DPD has sent to Council the department’s recommendations for annual amendments to Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is a collection of City-adopted goals and policies to guide growth over a 20-year period, currently 2004-2024. State law allows the City to make changes to the plan once a year. In April 2011 individuals, groups, elected officials, City Councilmembers, and City departments submitted proposed changes. Council held a hearing in June, and subsequently directed DPD to evaluate 13 proposals.
DPD is recommending seven amendments to the plan including policies about the container port, urban forest, transitional encampment, and road damage from heavy vehicles. Recommendations also incorporate map changes to the urban trails map, potential annexation areas map, and the Future Land Use Map within the Roosevelt urban village. Proposals not recommended for approval include five requests for changes to the Future Land Use Map; four requests would have redesignated industrial area to downtown area or commercial mixed-use area, and one request would have changed a very small area of single-family residential to commercial mixed-use. DPD also recommended deferring changes to a policy about green house gas emission targets until the Climate Action Plan update is adopted by Council in fall 2012.
The City Council will hold a public hearing about these recommendations in early 2012, and adopt amendments to the plan in spring 2012. To learn more about Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan and annual amendments to the plan visit www.seattle.gov/dpd/planning/compplan.