Neighborhood Plan Land-Use, Open Space and Housing Committee

(brief explanation: After the Central Area Neighborhood Plan was approved by City Council in 1998, a "Stewardship Committee" was formed to oversee the update and implementation of the plan. After a time-consuming false-start as an independent body, the Stewardship Committee became part of the Central Area District Council. City support for neighborhood plans was reduced and then effectively eliminated, making any plan update efforts very difficult to achieve.

This new committee is an attempt to breathe new life into the process, to help update the plan in light of the many changes in the neighborhood over the last decade. Andrew Taylor)

Central Area Neighborhood Plan Updating
Land-Use, Open Space and Housing Committee
By Kathryn Keller and Marty Liebowitz

The Central Area Neighborhood Plan (CANP) is being updated by the Central Area Neighborhood Plan Stewardship committee. The Land-Use committee concerns itself with properly representing the goals and aspirations of the Central Area community in updating several sections of the Neighborhood Plan which deal with Comprehensive Planning, Land Use and Zoning codes, Sustainability, and design guideline overlays for the different neighborhoods of the Central Area Community. The Land-Use, Open Space and Housing Committee is attempting to have as broad a participation of neighborhood views in our discussions as possible so that other committee’s work is transparent, open, and inclusive.

Items on the draft 2008 Action Agenda include:
1. Response and outreach to citizens regarding the Multi-Family land use code update proposal now under review by the Seattle City Council.
2. Review the 2008 Comprehensive Plan amendments, one of which is titled Affordable Housing Strategies.
3. Develop any desired Central Area 2009 Comp Plan Amendments.
4. Update and take steps to enact Central Area Design Review policies, and include a Central Area Overlay District in the Seattle Land Use Code.

Neighborhood Plan Update Preparation Activities Include:
1. Understand current 2008 zoning and land use realities, and identify gaps with the CANP
2. Collaborate with the Economic Development and Transportation and Arterial efforts/committees.
3. Determine updates that are required immediately that may be handled as separate City Council actions.
4. Determine the agenda for the Land Use, Open Space, and Housing updates, that will be done within the framework of the CANP update process.

Please contact Kathryn Keller (ktkeller@earthlink.net) or Marty Liebowitz (marty@madronacompany.com) for dates and times of the Committee meetings.