Daily Plan It Office of Planning & Community Development

The Daily Plan It Blog

A OPCD Blog

Guest blogger: Seattle Youth Employment Program Intern, Allan Duong

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Allan is a Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) intern this summer with Winnie Huang. The following comes after Allan’s first time visit and mini-tour of Lake City.

Lake City still seems to be growing like any other city in Seattle. They’re run by certain principles in many topics; Transportation, Diversity, Housing, etc. Lake city is mainly focusing on their “Urban Design Framework” by improving the neighborhood. This would make me expect that the neighborhood of Lake city would have a safe and fun environment for both the adults and youths of Lake City. Lake City also has and acknowledges its history, so I would maybe expect some historic piece of their history or somewhat related to that. Also, Lake city has quite a lot of businesses. Using the help of online research Lake city is known for its abundance number of car dealership businesses.

After visiting Lake city, it has surprised me both in a negative and a positive way. I noticed the animated streets and how active the city was. I soon then met with a resident of Lake city named Oliver, since he’s been living there, he’d probably know more than I do about Lake city. Oliver kept on saying that there is a lot of graffiti around the city, but during our entire adventure through Lake City I only noticed one or two graffiti marks. I also visited the Lake City Community center but before arriving there, I noticed that there is an intersection that does not have stop lights, I don’t know if there are more intersections that are the same but there is a saying, “if there’s one ant then there’s a colony behind it.”

After arriving at the community center, I compared it to my own neighborhood community center (Yesler) and noticed that Lake City’s building looked very old. I also noticed that there are tons of upcoming projects. Though this was a step forward to making Lake City better, it seemed like they were planning way too much but not executing those plans. The roads were mind opening for me as well. Some sidewalks in Lake City doesn’t exist. Going back, there was one thing that met my expectations, it was the fact that the city is filled with car dealership businesses.

Though some of these may be on the negative spectrum on what I saw in Lake city, there are good things I saw as well. Walking throughout Lake City, there was one thing I noticed that warmed my heart. The residents of Lake city are optimistic. I say this because there are community events and people trying to make art murals. Their community events allows anyone to join and have fun, dancing in a circle and holding hands, children, adults, elders (I really saw this, it made my heart fall immensely). The residents of Lake City are trying to do things that keep themselves optimistic and patient on the larger changes of Lake City. I honestly feel like they are creating their own change. Knowing that Lake City has such wonderful and positive residents makes the problems of Lake City presence barely there. Every city has its strengths, and I can most definitely say Lake City’s strength is within its people.

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Urban Innovations Speakers Series Guest Bio: Thatcher Bailey, Seattle Parks Foundation

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Thatcher has served as executive director of Seattle Parks Foundation since 2010. The Foundation supports community groups dedicated to creating and enhancing parks and public spaces in neighborhoods across the city. He has founded and led various cultural and civic organizations and is currently the board president of Town Hall Seattle.

 

Meet Thatcher Bailey, Mami Hara (Seattle Public Utilities), and Uwe Brandes (Georgetown University) as our guest panelists at our next Urban Innovations Speakers Series event, titled “How can Seattle ‘Grow’ More Outdoor Space?” Click here for more information.

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SEATTLE CITY COUNCIL: Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee

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On Tuesday, July 18, the Council’s PLUZ Committee passed legislation to implement a community vision for 23rd Avenue in the Central Area, including new Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements at key intersections with Union, Cherry and Jackson streets. The 23rd Avenue Action Community Team has been working in the Central Area to support the neighborhood’s unique identity and community character by encouraging pedestrian friendly mixed-use development that promotes new housing options, including affordable housing, while supporting existing and new small businesses to serve the diverse community.

The PLUZ Committee also approved new Mount Baker Town Center Design Guidelines and Pike/Pine Design Guidelines. The proposed Mt. Baker Design Guidelines are tailored so that new development implements the neighborhood’s Town Center vision and improves the pedestrian experience near the transit center. The update to the Pike/Pine Design Guidelines help promote new development that is compatible with Pike/Pine’s unique built character and pedestrian scale.

The legislation now moves to the full Council for consideration. View the July 18 agenda here.

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One Center City: a 20-Year Vision for Seattle’s densest and fastest growing neighborhoods

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One Center City will create a 20-year vision and action plan to improve transportation and provide great public spaces for everyone. This means having easy, affordable, and reliable travel options, as well as public spaces that are safe and inviting. The plan will set priorities for how we use our streets, make sure that all the pieces of our transportation system work together, and identify opportunities to enhance the public realm. These public spaces are where we experience and move through the city, so they need to be accessible, safe, and enjoyable for all.

The City of Seattle, King County, Sound Transit and the Downtown Seattle Association are collaborating to create a 20-year vision for our urban neighborhoods. But we need to improve mobility and our public spaces now, so the plan will recommend projects, policies, and programs that can be implemented within the next few years.

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Equitable Development Initiative Update

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Seattle’s Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) has received its first round grant applications for projects identified in the Equitable Development Implementation Plan and the Financial Investment Strategy. Last year, Mayor Murray announced a $16 million fund that will support community-driven projects in Seattle’s neighborhoods where communities of color are at highest risk of displacement. The first round focuses on projects in the Central Area, Chinatown/International District, and Southeast Seattle.

We’ll announce our grant recipients later this summer and provide more information about the second round of funding that should start in the fall. We are also in the process of hiring additional staff to join the EDI team in addition to our SYEP summer interns.

For more information, visit our EDI website.

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Urban Innovations Speakers Series Guest Bio: Mami Hara, Seattle Public Utilities

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Mami Hara is the Director of Seattle Public Utilities, appointed by Mayor Murray in 2016.

Hara was the network coordinator of a practitioner network that supports communities seeking to expand green storm water infrastructure programs. While in Philadelphia she helped implement national models that Seattle aspires to today. Green City, Clean Waters is the nation’s most ambitious green infrastructure program and its successes are helping to define national practice. Hara had served for five years as Chief of Staff at Philadelphia Water.

She has led management and policy coordination of a renowned public utility and direction of an international design and planning firm. In her public sector and private practice roles, Mami has guided planning and implementation of award-winning green infrastructure, sustainability, economic development, and waterfront programs across the US. In those efforts she has advanced sustainable land and water management practices through cultivating leaders, partnerships, participation, planning and knowledge sharing. Mami has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University and is an advisor to several planning and design advocacy organizations. She has taught at PennDesign, Temple School of Architecture and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at MIT.

Meet Mami Hara, Uwe Brandes, and Thatcher Bailey (Seattle Parks Foundation) as our guest panelists at our next Urban Innovations Speakers Series event, titled “How can Seattle ‘Grow’ More Outdoor Space?” Click here for more information.

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Get to Know Our Summer Interns from SYEP!

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Our Equitable Development Team welcomes two Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) interns this summer – Allan Duong and Winnie Huang. In addition to providing day-to-day office support, we’ll visit a neighborhood each week for a tour that highlights our planning and community development work, including meetings with community members and stops at local businesses. They’re learning new design software to help document their insights. At the end of their six week internship, they’ll have an urban journal that shares their perspective on Equitable Development in Seattle. This internship program is part of Mayor Murray’s Youth Employment Initiative that builds career pathways for young people and creates a recruitment pipeline for local businesses seeking skilled workers.

Keep an eye out for guest blog features from our interns in the near future!

 

Allan Duong, 17

Why did you choose OPCD for your internship?

Mainly because of the “Community Development” part. I worked with previous programs that helped develop my neighborhood, so when I was given the opportunity to intern at a familiar place, I took the opportunity and am currently doing my best to output and input all my knowledge into community development.

What goals do you want to accomplish during this internship?

To make many connections with people and build my planning/community development skills/knowledge.

If you had the ability to build anything in Seattle, what would it be, why would you build it, and where would you build it?

I would build a mall in the Chinatown/International District because I feel like Chinatown does not have enough variety in their products. Building a mall would also bring be good for the businesses within the mall because I know for a fact that residences in Chinatown has been craving for a mall.

Tell us something interesting about yourself.

Ever since I was a child, I loved playing video games. I told myself that I wanted to make video games as a job. Then something I didn’t expect happened to me: I joined programs that focused on environmental and social justice and it soon stuck to me. I then came up with the idea on how I could implement the love of making video games and the knowledge on environment and social justice together. I could maybe make a game on those topics! (Maybe)

 

Winnie Huang, 19

Why did you choose OPCD for your internship?

I chose OPCD because the Seattle Youth Employment Program (SYEP) assigned this one to me based on a list of my interests. Also, I interned with OPCD two summers ago (when it was called DPD – Department of Planning and Development) with SYEP and I learned a lot and had a great time that summer. And because I took URBDP 200 (Urban Developing and Planning) at UW during Spring ’17 and that got me a bit interested.

What goals do you want to accomplish during this internship?

I want to improve skills that I already have and learn new skills that I can use for future internships/jobs or for when I need it.

If you had the ability to build anything in Seattle, what would it be, why would you build it, and where would you build it?

More affordable housing because the cost of living in Seattle is high and rising rent/home price. Some people might be forced to move away because they can’t afford the cost of living in Seattle.

Tell us something interesting about yourself.

I was born and raised in Seattle. I’m a student at UW. It’s going to be my second year this coming fall. I have junior credits because I did running start when I was in high school. I’m intending to major in Health Informatics and Health Information Management and possibly minor in something else. I enjoy spending time with family and friends, traveling, hiking, swimming, finding new places to eat, and being a tourist in my own city from time to time. I also spend a lot of time on Netflix…Grey’s Anatomy and Criminal Minds are some of my favorites.

 

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Urban Innovations Speakers Series Guest Bio: Uwe Brandes, Georgetown University

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Uwe S. Brandes has lectured widely on urban design and public space topics. He serves on the board of several non-profit organizations, including the Landscape Architecture Foundation and EcoDistricts.

He has over 20 years of experience in the planning, design and construction of new buildings, public infrastructure and the urban landscape. He is the founding Executive Director of the Masters Program in Urban and Regional Planning at Georgetown University.

Mr. Brandes served as Senior Vice President at the Urban Land Institute (ULI) where he directed research and global programs on climate change and sustainable urban development. He is author and executive editor of several major projects for ULI, including The City in 2050, What’s Next? Real Estate in the New Economy and Getting Ahead of Change. He created ULI’s Climate Change Land Use and Energy (CLUE) initiative and was instrumental in forming the ULI Greenprint Center for Building Performance, ULI’s dedicated market research on buildings and energy.

Meet Mr. Brandes, Mami Hara (General Manager/CEO, Seattle Public Utilities) and Thatcher Bailey (Seattle Parks Foundation) as our guest panelists at our next Urban Innovations Speakers Series event, titled “How can Seattle ‘Grow’ More Outdoor Space?” Click here for more information.

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Mayor Murray unveils growth and affordability plan for Uptown

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Mayor Murray speaks at a future site for affordable housing in Uptown to announce the neighborhood’s growth and affordability plan, July 2017.

Mayor Ed Murray unveiled a plan for the future of Uptown, implementing requirements that will generate 600 new affordable homes for low-income people, providing capacity for more market-rate housing and jobs, supporting new spaces for cultural organizations and enacting the community’s vision for the future of the neighborhood. Additionally, Mayor Murray announced Uptown will become Seattle’s third Arts and Cultural District, providing resources to preserve, strengthen and expand arts and cultural spaces. Uptown has long been a cultural destination in Seattle, with over 30 arts, cultural and educational organizations located in the Seattle Center campus and surrounding neighborhood.

“By coupling growth with affordability, we are ensuring that Uptown’s booming culture and economy can be a model for community building rather than a model for gentrification,” said Mayor Murray. “With this announcement, we are ensuring everyone has access to housing in this local hub of arts, culture, transit, green space and jobs. Our housing policies must be about inclusion—this proposal makes good on that goal.”

Over the next 20 years, the proposed zoning changes will result in an estimated 600 new income-restricted and rent-restricted homes for low-income residents through the City’s  Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program, a key recommendation of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda. Under MHA, Uptown developers will be required to include affordable homes in between five percent and 10 percent of each building, or contribute between $8.00 and $29.75 per square foot to the Seattle Office of Housing to support affordable housing, depending on the specific location in the neighborhood.

“Uptown is one of our fastest growing urban centers, and borders on Seattle Center, one of the great civic spaces of our city,” said Councilmember Sally Bagshaw (District 7, Pioneer Square to Magnolia). “With its connections to Downtown, the Waterfront and the growing Belltown and South Lake Union neighborhoods, Uptown is already becoming a vibrant business and residential center. Not surprisingly, rents are rising rapidly in this neighborhood, and we clearly need affordable housing right in Uptown. Through this plan, hundreds of developer-funded affordable housing units will be built. I am committed to working with Uptown leaders to ensure we are using a suite of tools to create the housing we need.”

“I am excited for the implementation of MHA in the Uptown neighborhood. Through these zoning changes, we can ensure that more people have access to this vibrant neighborhood,” said Councilmember Rob Johnson (District 4, Northeast Seattle). “As an area with great access to job centers, open space, transportation, as well as arts, culture and civic institutions like the Seattle Center and KeyArena, its density and amenity mix support a high level of livability. It is important that we continue to implement MHA and create additional affordable housing in our communities so that our artists, nonprofit employees, and workers of all wages can continue to contribute to the character of Seattle.”

For more than three years, Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) worked with community members to envision a vibrant future for the Uptown neighborhood. The proposal includes neighborhood priorities, such as design standards, that support vibrant streetscapes, incentives for new arts and cultural spaces, improved connections to Seattle Center, and enhanced walkability as outlined in the Uptown Urban Design Framework (UDF).

“The Urban Design Framework in this ordinance will help create the neighborhood where we want to live and work as Uptown grows,” said Deborah Frausto, chair of the Uptown Alliance UDF Committee. “We still have work to do in creating more possibilities for open space, affordable and workforce housing, and walkable community that’s safe and welcoming. Our community, with its generosity of spirit and gifts of time and expertise, will continue to stay involved and share ideas of what they want their neighborhood to be like.”

Mayor Murray’s proposal allows new building heights for many areas of the neighborhood already zoned for multi-family residential and mixed-use commercial buildings, providing additional capacity for market-rate and income-restricted housing within walking distance of South Lake Union, Belltown and Downtown. The rezone proposal includes an increase in building height along the Mercer Street Corridor from the current 40 feet to 85 feet, the same as the current height limit on the Seattle Center campus. The iconic public views of the Space Needle and the Seattle skyline as seen from Kerry Park, Bhy Kracke Park and other key view corridors are protected under the proposal.

The triangle bounded by Broad, Aurora and Denny could feature taller, thinner, well-spaced, 16-story residential towers. Other areas of the Uptown Urban Center currently zoned for multi-family residential or mixed-use would receive one or two stories of additional height. No zoning changes are proposed outside of the Uptown Urban Center or in nearby single-family neighborhoods.

Additionally, the rezone will create incentives for new arts and cultural spaces, giving smaller organizations a chance to operate in or near Seattle Center, which attracts visitors from around the world. The rezone will also help preserve historic buildings by allowing them to sell unused development rights.

In the last two years, 20 King County Metro bus lines that serve the neighborhood have expanded service because of voter-approved Proposition 1, improving transit speed and reliability. The Seattle Department of Transportation has updated signal controls on Mercer, Roy, and Valley streets to be more sensitive to real-time traffic conditions. Similar signal upgrades are planned for Denny Way. New street connections across Aurora at John, Thomas and Harrison will ease pressure on Mercer and Denny after the SR-99 tunnel opens.

Uptown Arts and Cultural District

Since the 1962 World’s Fair, Uptown has been a hub of Seattle arts and culture with the largest concentration of diverse organizations that range from independent artists, to internationally renowned classical arts, to innovative theater and visual arts, to ethnic festivals from around the world, to major music concerts. The Arts and Cultural District designation recognizes the culturally rich neighborhood and seeks to enhance its character.

“We are thrilled to be recognized as an official Arts and Cultural District,” said Cyrus Despres, co-chair and president of the Uptown Arts & Culture Coalition. “Uptown is experiencing the same growing pains as the rest of Seattle, and we are committed to enhancing our cultural experiences and evolving our identity as a welcoming home for the arts in Seattle.”

The designation includes access to the Creative Placemaking Toolkit, a suite of tools designed to preserve, strengthen, and expand arts and cultural spaces. The district will have access to $50,000 to be used toward the toolkit’s programs and resources for right-of-way identifiers, wayfinding, busking and plein air painting, art historic markers, pop-up activations, and parklets. The toolkit was designed to support artists, art spaces, and neighborhoods in maintaining and investing in their cultural assets.

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City extends comment period on evaluation of citywide Mandatory Housing Affordability

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SEATTLE (July 6, 2017) –Today the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) extended the public comment period until August 7 on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement that studies three alternatives for zoning changes needed to implement Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) in Seattle’s urban villages and other commercial and multifamily residential zones across the city.

“Due to a high volume of requests, both online and at a recent public hearing, we are extending the written comment period on this environmental study an additional 15 days,” said OPCD Director Sam Assefa. “While there is broad agreement on the need for more affordable housing across Seattle, these documents are lengthy and complex, and we want to honor these requests for more time for public review.”

The public can provide feedback on the environmental study using this online form or by e-mailing  MHA.EIS@Seattle.gov.

MHA helps ensure that as Seattle grows, development supports affordable housing for low-income families and individuals by either building rent-restricted homes on-site or making a payment to the Seattle Office of Housing fund for affordable housing. To implement MHA, the City would grant additional development capacity to allow for construction of more market-rate housing and commercial space.

The City Council has already enacted MHA in Downtown, South Lake Union, and the University District. This study evaluates implementing MHA in 27 other urban villages throughout the city.

MHA was a key recommendation of the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Advisory Committee.

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