Neighborhoods throughout Seattle are currently engaged in planning efforts that are being organized and implemented by community members. These efforts are part of an innovative, community-based approach to growth management in Washington state.
Seattle's neighborhood planning program stems from the state's Growth Management Act (GMA), passed by the state legislature in 1990. The GMA requires that Washington communities prepare comprehensive plans for their growth over the next seventeen years. In response to this mandate, the city created Seattle's Comprehensive Plan: Toward a Sustainable Seattle, commonly referred to as the Comp Plan. Adopted by the City Council in 1994, the Comp Plan is a citywide plan that proposes to concentrate future growth within the city's existing neighborhoods. The Comp Plan establishes guidelines for each neighborhood to develop its own plan to allow it to grow in ways that reflect its unique identity and needs.
In 1995, the City of Seattle Neighborhood Planning Office (NPO) was established as a temporary executive office of the city. The NPO's charge is to assist individual neighborhoods with conducting a neighborhood planning process that satisfies the requirements of the Comp Plan.
The "Urban Village" Concept
A basic tenet of the Comp Plan is a proposal to concentrate future growth in areas of Seattle designated as either "urban villages" or "urban centers." Urban villages are the commercial and residential cores of historically distinct neighborhoods. Wallingford, Columbia City, and West Seattle Junction are examples of urban villages. Urban centers are larger districts that sometimes encompass several urban villages. There are five urban centers in Seattle: (1) First Hill/Capitol Hill, (2) Downtown Seattle, (3) Seattle Center, (4) University District, and (5) Northgate.
The Comp Plan calls for urban centers to develop as the densest areas of the city. It proposes growth targets for urban centers in the areas of affordable housing, employment, and open space. Urban centers are intended to be pedestrian-oriented communities with direct access to regional high-capacity transit.
Overview of the Neighborhood Planning Process
Can the growth targets specified by the Comp Plan be absorbed in neighborhoods without destroying their character? Which parcels of land are likely to be redeveloped in the next seventeen years? What types of businesses will best fit into the community? Who will the neighborhood's new residents be? What services, amenities, and public facilities will be needed to support residents and visitors? What would neighborhoods like to preserve? What would they like to change?
Residents, merchants, and other community members in each urban village have the task of preparing a neighborhood plan that will seek to manage the impact of these and other issues on their neighborhood's future. With help from the city and private consultants, these citizen participants are gathering opinions from local residents, analyzing existing conditions, and preparing a variety of possible improvement strategies. As a final step, they will distill the community's issues into a plan that reflects their neighborhood's goals. Once they have completed this study, citizens will submit their neighborhood plans to the City Council for adoption. The adopted neighborhood plans will guide future city policies and the allocation of resources for capital improvements in each neighborhood.
Capitol Hill Urban Center Village
The Capitol Hill Urban Center Village — the neighborhood's official designation according to the Comp Plan — is one of four urban villages that constitute the Capitol Hill/First Hill Urban Center. The urban center's other villages are the Pike/Pine Urban Center Village, the First Hill Urban Center Village, and the South Capitol Hill (Twelfth Avenue) Urban Center Village.
The Capitol Hill urban village is a 397-acre area that includes only a small part of what is commonly referred to as "Capitol Hill." [Figure 2.] Its unadopted boundaries, recommended in the Comp Plan but subject to community approval, follow the existing border between zoning for single-family and multi-family housing. The village's south boundary is East Olive Street, with its southeast corner extending south to East Pike Street. The west boundary is I-5, which forms a strong barrier between Capitol Hill and downtown. To the north and east, the village's borders run jagged along current zoning designations; the urban village stops short of Volunteer Park to the north and goes no further east than 18th Avenue. The Broadway, 15th Avenue and Olive Way commercial districts are encompassed within the Capitol Hill urban village.
Capitol Hill's Neighborhood Planning Effort
Neighborhood planning in Capitol Hill began in early 1995 when a group of community volunteers initiated the neighborhood planning process. Late in 1995, these volunteers formed an Organizing Committee which oversaw and administered Phase I of the planning effort. The Organizing Committee applied for and received from the city a grant of $13,000 to conduct Phase I. A total of $100,000 has been allocated for Capitol Hill neighborhood planning.
Between May 1996 and January 1997, the Organizing Committee conducted the first phase of Capitol Hill's planning effort, with assistance from NPO staff and MAKERS architecture and urban design. Phase II will begin in spring 1997 and is expected to be completed by December 1997.
Participation in the Phase I Organizing Committee was open to all members of the Capitol Hill community. As part of its Phase I work, the Organizing Committee established a structure for a Planning Committee that will coordinate and direct Phase II of the planning process. [Figure 3.] The Planning Committee, which will operate as an umbrella steering committee, will consist of appointees from several issue sub-committees as well as representatives from various community organizations and institutions. This structure will promote coordinated planning among the various issues. The issues sub-committees will be open to new members at any time but the Planning Committee will remain fixed.
Phase I Introduction & Contents
Section 2: Background