Land Use – Town Center Rezone Proposal

Supporting Documentation:
It will be helpful to download and print these documents as you read through the proposal.  Some are larger files and may take a moment to download.
Greenwood Town Center Rezone DPD Recommendations (10 page document dated 11.2.2010)
Rezone Pamphlet (4 page executive summary dated 2.8.2010)
Proposal for Legislative Rezone (8 page planning study dated 6.26.2009)
Seattle’s Commercial Zones (City of Seattle Chart)
Seattle’s Multifamily Zones (City of Seattle Chart)

Related Links:
City of Seattle Greenwood Rezone website
Town Center Specific Recommendations
City of Seattle Council on the Built Environment (COBE)
City Council Agenda Sign Up
City Council Comprehensive Plan Amendments

The GCC adopted the following motions relating to the rezone proposal:
motion 1: The Greenwood Community Council [takes] the position that the 2010 Greenwood rezoning in subareas 2 and 3 should be removed from consideration.
motion 2: The Greenwood Community Council takes the position that the City’s 2010 proposed Greenwood Rezone of subarea 1 require transition to the height of the adjacent zoning.
motion 3: The Greenwood Community Council takes the position against the DPD’s recommendation to create the single NC3 designation in subarea 1 and recommends that the rezone remain as proposed to the DPD with an NC3 designation on the wet side of subarea 1 (just east of old 2nd Ave) and an NC2 designation to the east of subarea 1.

These motions were adopted by members attending the December 2010 meeting.

The rezone is an effort put forward by the Greater Greenwood Design & Development Advisory Group (GGDDAG).  They have assembled a rezone pamphlet which a result of multiple workshops/meetings with planners, architects, landscape architects, developers and other professionals in early 2009.  One of their goals was to identify appropriate zoning within and around the Greenwood Town Center.  Consideration was given to pedestrian/bike/vehicle circulation, local business impact, housing density and several other factors identified in the rezone documentation.  Details of the proposal can be found in the Rezone Pamphlet.  For more information click on the link “Rezone Pamphlet” at the top of this page.

The Community Council presented the rezone to community members in July 21st 2009 and the information was discussed at multiple other meetings where community members provided their input.  Some community members have strongly opposed a portion of the rezone outside what we describe as the core of the Town Center.  The advisory group makes a distinction between the rezone of the commercial core and the rezone the commercial properties to the south of the core & the single family properties to the west and north of the core.  They are individually identified as subareas in the proposal and community members are encouraged to support or oppose any layer they believe is appropriate.

Briefly, the rezone is divided into 3 subareas to simplify the process and allow consideration of each separately:

Subarea 1) rezone from a Commercial “C” zoning designation to Neighborhood Commercial “NC” with varying height and density
Subarea 2) rezone Single Family “SF” zoning designation to Lowrise “L”.
Subarea 3) rezone Neighborhood Commercial “NC” from 40′ height to allow 65′ height.

For more detailed information click on the link “Greenwood Town Center Rezone DPD Recommendations” at the top of this page.

Next Steps:
DPD will prepare legislation to rezone subarea 1 with the intent of releasing an environmental (State Environmental Policy Act – SEPA) Determination in 2011. After the SEPA determination is released, there will be a three week comment and appeal period. If there are no appeals, legislation could be transmitted to City Council in January 2011. City Council’s Committee on the Built Environment (COBE) will review the legislation and hold a public hearing on the rezone proposal. After the legislation is acted upon by COBE it will move on to review and a vote by full Council, before going to the Mayor for his signature. Once signed, legislation will go into effect 30 days from the date of the Mayor’s signature.

As of April 2011, the SEPA determination has not been performed.

To sign up for notification of Council on the Built Environment (COBE) meetings please click on the “City Council Agenda Sign Up” under Related Links at the top of this page.