avenue N: to be a great business district and a safe place to walk, take transit and drive.
• Build Community: that is identifiable, interconnected and resilient by strengthening organizations and neighborhood activities. 
• Improve Safe Walking and Biking: along a network of major streets that connect people and places, and promote a sense of place and a healthy environment.

Rainier Beach’s priorities include:

• Life Long Learning: An innovative, connected learning system that is strategically integrated into the neighborhood’s cultural life.
• A Place for Everyone: Rainier Beach residents, long-term and new, will all have access to safe, healthy and affordable housing; access to transit; and a variety of vibrant commercial centers.
• Growing Food to Develop Healthy Industry: Rainier Beach is an employment center for the agricultural products grown in the valley. Rainier Beach has a unique opportunity to combine its urban farms and light industrial zone to become a hub of food and agricultural production.
• Rainier Beach is a Beautiful, Safe Place: Strengthening the neighborhood through increased public activity. Once we are all out in the neighborhood together, we have the opportunity to get to know each other, the more we know our neighbors, the safer we will be.

The community workshops will be held: 

Broadview – Bitter Lake – Haller Lake
Tuesday, March 13
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Short presentations from special guests will begin at 6:30 p.m.
followed by small working groups meeting from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
(Attend for all or part of the time.)
Broadview-Thomson K-8 School
13052 Greenwood Ave. N.

Rainier Beach
Wednesday, March 14
Doors open at 6:00 p.m.
Short presentations from special guests will begin at 6:30 p.m.
followed by small working groups meeting from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
(Attend for all or part of the time.)
South Shore K-8 School
4800 S. Henderson Street

Neighborhood Advisory Committees (NAC), consisting of community members who are passionate about their community and understand the importance of engaging others in this work, provided a community perspective on the plan update. The City used a number of outreach and engagement strategies including the innovative approach of connecting with historically under-represented communities by means of Planning Outreach Liaisons (POLs). Under the direction of the Department of Neighborhoods, in partnership with the Department of Planning and Development, bicultural and/or bilingual POLs serve as a vital component of the Neighborhood Plan Outreach effort.

For more information about the Neighborhood Plan Update, please visit the Department of Planning and Development website at www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Neighborhood_Planning/Overview/.

You may also join us on facebook at www.facebook.com/SeattleNeighborhoodPlanning.

 To request interpretation, ADA accommodations, or to sign up for childcare, please contact:

Sebhat Tenna
(206) 733-9977
sebhat.tenna@seattle.gov

Specific strategies address:

• Encouraging home entrepreneurship: Increase the flexibility to start and grow a business at home, including the ability to advertise, work in legal accessory structures, add workspace in a home, and have up to two non-resident employees. Such businesses still must avoid impacts to neighbors.
• Simplifying temporary use permitting: Encourage new micro-business activity with temporary use permits that last up to 18 months and are simple Type 1 permit reviews.
• Expanding options to accessory dwelling units (ADUs): Modify rules that are overly restrictive of detached ADUs regarding height and location on “through lots.” Also, clarify code language that allows ADUs inside townhouses and rowhouses.
• Concentrating street-level commercial uses in Pedestrian zones, and providing more flexibility for residential uses in commercial zones: Provide greater flexibility to mix residential uses into street-levels of buildings along commercial-zoned arterials, while retaining today’s rules in the most walkable neighborhood districts that are Pedestrian-zoned.
• Allowing small commercial uses in multifamily zones in urban centers and station areas: Provide new flexibility to mix small-scale commercial uses into street-levels of buildings in Lowrise 2 and Lowrise 3 multifamily zones in urban centers and transit station area overlay zones.
• Reducing and eliminating some parking requirements: Extend a no-minimum parking requirement to all commercial and multifamily uses within one quarter mile of frequently-served transit stops, including for major institutions in urban centers and station area overlay zones.
• Changing SEPA environmental review thresholds in urban centers and station areas: In these growth centers, raise thresholds for this review to 200 dwelling units (250 in Downtown), and 75,000 square feet for commercial uses in mixed-use development. Design review will still apply to most developments affected by this change.

For more information please visit: www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/RegulatoryReform/Overview/default.asp or contact:

Gordon Clowers
(206)-684-8375
gordon.clowers@seattle.gov

The TDP program makes it possible for any owner of a character structure to sell development rights to eligible “receiving sites” in Pike/Pine, where a 10 foot height increase and additional FAR are allowed on the lot to accommodate the transferred floor area.  To prevent the use of TDP from putting character structures at risk, any development that would result in the loss of a character structure would not be eligible as a receiving site.  While the adopted program limits the use of Pike/Pine TDP to eligible sending and receiving sites within the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, there is a provision to allow for the transfer of Pike/Pine TDP to receiving areas outside the neighborhood through future Council action.

The TDP legislation also resulted in the creation of a Conservation Core within the overlay district, an area roughly bounded by Broadway, Pine Street, 12^th Avenue, and a southern boundary midway between Pike and Union Streets.  This area, which has the greatest concentration of character structures listed as possible candidates for landmark designation on the DON Historic Resource Survey, is subject to tighter controls on bulk to promote development that will better maintain its existing character.   

The Restoration Plan can be found at the following website: www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/ShorelineMasterProgramUpdate/
ReportsMaterials/default.asp

Written comments on the plan are welcomed and encouraged. The comment period will last through Friday, February 10, 2012. Please send your written comments to Margaret Glowacki at margaret.glowacki@seattle.gov or to the following address:

Margaret Glowacki
City of Seattle – DPD
700 Fifth Ave. Suite 2000
P.O. Box 34019
Seattle, WA 98124-4019

To request a CD of the draft Restoration Plan, please contact Maggie Glowacki by email or phone (206) 386-4036.

For general information about the SMP update please visit the following website: www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/ShorelineMasterProgramUpdate/
Overview/default.asp