The ‘C’ in CHS does not stand for ‘cynical.’ But without Seattle’s Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee and a great, multiple-section, comprehensive neighborhood plan for Capitol Hill, what would developers and City Hall have to ignore when hatching their evil plans?
The advisory committee and the Seattle Planning Commission (those evil plan hatchers) are holding a ‘workshop’ Monday night to start a process of outreach and feedback to help shape updates of Capitol Hill’s neighborhood plans around nine strategies:
- Create a culture and business ‘hub’ on the north end of Broadway
- Leverage student housing to create a more vibrant environment on Broadway near Seattle Central
- Establish three main business corridors: Broadway, Olive Way and 15th Ave
- Increase housing options while maintaining affordability and character
- Assure affordable parking on Broadway
- Preserve affordable and market-rate housing in Pike/Pine
- Create Pike/Pine design guidelines to preserve character
- Develop west area of Pike/Pine to strengthen connection to downtown
- Encourage development of mixed-used buildings and pedestrian friendly environments in Pike/Pine east of Broadway
More details on these strategies below.
Capitol Hill’s neighborhood friends in Monday’s status check meeting are Queen Anne, Belltown, Eastlake, and First Hill. Pike/Pine also gets its own plan, by the way.
Neighborhood Status Report Updates, Monday June 22nd
http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Neighborhood_Planning/StatusReports/
For Queen Anne, Belltown, Eastlake, Capitol Hill, First Hill, Pike/Pine
6-8 p.m.
South Lake Union Armory 860 Terry Ave N.
Please join members of the Seattle Planning Commission and the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Committee in the first of a series of two important community meetings.
These two citizen groups want to hear your thoughts. Come and tell us how your neighborhood has changed since your neighborhood plan was adopted. Your comments and input at this meeting will help the City of Seattle complete a status report that will look at how well your neighborhood plan is achieving its goals and strategies.
This first series of meetings will provide an opportunity to learn about your neighborhood plan, the projects that have been implemented, and growth and changes that have occurred since the plan was written in the late 90’s. We will explore issues such as growth, transportation, housing, economic development, basic utilities, neighborhood character, open space and parks, public services, public safety, and other issues.
The second meeting series, tentatively scheduled for October, will be an opportunity to review the status report.
You can review Capitol Hill’s existing neighborhood plan — a decade old now — to see what these efforts are all about. The old plan’s key elements:
- Fund & Construct Cal Anderson Park
- Complete a Broadway Economic Redevelopment & Rezone Analysis
- Upgrade Streetscapes to Create Safe, Attractive Pedestrian Connections
- Pedestrian Lighting and 15th Ave Improvements
- Improve & Manage Parking
- Provide Support & Options for Homeless and Street Youth
Many of the things you experience on today’s Capitol Hill developed within this framework. And, of course, a lot was developed outside of the framework, also.
For a look at what comes next, here are the draft status reports for Capitol Hill and Pike/Pine:
From the Capitol Hill report, here is what are currently considered the draft ‘Vision’ and ‘Key Strategies’ for the neighborhood’s future development:
Capitol Hill Key Strategies
A. North Anchor District Plan – builds on the historic context and cultural assets of the north end of Broadway to create a culturalbusiness hub.
B. South Anchor District Plan – leverages the investments in Seattle Central Community College, the lidding of Lincoln Reservoir, and the Link station to create more vibrant commercial and residential development in the Broadway area from E John St. to Pine Street.
C. Commercial Corridor Plans – defines actions to support each of Capitol Hill’s three Commercial Corridors —Broadway, 15th Avenue E and E Olive Way.
D. Residential District Plans – works to increase housing diversity and affordability, and maintain the neighborhood’s character.
E. Parking Management Plan – seeks to assure adequate, competitively priced parking for shoppers and visitors in order to keep the special small businesses that make the Broadway and the North Anchor District unique.
If you are wondering what kinds of input a citizen might provide at Monday night’s meeting, voicing your opinion on the need — or lack of need — for an emphasis on parking is the kind of stuff it’s time to start talking about.
Here are Pike/Pine’s Key Strategies:
Pike/Pine Key Strategies
A. Preserve and Encourage Affordable and Market-Rate Housing–in order to strengthen the neighborhood’s existing mixed-use character and identity.
B. Sustain the Character of the Pike/Pine Neighborhood–by development of Design Guidelines to preserve ‘character’ buildings and implementation of urban design improvements that enhance the pedestrian environment.
C. Strengthen the West End Entry–as entry points into a diverse neighborhood with unique opportunities for shopping, recreation and entertainment by enhancing connections between Pike/Pine and Downtown.
D. Strengthen the Neighborhood Core East of Broadway–by consolidating the area bounded by Broadway, 12th Avenue East, East Pine Street and Madison as a cohesive core of mixed-use buildings and pedestrian friendly streets.
D. sounds good to CHS. Las Ramblas of Capitol Hill, anyone?
Both status reports also have some nice graphic presentations of 2000 census data and more current estimates for demographics, housing and economic trends on the Hill and maps to outline the exact geographic reaches for each plan.
Capitol Hill stats. Example of some of the datasets available in the reports.
Meanwhile, the planners are also making available rosters of work items that have been implemented — or need to be implemented — in each plan area. We’ve reposted them as Google Spreadsheets to make them easier for everybody to examine.
Our favorite item in the matrices is this, the highest priority in the Capitol Hill list:
People Center: Develop a permanent facility to serve as a community gathering place for residents and human development organizations to meet, connect, and support the neighborliness of the community. Secure convenient, transit-accessible physical space (5,000-20,000 sq. ft) in the North Anchor and/or South Anchor Districts. Locate meeting space and offices for the Human Development Council and its staff at the People Center. Serve diverse needs and interest groups including gays, lesbians, handicapped people, seniors, widows, and widowers. Include:
-Referral Center: Work with the Neighborhood Service Center, the existing neighborhood referral agencies and the Crisis Line to improve information and referral services in the neighborhood. Create and maintain an inventory of human development services and activities. Provide information about transportation, health and social services, entertainment and community and interest group activities. Maintain a listing of local meeting rooms available for no or low cost for use by groups providing community services and activities.
-Volunteer Coordination: Develop and coordinate a network of volunteers to serve as street ambassadors, listening posts, or referral resources to facilitate outreach and engagement for those in need.
-Facilities: Provide support for community connectedness activities with facilities for meetings, informal socializing, programmed activities, support groups, drop-in assistance and Internet access.
-Location: Consider locating the People Center at such locations as the Pilgrim Church or at the Oddfellows Hall. Consider developing the People Center as part of a broader community center or co-locating with the Neighborhood Service Center.
Awesome! Somebody heard the CHS call and responded to our well-reasoned argument for the development of a community space in the heart of Capitol Hill! The process really works! Oops. One problem. That priority item was written in 1999. Oh well. Something else to talk about Monday night.
