Montlake Rezoning Task Force Update
Author: Janice Sears
The City of Seattle has moved on to Phase 2 of the One Seattle Plan - Neighborhood Centers, Urban Centers and Corridors. A new Select Committee and Chair along with timelines & meeting dates have been tentatively set. Joy Hollingsworth our D3 Representative has moved from being Chair of the Select Committee of the One Seattle Plan to Chair of the City Council. CM Eddie Lin is now Chair of the Select Committee for Phase two.
Recall that back in Phase One the Montlake Rezoning Task Force (MRTF) was able to help reduce our boundaries for Montlake’s Neighborhood Center (NC) by encouraging the Office of Planning and Community Development to eliminate the blocks adjacent to the Arboretum. (The blocks surrounding the Montlake Elementary School remain in our NC despite our best efforts.)
In Phase Two the heights (or zoning) of each NC will be finalized. The Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD)’s current plans for Montlake’s NC call for five stories in the commercial district, then four stories surrounding that and finally three stories around the perimeter of our NC.
Many neighbors have voiced that these heights are out of scale with our community, so the MRTF has developed a “counter proposal”. This proposal reduces our heights overall and limits the “canyon affect” in our commercial district. We presented this proposal back in December, but the new maps of Montlake’s NC don’t take this proposal into account. So, we hope that CM Hollingworth will introduce an amendment based on our proposal to reduce heights in our NC. Unfortunately, the zone definitions were recently edited unbeknownst to us. We are quickly learning about the newly defined zones, editing our proposal and meeting with CM Hollingsworth’s office on April 2nd. The best outcome will be an amendment that passes in order to limit the heights in our Neighborhood Center!
Please contact Joy.Hollingsworth@Seattle.gov and/or attend the April 6th City Council meeting at 9:30 am to show your support for reducing heights in our Neighborhood Center! Please find more information here.
Quick Refresh – Phase One of the One Seattle Plan is final!
As you may recall, the State’s HB 1110 was passed in 2023 effectively eliminating single family zoning for cities over 25,000 population in the entire state of WA to increase density and accommodate growth while making housing affordable.
On December 16, Seattle City Council finally and formally voted to adopt the One Seattle Plan (Council Bill 120985) and the Neighborhood Residential Update (Council Bill 120993) to satisfy the State’s HB1110. This legislation is anticipated to be signed by the mayor shortly and will become effective in mid-January. Council also adopted a companion resolution (Council Resolution 32183) which outlines requested follow up work for OPCD, including a docket of potential annual amendments to the Comprehensive Plan.
So, in the end the city is requiring significantly more density than required by HB1110 based on growth numbers that many neighbors question! Montlake will now be zoned for duplexes, fourplexes and sixplexes (in addition to ADU’s) in our formerly single-family (NR) neighborhood with potentially little or no off-street parking. Things such as Seattle’s healthy and coveted tree canopy are at risk with major “setback” reductions! Heights are planned to significantly increase along with Floor Area Ratio (FAR). Historical Design Reviews (and standards) will be gone. Seattle and Montlake’s old infrastructure will most certainly be “stretched”.
Please contact us at Zoning@Montlake.com with any questions.
