September Dispatch: What You Need to Know About Seattle’s Comp Plan
Seattle has a draft plan on its way for a full Council vote!
September was a big month for Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan – after a full day of hearings, and a full day and two halves of voting on over a hundred amendments, the City Council has passed it out of committee and it’s now headed for a full council vote.
When will that vote be? You’ll know as soon as we do!
There’s always more work to be done, but let’s take a beat and celebrate this milestone! Will you send a quick ‘thank you’ to your Councilmember for supporting important amendments?
What We Love About This Plan
Many of the amendments that you advocated for were passed in the Consent Agenda! Priorities we’re excited to see moving forward included:
- expanding corner stores citywide,
- expanding bonuses for more affordable housing and social housing, and
- stacked flat and green stacked flat bonuses to encourage more homes and more trees.
There’s a lot to be proud of, and the impact this will have on creating more housing in our city can’t be overstated.
What Didn’t Quite Make It
Unfortunately, CM Rinck’s Amendment 34 did not pass during this voting period. This amendment would have restored the 8 additional neighborhood centers in Broadview, South Wedgwood, Loyal Heights, Gasworks, Nickerson, Roanoke, Dawson, and Alki, connecting communities across Seattle and bolstering growth. For now, this amendment, along with a few others, must complete additional environmental review. Don’t worry; we will keep fighting for strong amendments like these during the next Comprehensive Plan Annual Amendment process next year– with more work to do and various ways to engage.
Noteworthy Highlights
Council came together to find solutions that will both preserve the existing tree canopy and encourage its growth, as well prevent sprawl while expanding the diversity of housing types to fit every person, family, income, and neighborhood. While we had concerns about some amendments as they were originally written striking the right balance, we think the combination of what ultimately passed will work out well.
Additionally, Seattle will implement the statewide parking mandate reform bill a year ahead of schedule, though they declined to eliminate parking mandates.
UPCOMING EVENT
Now that Phase 1 of this long process is almost complete, help us send our City Council a big ‘thank you’ for their hard work in passing common-sense amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, and urge them to continue fighting for housing density across Seattle!
Join us on Tuesday, October 14th at Big Time Brewery from 6-7:30pm to send Council your personal hand written gratitude. Hang with community, learn about the Comp Plan, and enjoy some drinks. We’ll have all the necessary resources and information that you’ll need; all you need to bring is yourself (and maybe a friend!). Whether you’ve been following this process for a while, or just now learning about Seattle’s Comp Plan, we’re excited to gather with you!