From the Seattle Department of Planning and Development (DPD)
On November 5, 2014, DPD held a Georgetown community meeting. At least 64 people from the Georgetown neighborhood joined 16 City staff. At the meeting, we heard from many Georgetown residents, people who work in industry and businesses, artists, property owners and many others who have invested in their neighborhood. We also heard from people who have been a part of the neighborhood for decades and those who are new. We truly appreciate the opinions and perspectives from everyone who attended, and we recognize that more information and dialogue is needed.
The Intended Purposes of the November 5 Meeting:
1. Industrial Land Policies: We wanted to hear your feedback and questions around the proposed Comprehensive Plan industrial lands policies, their potential impact on the Georgetown neighborhood and how the policies would or would not support the community’s vision for the neighborhood. Background information on the proposed industrial lands policies is located on the Duwamish Industrial Lands Study project page.
Our options for moving forward include:
• Do nothing to change the current Industrial Land Policies.
• Move the policies forward as proposed, to cover all industrial lands in Manufacturing and Industrial Centers (MIC).
• Revise the proposed policies so that they only apply to certain industrial areas until further study can be done in specific geographic areas, such as Georgetown.
No decisions have been made. We will communicate via email, web and future meetings, regarding further discussion on the Industrial Policies. Decisions will not be made until late in 2015 when the Mayor sends his recommendations to Council. The City Council will then deliberate in 2016.
2. Georgetown Moving Forward: Since July 2014, the Department of Planning and Development staff has met with individuals and groups of residents, merchants, property owners, industrial representatives, an airport representative and others. The purpose of the meetings was to understand the range of issues in the neighborhood. A summary of the meetings and the general thoughts conveyed from stakeholders is posted below. The November 5 meeting was another opportunity for you to provide feedback around what you envision for the neighborhood, and what you value. The group comments, the conversations before and after the presentation as well as the sticky note comments were very helpful in this regard.
Future Communication:
We will follow-up on the November 5 conversation in several ways:
• We will report back on “what we heard” from the meeting (the detailed meeting notes, sticky note comments, results of dot exercise, etc.) in the coming two weeks. We’ll send this to you and others on our contact list via email, and we’ll ask you if we heard you correctly.
• We are creating a web site for Georgetown where we will post information about all of our conversations with the community, background information (zoning maps, demographics, etc.), feedback from earlier meetings and this latest meeting, and links to community organizations and related initiatives. We plan to have this web site up and running by November 19. In the meantime, materials from the November 5th meeting and some initial background materials are posted below.
• We anticipate another meeting during the first quarter of next year to continue this discussion and present the findings of DPD’s “Local Production Study” and the Department of Neighborhoods’ survey of historic resources in Georgetown. The Local Production Study focuses on the demand for local production /craft manufacturing spaces, and the economic challenges and opportunities for their location in Georgetown and other neighborhoods.
• We’ll email you with updates as to the direction of the industrial lands policy and other initiatives that relate to Georgetown. We’ll also provide links and information on our Georgetown web site.
Materials:
November 5th Community Meeting
• Original meeting boards
• Industrial Lands Presentation
• Summary of previous discussions (July 2014 –October 2014)
• Letter from DPD Director to community – October 20, 2014
• Existing zoning and land use maps
Look for an upcoming announcement about the new webpage where additional materials and information will be posted.
We invite you to email or phone at any time for further discussion and to provide feedback or questions. Contact Aly Pennucci, Senior Planner at Aly.pennucci@seattle.gov or (206) 386-9132.