Daily Plan It Office of Planning & Community Development

The Daily Plan It Blog

A OPCD Blog

Crown Hill Community Planning Workshop, March 3

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Over the past few months, we’ve connected with many community stakeholders and received a lot of input about what people love about Crown Hill and what they want to help improve. From this feedback, we’ve put together a list of potential strategies and ideas that address the your neighborhood priorities.

The next step in the planning process is to join your neighbors and City staff at the second Crown Hill Community Planning Workshop on March 3 from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. at the Crown Hill Center gymnasium. At this workshop, we will ask you to roll up your sleeves and be creative problem solvers. Your input will help refine and prioritize ideas and actions for how City investments and community efforts can continue to improve your neighborhood, and will shape the strategies included Crown Hill Community Action Plan.

Community Planning Workshop Series, Workshop #2
Sunday, March 3, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
Crown Hill Center, 9250 14th Ave NW

We hope to see you there! Have ideas or want to get involved? Subscribe to our mailing list or email CrownHillPlan@seattle.gov.

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Addendum to the Final Environmental Impact Statement on the proposal to implement Mandatory Housing Affordability

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We have published an addendum today to the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposal to implement Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) in 27 urban villages and commercial and multi-family zones across the city. MHA would require new commercial or multi-family developments to include affordable housing either on-site or through a payment to the City’s Office of Housing. In conjunction with the new affordability requirements, the City would change zoning to add additional development capacity.

Analyzing potential environmental impacts from zoning changes is required by the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). This addendum complements the analysis of Historic Resources that was contained in the FEIS, originally published on November 9, 2017.  The additional analysis responds to a City Hearing Examiner decision that directed OPCD to provide further information on specific aspects of the Historic Resources section of the FEIS.

Send In Your Comments
Written comments on this addendum may be submitted to MHA.EIS@Seattle.gov until Friday, February 22.

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The Seattle Planning Commission Seeks New Commissioners

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The City of Seattle is looking for candidates to serve on the Seattle Planning Commission beginning in April 2019. Planning Commission members are appointed by the Mayor or the City Council and may serve up to two consecutive, three-year terms. Three positions will be open in April; two of which are City Council appointments, one of which is a Mayoral appointment. All appointments are subject to full City Council approval. The City is committed to promoting diversity in the City’s boards and commissions. Persons of color, women, persons with disabilities, and sexual minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Commissioners must reside in Seattle and serve without compensation.

The commission members advise the Mayor, City Council, and City departments on citywide planning goals, policies, and plans and provide them with independent and objective advice on land use, zoning, transportation and housing issues.

For more information, view and download full details here.

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Seattle Planning Commission Releases “Neighborhoods for All” Report

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Planning Commission: Creating ‘Neighborhoods for All’
Changes to single-family zoning necessary for the city’s future, report concludes

Restoring the flexibility in housing types seen in Seattle’s historic residential neighborhoods is critical if the city is to achieve its goals of being a diverse, equitable and sustainable place to live, according to a new report from the Seattle Planning Commission.

In the report, Neighborhoods for All: Expanding housing opportunity in Seattle’s single-family zones, the commission highlights recent data showing the impacts of current regulations, and presents a set of strategies to allow a mix of housing types that can help neighborhoods retain characteristics of lower-density areas while welcoming a broader range of residents.

The report points out that Seattle’s current zoning map shows three times more single-family land than multifamily and mixed-use land combined. As a result, during this decade of record-breaking population growth, the vast majority of new residents were absorbed in areas zoned for multifamily dwellings, while  areas zoned for one house per lot showed little change, and some even lost population. At the same time, the look and feel of many areas zoned single-family are changing as modest houses are replaced by larger, more expensive ones: The average house size has increased by 1,000 square feet since 1900, the report notes.

“Our current approach to zoning has created a bifurcated city, where two-thirds of residential land is off limits to all but those with the highest incomes,” said Tim Parham, chair of the Planning Commission. “The fundamental goal of this report is to encourage a return to the mix of housing and development patterns found in many of Seattle’s older and most walkable neighborhoods, thereby giving more people a wider array of living options.”

[Read more…]

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Our Urban Innovations Speakers Series Returns on December 4!

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Can housing choices support a more equitable Seattle?

The legacy of redlining, restrictive covenants and zoning still impacts racial equity, access to opportunity and wealth creation in Seattle and across the region. How are cities responding in the face of our affordability crisis to both address these historic inequities and create more choices for first-time homebuyers, families with children, seniors, and others?

Join us at our latest installment of our Urban Innovations Speakers Series, Tuesday, December 4 at City Hall.

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Plazas for People Project Evaluates Privately Owned Public Spaces

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As our city continues to rapidly grow and develop, public spaces are becoming increasingly valuable places to pause, converse, rest and refresh. To better understand the usability and design of our public spaces, we evaluated 46 public spaces in greater Downtown this past summer. Read our findings and assessment of these spaces by downloading our Plazas for People document.

Focusing on Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) while using tools from the Gehl Institute, we found that 43 percent of the assessed POPS received “Average” scores, while only 15 percent score as “Good”. We’ve found that among the many types of POPS, plazas were the best performing.

Half of the sites ranked in the top ten are recent developments, built in the last two decades. Four of these five sites are in South Lake Union, where the neighborhood has an open space requirement for office buildings, stipulated through the Seattle Land Use Code. The code standards are augmented by the SDCI Design Review process to fine-tune the design results of these private plazas.

Our new report from OPCD includes recommended features and elements that would improve the usability of existing public spaces, whether public or privately owned. Based on the relatively high performance of newly developed spaces, OPCD will seek opportunities to encourage similar public space development throughout Greater Downtown and/or citywide in relevant zones.

Read more about Plazas for People on our Outside Citywide website.

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New Commissioners Sought for the Seattle Design Commission

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Mayor Jenny Durkan is recruiting to fill three upcoming vacancies on the Seattle Design Commission. The open positions are:

  • A licensed architect
  • A transportation planner
  • A landscape architect

All positions will start their two-year terms in March 2019.

Established in 1968, the Seattle Design Commission advises the Mayor, Council, and City officials on design excellence in City funded capital improvement projects, projects in the City right-of-way, or projects constructed with City funds. You can see the scope of our work at www.seattle.gov/designcommission.

Commissioners are appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. Commissioners are eligible for a second two-year term. The 10‐member commission is comprised of architects, artists, urban designers, urban planners, landscape architects, civil engineers, a member‐at‐large, and one member from Get Engaged, the YMCA Young Civic Leaders Program.

Commission meetings are the first and third Thursdays of each month and occur in the day. In addition, members may serve on commission subcommittees and represent the commission on other City boards or commissions. Commissioners work between 15-20 hours a month. During the term as a commissioner, and six months following the end of the term, commissioners may not contract with the city on any capital improvement project reviewed by the commission. Commission members receive an hourly rate as compensation for their service.

The City of Seattle is committed to promoting diversity in the city’s boards and commissions. Women, persons with disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, young persons, senior citizens, persons of color, and immigrants are encouraged to apply. 

To be considered, please send a letter of interest and resume by November 30, 2018, to:

Mayor Durkan c/o:
Michael Jenkins, Executive Director
Seattle Design Commission

City of Seattle – Office of Planning and Community Development
600 4th Avenue, 5th Floor
PO Box 94788
Seattle, WA 98124‐7088

For more information:
Michael Jenkins, (206) 386-4024, michael.jenkins@seattle.gov.

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Our 2019-2020 Mayor’s Proposed Budget Announcement

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Dear Neighbors,

Mayor Jenny A. Durkan has introduced her 2019-2020 Proposed Budget (http://www.seattle.gov/financedepartment) in her address on September 24, including her proposed two-year budget for the Office of Planning and Community Development.

In the coming year, OPCD will continue to pursue our mission to lead collaborative planning, advance equitable development, and create great places. We look forward to working with the Seattle City Council to support citywide implementation of Mandatory Housing Affordability program, advance the City’s community planning work program, work with neighborhoods to create equitable and transit-oriented neighborhoods, align comprehensive planning with regional partners, and support quality urban design and public open spaces throughout Seattle.

We are also pleased to announce that Mayor Durkan is proposing to expand OPCD’s Equitable Development Initiative (EDI). EDI provides funding for community-based organizations that initiate, develop and operate programs that support racial and social justice and respond to displacement pressures.  The expanded program will build on the ten EDI projects that received capital funding and capacity-building dollars in 2018, in addition to the five projects that received funding in 2017. The Mayor is proposing to invest nearly $5 million of new Short-Term Rental Tax revenue annually to support EDI. Please see our web page for information about EDI Projects.

As part of Citywide cost savings needed to bring spending into balance with anticipated resources and to better align our staffing needs with OPCD’s core objectives, OPCD will eliminate two land use planner positions, and add a planning and development specialist who will focus on equitable development work. The Mayor is also reallocating funding to support our Language Access Action Plan to reach Seattle residents who speak languages other than English.

Now the Council will begin its process to review the budget, including public hearings and amendments, with final approval scheduled for November. We look forward to working with the community in the coming year to advance our vision of an inspiring city, in harmony with nature, where everyone thrives.

Regards,
Sam Assefa, Director

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Plazas For People

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By Garry Papers, OPCD

As the residential population within greater downtown grows, and more workers arrive, the design and usability of the public realm around these buildings becomes ever more important. Parks, sidewalks and a variety of plazas are key for providing places for pedestrians, workers, visitors and residents to pause, rest, converse and refresh.

There are numerous plazas – small and large – dotted around downtown, and they have different origins. Some are official city parks parcels even if not the traditional turf lawn, such as Westlake Park, Pioneer Place, and Occidental Square. Others are spaces associated with public buildings, and some are privately owned and managed and were voluntarily provided by the building development. And some are privately owned public spaces (or POPS), which result from a code bonus option where the plaza and/or other public benefits are in exchange for additional building area, or an alley vacation process.

POPS have been implemented over the past 45 years, and they vary widely in design treatment and character as the code process and criteria evolved during those decades. This summer our student intern Mary Xiao conducted a systematic assessment of 36 POPS plazas in downtown. The analysis was grounded in the public place methodology developed by the globally renowned Gehl Institute. The goal of the assessment is to document the physical features of the plazas, to objectively evaluate them against recognized criteria, and then identify possible improvements. Lessons learned from the assessment will inform future refinements to the bonus program, design guidelines for public spaces, and other policy initiatives. Certain plazas may voluntarily take up suggested improvements, to increase the amenity, comfort and usability for all people.

Garry Papers is a Senior Urban Designer at OPCD.

(We will provide a link to the assessment in a follow up when it is completed)

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Guest Blog: Meet our Interns!

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Rosa, Lauren, and Mary.

We are excited to have our interns at the office and are already benefiting from their contributions!

Rosa Ammon-Ciaglo is a graduate student at the UW Evans School of Public Policy. She is doing research and coordinating public engagement to help design indicators for the Equitable Development Monitoring Program.

Lauren Wong is our Chinatown International District (CID) Intern. In this position, Lauren is working with OPCDs CID Framework and Implementation Plan project managers, members of the City’s interdepartmental team (IDT) and CID community partners, to help develop elements of the CID Framework and Implementation Plan. She is also working with OPCD’s communications team on updating and refreshing our CID webpage. Lauren is a graduate student at the University of Washington pursuing a Masters’ Degree in Landscape Architecture. She most recently held an internship position with the Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, and also interned with InterIm CDA working in the Danny Woo Community Garden. Her experience working in the CID community, along with excellent graphics and research/writing skills, is helping us move our work forward.

Mary Xiao is working with our urban designer Garry Papers, conducting a systematic assessment of various downtown plazas and public spaces, analyzing the user amenity and urban design qualities of each space. Mary is a UW graduate student in the Urban Design & Planning program.

Katie and Dagiem.

Dagiem Alemu joins us from the Seattle Youth Employment Program and is working with OPCD planner Katie Sheehy for our Equitable Development Initiative. He graduated from Seattle University’s Middle College High School and will begin classes at Seattle Central Community College in the fall to study business. He looks forward to learning more about equitable development and how it will benefit communities.

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