The City Council formally approved legislation Monday afternoon to add new rules and process to guide development in the Pike/Pine area of Capitol Hill. The Council’s Committee on the Built Environment chair Sally Clark moved the legislation forward Wednesday morning paving the way for Monday’s full-council vote.

“The Pike/Pine neighborhood is one of Seattle’s cultural treasures. While we are still not done with our efforts to preserve the character of Pike/Pine, this is an important step that will provide guidance to property owners, developers, Department of Planning and Development staff, and community members,” said Council member Tom Rasmussen.

The updated rules are called a Phase Two of the Pike/Pine conservation effort. The new rules will further shape the Department of Planning and Development’s design review process and will give Capitol Hill’s Design Review Board expanded control to weigh in on elements like a proposed design’s height and scale. The legislation also requires developers to submit at least one design alternative that includes “character structure” — if the building has “character.” Phase One of the legislation focused on creating specific incentives to developers who included historical building components into their designs.

A third phase of the preservation effort could include the development of a “transfer of development rights” program. Early versions of the phase two proposals included TDR concepts that were eventually scrapped.

Council member Rasmussen has told CHS he hopes the changes might eventually be applied to the design process in other parts of Seattle.

Seattle City Council approves design guidelines for the Pike/Pine neighborhood

SEATTLE – The Seattle City Council today voted unanimously to approve updated design guidelines for the Pike/Pine neighborhood in Council Bill 116943.

“The Pike/Pine neighborhood is one of Seattle’s cultural treasures. While we are still not done with our efforts to preserve the character of Pike/Pine, this is an important step that will provide guidance to property owners, developers, Department of Planning and Development staff, and community members,” said Councilmember Tom Rasmussen.

More than 75 percent of the buildings in Pike/Pine were built before 1930.  The legislation addresses the best ways to make new development compatible in scale and form with the surrounding older structures in the neighborhood. 

Members of the Council have worked with community members and the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) since 2008 to develop policies and land-use code changes to protect the neighborhood’s unique character. 

Councilmember Sally J. Clark said, “The City Council adopted legislation in 2009 intended to preserve culturally significant buildings in Pike/Pine. This ordinance will help to make sure that new structures complement these older structures as well as the character of the neighborhood.”

The updated design guidelines, building on the original guidelines adopted in 2000, include new illustrations and photographs, many of which were provided by residents of the neighborhood. Representatives from the Pike/Pine Urban Neighborhood Coalition and the Capitol Hill Design Review Board also provided direction and feedback to the design guidelines update

Clark added, “The guidelines are a means for neighbors and developers to get on the same page with each other and to come to agreement about how new construction will meld with existing structures.”

Rasmussen said, “Now, when an older structure is located on the site of a proposed new project, the developer must consider and present to the Design Review Board at least one design proposal that maintains or reflects the key architectural elements of the older building.”

Some of the elements to be considered include:

1)    Large display windows on the first floor;

2)    Prominent building entrances; and,

3)    Buildings’ size and scale in proportion to current structures.

A copy of the updated Pike/Pine Design Guidelines can be found here.