The Central Area Neighborhood District Council requested that SPCC share the letter and send comments on that letter to jfoxcullen@gmail.com. Also you may make your personal comments on the plan directly to One Seattle by looking at View the the Zoning Plan here. View the District 3 map here. The Squire Park Community Council has taken no position on the One Seattle Plan. The proposed letter is from the Central Area District Council.
Dear Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) (oneseattleplan.zoning@seattle.gov), Mayor Harrell (bruce.harrell@seattle.gov), and City Council Members (council@seattle.gov and joy.hollingsworth@seattle.gov),
The Central Area Neighborhood District Council (CANDC) requires that the Central Area continue to be a place that values the people and histories of the community. The One Seattle Comprehensive draft plan proposes removing a portion of the Central Area to Capitol Hill or First Hill. By doing so, the city is erasing these communities’ histories – legacies filled with vibrant, but varied, arts and cultural scenes.
The current draft’s Growth Strategy, Zoning, and Anti-displacement plans continue to cause harm to neighborhoods that have historically been damaged by redlining, gentrification and upzoning. These constant disruptors fracture the social fabric and cause current residents to leave the Central Area as developers poach, taxes rise and livability declines.
The proposed upzones in the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan will also undermine Seattle’s climate resilience. This leads to increased environmental inequity as less mature trees are retained where people live.
We urge you to make the following changes:
● Reject further upzoning or adding more height and density to the Central Area.
● Reject expanding the urban village/center boundaries into neighborhood residential areas.
● Reject annexing the Central Area to Capitol Hill or First Hill. To maintain a sense of place, these diverse neighborhoods must be kept intact.
● Establish a substantive anti-displacement plan that keeps people in their homes. What is currently proposed does not have strong provisions.
● Eliminate setback reductions that limit essential space for both street and private-property trees.
● Eliminate increased hardscape allowances that prioritize pavement over greenspace.
● Increase tree requirements on new developments. The proposed plan places Seattle on a path to fewer trees, less shade, and higher temperatures.
The Central Area has already absorbed more than its fair share of growth and environmental inequity with current zoning that allows for more than enough additional and unused capacity for growth. Since the 1990’s, our area has experienced multiple up-zones that has resulted in many legacy Black residents being pushed out, working class White families being pushed out, small businesses being pushed out, and a community that is losing its soul.
CANDC asks you to reject this version of the One Seattle Comp plan and incorporate the requested changes in a new draft