Montlake Rezoning Task Force Update

Written By Montlake Community

Author: Janice Sears

As a reminder, the Montlake Rezoning Task Force's (MRTF) Mission is to work with the City of Seattle, on behalf of the Montlake Community, to accommodate growth while at the same time preserving the unique character of our Historic Neighborhood.

The MRTF, currently comprised of 10 professional Montlake residents, has been hard at work, since December 2024, on two fronts:

  • The State’s HB 1110 was passed back in 2023 effectively eliminating single family zoning in the entire state of WA in order to increase density and accommodate growth.

    • Temporary Legislation has been passed by the Seattle City Council to meet the State’s 6/30/2025 implementation deadline.

    • Following the 6/23/2025 City Council meeting where many residents, including several from Montlake, testified, the City Council is now going into deliberation on amendments to HB1110 for permanent legislation. The final vote will be in September.

    • Montlake has joined a coalition of 19 other Seattle Neighborhoods, called “Seattle Residents for Thoughtful Growth”, to challenge some of the “overreach” by the city in implementing HB1110. The city is requiring significantly more density than required by HB1110 and in a different form – aka less “middle housing”. Things such as the healthy and coveted tree canopy are at risk with major “setback” reductions in the entire city! There will be no going back.

  • The Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) has also proposed 30 Neighborhood Centers (NC) to further increase density in specific neighborhoods on top of what is required and not required by HB1110. Montlake is currently one of the NCs!

    • The first proposed Montlake NC included 24 blocks, 400 historic homes or about 32% of our neighborhood. Community concerns include lack of true affordable housing, infrastructure, transit, amenities, setbacks/tree canopy, parking, missed opportunities, scale and more!

    • The second iteration of our NC boundary (scroll down to Montlake) now includes the WSDOT site (former Hop In Market site) and eliminates the blocks adjacent to the Arboretum.

    • The next step is to finalize zoning/heights within this boundary. Currently our business district within the NC will be zoned to five stories and then

      Zoning moves to four stories and then three stories a few blocks out from the center.

    • The City Council takes a break from rezoning for budgeting in the fall so the work on zoning/heights will not be final until the beginning of 2026.

    • The MRTF has/will work with the city and OPCD to insure that our NC is more to the scale of our neighborhood (aka less than 32%), and other NCs and takes advantage of sites like the WSDOT (and possibly NOAA site).

What can you do to participate?

  • Follow along with City Council Updates here - https://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/2025-comprehensive-plan

  • Write to Joy.Hollingsworth@Seattle.gov and/or Council@Seattle.gov with your thoughts. (Please cc Zoning@Montlake.net.)

  • Sign this petition regarding the implementation of HB1110.

  • Testify (written, virtual or in person) at the next City Council hearing – date TBD.

  • Send questions/comments and (cc council letters) to Zoning@Montlake.net

Montlake Community
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