Tag Archives: zoning

Seattle City Council holds public hearing on mayor’s plan to speed zoning changes including Central District YMCA and church proposal

Posted on by
2

A day after legislative victory with the City Council’s approval of her plan to speed up creation of new shelters by allowing larger Tiny House Villages in the city, City Hall on Wednesday will host a public forum on the mayor’s plan to use a set of surgical upzones to speed up “taller and denser” development changes in Seattle.

Opening the way for mixed-use development that emphasizes commercial space along with new apartments on a block just off the growing 23rd Ave corridor is part of the plans.

CHS reported in April on the proposals from Mayor Katie Wilson’s office outlining a set of areas proposed for block by block upzoning including a block of the Central District. Continue reading →

Central District YMCA and church land part of mayor’s plan to speed up Seattle ‘taller and denser’ zoning changes

Posted on by
18

A proposal to speed up near-term development of new housing while the city continues to pound out longer-term changes to its growth plan includes a block of the Central District.

Mayor Katie Wilson announced her plans to speed up Seattle “taller and denser” zoning changes earlier this month.

Wednesday’s busy Seattle City Council land use committee meeting includes the beginning of debate on a set of proposals that would surgically upzone areas of the city “to support near-term investment in additional housing supply” while “while broader, more holistic changes to implement the new Comprehensive Plan work their way through the process.” Continue reading →

Wilson announces plan to speed up Seattle ‘taller and denser’ zoning changes

Posted on by
25

From the Centers & Corridors Legislation director’s report

View the interactive map showing “Centers and Corridors” rezoning proposals here

In one of the clearest statements of her urbanist bonafides yet, Mayor Katie Wilson has announced an “accelerated approach” to pounding out Seattle’s new growth plan that could move timing on zoning and development changes up by years.

“Taller, denser, faster,” the mayor said Thursday. “To address our housing shortage, we’re planning for a city where everyone has the opportunity to live in a safe, welcoming neighborhood with access to jobs, services, and community,” Wilson said in her statement on the acceleration of the next phases of Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan to address the city’s housing crisis.

Under the acceleration, Wilson is asking City Hall and the Seattle City Council to combine and speed up the final, meatiest phases of the comprehensive plan process including arriving at a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, finalizing rules for “middle housing” like fourplexes and townhomes in what have been historically single-family zones, implementing state mandates around transit oriented development, and finalizing the “taller and denser” expansion of existing cores like Capitol Hill and the U-District.

Her new timeline would see rezoning legislation in motion by 2027 that was originally not expected until 2028 — or later. Continue reading →

These are the Neighborhood Centers and Corridors around Capitol Hill as Seattle begins new debate on upzoning

Posted on by
22

View the interactive map showing “Centers and Corridors” rezoning proposals here

An example Lowrise 3 development from the city

Seattle is getting into the nitty gritty over state-mandated laws hoped to allow a greater range of housing types in more parts of the city. For the neighborhoods around Capitol Hill, the first steps of 2026 will focus on a core element of the new growth plan and the debate that will likely burn hottest for those opposed to change in the city: future growth in areas like Montlake, Madison Valley, Madison Park, and Madrona.

The city’s “Centers and Corridors” proposal (PDF) released Friday is the second in what officials say has grown into a four-phase process to increase building heights and density in more areas of the city and coordinate growth with investments in transit.

“This legislation builds on important zoning reform, updating the rules on what can be built and where, so we can create abundant and affordable housing,” Mayor Katie Wilson said in the announcement. “Seattle is a great city, and more and more people want to make it their home. We’ll keep advancing zoning changes and developing social housing, as we expand our housing and affordability options. And we are just getting started.”

The Wilson administration now finds itself carrying forward a comprehensive growth plan overhaul for the city started and shaped by Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office. Continue reading →

Reminder: Speak now or forever* hold your peace on Seattle’s 20-year growth plan

Posted on by

Friday brings a day of public comment and debate over a roster of 100 proposed amendments as Seattle finalizes a new growth plan hoped to more equitably distribute housing development across the city.

CHS reported here on the proposed plan and Seattle City Council amendments.

Friday’s council proceedings led by District 3 representative and comprehensive plan committee chair Joy Hollingsworth will include two sessions of public comment broken into remote and in-person periods: Continue reading →

With daunting list of open issues, Seattle City Council comprehensive growth plan committee meets Friday

Posted on by

The Seattle City Council’s Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan helmed by District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth will meet again Friday morning as it works this summer to finalize the update of the city’s 20-year growth plan including new “Middle Housing” laws that will expand zoning to allow a greater range of housing types in more parts of the city.

Friday’s session will include a discussion of issues that have emerged on growth strategy, land use elements, and the state’s new Middle Housing requirements as the committee works through compromises shaped after massive pushback from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city.

Planners have revised and shrunken the borders of 9 out of 30 proposed , more densely-zoned Neighborhood Centers in the proposal. Continue reading →

‘New Proposed Center Boundaries’ — Seattle re-starts process of pounding out new 20-year growth plan with compromises in Montlake, Madison Park, and Madrona

Posted on by

The Seattle City Council’s comprehensive code update committee led by District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth can get back to the core of Seattle’s growth debate starting Thursday morning as it digs in on setting the boundaries for Neighborhood Centers, new zoning areas of the city meant to more consistently and equitably distribute growth into more areas of the city.

Thursday morning’s meeting of the committee will mark the first session since the council passed an interim bill designed to meet the state’s minimum requirements under its new “Middle Housing” laws setting the framework for expanded zoning to allow a greater range of housing types in more parts of the city as Seattle finalizes its next 20-year growth plan.

On the table will be compromises shaped after massive pushback from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city. According to a presentation for Thursday’s session, city planners have revised and shrunken the borders of 9 out of 30 proposed Neighborhood Centers. Continue reading →

Seattle makes deadline for state Middle Housing law but still has big 20-year growth plan questions to solve

Posted on by

Tuesday’s council vote on the legislation was held in a virtual session as City Hall was closed in anticipation of a planned protest outside the building

By the hair on its chin, the Seattle City Council has met a statewide deadline for implementing new so-called Middle Housing legislation, approving a bill Tuesday setting the framework for expanded zoning to allow a greater range of housing types in more parts of the city.

CHS reported here on the final amendments shaped by the comprehensive code update committee led by District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth that will put many of the development and zoning changes proposed over months of debate back on the table now that the May 30th deadline for the interim legislation has been met.

The city turned to the interim legislation intended to form the structure of the comprehensive plan and Neighborhood Residential updates to implement the HB 1110 state Middle Housing laws after legal challenges to the planning process slowed down an already massively delayed process. Mayor Bruce Harrell’s initial 20-year plan proposal the council started with itself had landed around a year later than planned. Continue reading →

City Council chooses Solomon to fill open International District and South Seattle seat

Posted on by

(Image: Seattle City Council)

Mark Solomon has ten months to change Seattle. Monday, the Seattle City Council voted to appoint the longtime Seattle Police Department community crime prevention coordinator to finish the term of Tammy Morales representing the International District and South Seattle’s District 2 at City Hall.

Solomon has pledged to focus on the job at hand and says he will not run in the November election to re-fill the seat.

Solomon has said his priorities will be representing D2 neighborhoods in the city’s comprehensive plan update and address street disorder in Little Saigon. Continue reading →

Updated proposal for Seattle’s next 20-year growth plan ups density for new residential development, fills in Squire Park hole

Posted on by

Mayor Bruce Harrell’s administration has finalized its proposal for the city’s next 20-year growth plan with a few key changes to draft plans circulated earlier this year including allowing denser design of development in the city’s residential zones and filling in a big hole in previously released zoning update maps for the area around Squire Park on the edges of the Central District and First Hill.

CHS reported here this spring on the Harrell administration comprehensive plan proposal that continues the city’s focus on growth in its densest cores of Capitol Hill and the Central District while making small steps forward in allowing multifamily-style housing across the city.

A coalition of business and community organizations have called for more growth, denser “middle housing,” and more housing near transit in the plan.

While the final comp plan proposal would continue many of the development patterns that have shaped modern Seattle, the changes for the final proposed zoning update show the administration responding to density proponents with changes for the city’s expanses of neighborhood residential zoning that would allow developers to create denser designs — upping the threshold from a .9 floor to area ratio to 1.2 FAR in the final proposal. Continue reading →