Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the regularly scheduled February 6, 2019 meeting of the Seattle Planning, Land Use and Zoning Committee.
My name is Rob Johnson.
I'm chair of the committee.
It's 931 this cold Wednesday morning.
We have two items on the agenda today, so we should have a very brief meeting today.
They are both design guidelines related.
is Council Bill 119-362 related to the University District Design Guidelines, and the other is Council Bill 119-439 related to the Uptown Neighborhood Design Guidelines.
Both of those issues are of a public hearing and a discussion and possible vote today.
We heard about both at our meeting in December.
They're back in front of us again today after several years of public process, and we look forward to discussing those again.
However, we start our meeting today, as we always do, with public comment.
We have one individual who signed up to comment, Steve Ribsello.
Your two minutes begins now.
Well, here we go again.
Never have so many been asked to give so much to so few and gotten so little.
The numbers don't really add up on the bonuses and the additions that we have.
The city continues to go further and further behind on affordable units.
We destroy at such a heavy pace the number of units that are available to people who are not making 80,000, 100,000 a year.
I don't know if your goal is to become Broadmoor without the wall.
But at this point, Seattle is on a track to raise the cost of living at points where you're going to see fewer and fewer people who really do the work.
Now, I don't know how far the trains can go, and I don't know that at the end of the train you're going to find a lot of the affordable housing, because new housing is always far more expensive than existing housing.
We never talked much about what is Seattle, how badly overzoned are we to begin with.
Could we put what multiple of the population in without even raising our zoning?
But we have a very strong push that even during this snowy weather, the one thing that didn't slow down for the viaduct, didn't slow down for anything is land use.
Everything else moves at a slower pace.
It's like this was bought and paid for.
It's like this just has to happen.
This is the emergency.
And Lord knows, if you declare an emergency, maybe we can stop it.
Like homeless, you know, we have an emergency.
But yet, the numbers continue to grow.
Thank you, Mr. Rubstello, and we'll be hearing from Mr. Rubstello again twice later on this morning.
I would also add just editorially that a four-year process to get us to this point, I think few would call quick.
We have the first item, which is Council Bill 119362, and I invite presenters to come forward while Noah reads the abbreviated title into the record.
Agenda item 1, Council Bill 119362, an ordinance relating to land use and zoning amending section 23.41.010 of the Seattle Municipal Code to approve the 2018 University District Neighborhood Design Guidelines.
While Noah scoots over and helps us with the presentation, Janet and Allie, why don't we do some brief introductions?
OK.
Ali Panucci, Council of Central Staff.
Janet Scholl, Office of Planning and Community Development.
Janet, we've had this discussion in front of us in the past, but I thought it'd be helpful to just do a brief refresher, if you don't mind running through a few slides.
I don't know if there's anything you'd like to add to start, Ms. Panucci.
No, that sounds good.
After the public hearing, I'll discuss the potential amendments.
Great.
Okay, great.
So we'll go ahead and just do a recap, but much abbreviated from the previous meeting.
And let's see.
Am I driving or?
Got it.
That should do it.
Come on.
I was trying.
Oh, thank you.
Why didn't that work for me?
Anyway, so why are we updating the university district design guidelines?
Priorities that are expressed in the UDF, or the Urban Design Framework Plan, that was adopted in 2013. A lot of change in character over the years since when the current version of the guidelines were put in place in the year 2000. So it's been almost 20 years now since those original guidelines were developed.
Significant public investments, most notably the new light rail station coming online at Brooklyn Avenue.
And then, as related to that, the zoning changes that were adopted in 2017. allowing more heightened density in the neighborhood.
What the hell?
Don't use the mouse.
Right.
Got it.
It's the cold weather I think that's affecting everyone's technology.
So just a little recap on community involvement.
There was pretty extensive community involvement.
This slide just represents what was done related to the guidelines themselves.
Previous to this level of community involvement, there were a number of years of strong community involvement, just developing the urban design framework plan.
commenting and input on the zoning code amendments, et cetera.
So this work really grew out of that.
We had three workshops with a lot of dedicated people from the community, open house events, and then we did a smattering of outreach events, office hours, et cetera, coffee shop meetups.
So a lot of really great input from the community on these draft guidelines.
And so just briefly, the three major categories of guidelines, first is context and site, and this is one where community members are really interested and involved, and we worked with them to designate these character areas that are referenced on the map on the left.
And I just wanted to highlight, there was comment at the last meeting where we presented to you with the introduction, there was a request to rename the University Park character area that indicated as south.
So that's something that's been incorporated in proposed amendments that are before you this morning.
So I'd call that a friendly amendment.
And then with regard to the public life element of the guidelines, there was a lot of discussion about the importance of shared alleys in the university district.
There's emerging alley activation going on and there's a real desire to see that continued with new development.
And related to that, the requirements within the zoning code for mid-block connections in certain cases, so there was a lot of attention in the updated guidelines to what the character of those mid-block connections could be if they are actually, if and when they're implemented with new development.
And then finally, in the design concept section of the codes, the most notable change there is the addition of the tall building design guidelines, and these were first adopted in the South Lake Union, so they're the same set of guidelines, and they were deemed very important to the district as well with the changes in.
and zoning.
So that there is really the just really the high overview of what the content is that's great for you.
And welcome Councilmember Herbold.
Jenna before we open up the public hearing there have been one or two taller than usual buildings that have gone through the design review process before these design guidelines have been updated.
How those buildings have been received by the process?
Are we using other design guidelines as a template for those buildings that have come in in the neighborhood?
Are we?
Using the existing guidelines or some combination of the two so by understanding I had the opportunity to talk to some of the staff in the Department of construction and inspections who have been reviewing those projects and my understanding is the developers were encouraged to to look at the proposed There were some updated guidelines, but of course, since they are not formally adopted, there was no requirement to adhere to those.
So they have been utilized, but my understanding is there was a bit of pushback.
And some of the things that were most critical are the treatment of the buildings in the first story or two, kind of that where the buildings meet the street.
And so there's a lot of interest and excitement about getting these adopted so that they'll be stronger, you know, more ability for the design review committees to actually point to them and say, yes, these must be followed.
So I think in particular, it's that ground level activation, characterization of open space, et cetera, that are the points that, and to answer, I'm sorry, the other part of your question, what has been utilized are the existing guidelines as well as the citywide guidelines.
And these were advised, more advisory, I guess.
Great.
I mean, I think that's really helpful to have it you articulate that it's what I've heard from community members as well.
So there as more and more buildings go through the permitting process in the university district.
I think getting this thing through will allow our excellent volunteers as part of the design review boards, ask developers to be more compliant with the design guidelines that have been developed as opposed to what is happening right now, which is a little more voluntary.
This will be a little more heavily required, so I'm excited about that.
Any questions councilmember herbal before we move into the public hearing?
Okay, great We've got two people who've signed up to testify at the public hearing today The first person is Steven Antipat and the second is Steve Rube Sello.
Mr. Antipat, please Good morning, I'm Steven Antipat.
I'm the chair of the the U District Partnerships Livability Committee and sort of at this point looking back at the calendar 20 years since the neighborhood plan and then the urban design framework and the station area planning, it's really great to have this tool ready to go.
As I mentioned when this was presented at the last meeting, It's been really useful to even have these guidelines in draft form at the Design Review Board, both for project applicants, for those of us who make comment there to say there are these drafts, you can refer to them and have the board then take that under advisement, but also for community members who are interested, take an interest in commenting as projects move forward to have a vocabulary that is now relevant to the kinds of projects that are happening in your district.
I urge you to support this, move this forward to full council.
I'm assuming with the two of you here, you've got a quorum.
That would be great to see this finally on the books.
The only other thing I will say is thanks to Janet and her predecessors who worked with us.
We did a lot of work to engage folks over.
an extended period of time to get this done.
And it's always helpful to have city staff willing to engage with us as we call and email and say, come hang out, come tell us what's up.
What if we do this?
And so it's been good to have the staff as partners in that process.
And I'll just say thank you and vote yes.
Thank you.
Mr. Upsella.
In spite of your long and arduous process, there's been very little listening.
that's gone on and very little what I consider real planning.
What happened on the tree ordinance?
We are a very green city, except for when it comes to large trees and if they get in the way of development.
When are we going to take a look at the ghettoization of the city, which you're doing right now, because with the low payment for the high building, you're not going to see a very even distribution of incomes in this city.
And where are the people who are not making the larger incomes going to go?
New buildings are not cheaper than existing housing, unless it's subsidized.
And how much subsidy are you prepared?
When is it going to be?
Planning comes before the name land use in this committee.
And I don't see the planning done first.
You should be saving the trees before you start the building, because if you have a beautiful ordinance to save the trees, but you've already built the buildings and destroyed them, it's kind of worthless.
And Rob, again, how many times the population can we put into the city without changing our ordinances?
We can do many more people.
This is done.
I believe, and it's done with a lot of help from the development community.
This is Trumpism at its finest.
What else is more the center of Trumpism than making rich developers even richer?
We should be looking at the citizens of the city of Seattle.
What kind of city do we want?
Starting from the bottom up, instead of saying, we're going to build all these large buildings and then somewhere along the line, We'll pay high prices for the land for the other folks to live.
Thank you, Mr. Rubstello.
I know that you've signed up to testify at the next public hearing as well.
I would encourage you to please keep your comments related to the item at hand, which is the design guidelines that are in front of us.
So as we move into uptown and you prepare your testimony there, I'd ask you to please stay focused on the public hearing, which is about design guidelines.
not about the work of the committee writ large, which we've already heard from you about today.
That concludes the people who've signed up.
Is there anybody else who would like to give testimony on the U District design guidelines before we move to discussion about this?
Seeing none, we'll close the public hearing on Council Bill 119362. Colleagues, we've had a couple of opportunities to hear from the public about this, and we've had light attendance at both, which I think goes to show that There's broad political support for this.
Our council rules generally ask us to not move something out on the same day as we have a public hearing, but it is flexible.
And so I wonder if there's any objection to waiving the council rules to allow for us to vote this bill out on the same day as we have the public hearing.
I'm not seeing any objection, so I'll move to suspend the council rules on Council Bill 119362. Okay.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
None opposed.
Great.
So now we can consider this today and I'd ask you, Ms. Panucci, to walk us through a couple of the amendments that we've got in front of us for consideration.
Thank you.
Good morning, Councilmembers.
Council Bill 119362, as Janet summarized, these are the revised neighborhood guidelines for the University District Neighborhood.
Together with the adopted Seattle design guidelines that apply citywide, these guidelines will serve as the basis for design review for multifamily and commercial development in the University District Neighborhood.
Coming out of the discussions there are three amendments for your consideration.
The first amendment is to the council bill itself and it is a technical amendment really to reflect adoption of the revised guidelines in 2019. The part of this amendment is reflected in an attachment A to this memo that just updates the year from 2018 to 2019. There are a few other places in the council bill, including in the signature line and in the attachment list that reflect the 2018 adoption year.
And so if council members are open to this, it would be helpful to have an amendment that reflects the change in the year to 2019 throughout the ordinance and not in just the single place that is reflected in attachment A.
Questions about that?
Okay.
I'd move approval of Amendment 1 as outlined by Ms. Panucci.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
None opposed.
Amendment 2, Ms. Panucci.
Thank you.
Amendments 2 and 3 are both amendments to Attachment 1, which is the guidelines themselves.
Amendment 2 would amend the name of the University Park character area to University Park South.
This was based on public comment where there is a neighborhood with the University Park name that includes the single-family area to the north of the area where the guidelines apply, and so to make it clear that the character area is distinct from the neighborhood, the request was to add the word south throughout the guidelines.
One of the issues that we heard about it when we got together in December, and an issue that seems like a very simple thing, and as Jana mentioned during our discussion, has come up from several public comments and a pretty simple map adjustment.
So if there is no further discussion on this, I'd move adoption of Amendment 2. All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
That opposed, Amendment 2 is adopted.
Ms. Panucci, Amendment 3.
Amendment three is a series of technical and clarifying amendments that add language to the guidelines to make it clear where the design review process guides development in the right-of-way versus when SDOT.
And essentially, the design review process can provide guidance and direction for the places where private development sort of spills into the right-of-way, but ultimately SDOT regulations and guidance would apply if there is a difference between the guidance provided as well as correcting references to the Seattle Design Guidelines and Neighborhood Design Guidelines.
And those changes are reflected in Attachment B to the memo.
I had a chance to read through Attachment B and didn't have any questions.
I don't know if any of you did.
I'm seeing none, so I'd move adoption of Amendment 3. All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
That opposed, Amendment 3 is adopted.
So I would then, therefore, unless there's anything else, Ms. Panucci, I'd move to adopt Council Bill 119-362 as amended.
All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
None opposed.
Thank you, colleagues.
This will be in front of us February 11th.
Thank you, Janet, for your good work.
And thanks to community members for...
I think four years worth of discussion on this, going all the way back to when we first started with a university district zoning proposed changes in 2014-15.
So, it might be actually more like five years of this.
So, I'm really excited to finally have this one across the finish line as I'm sure OPCD is as well.
Yes, we are.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay.
Noah, would you please read agenda item number two into the record and invite Patrice to come and join us.
Agenda Item 2, Council Bill 119439, an ordinance relating to land use and zoning, amending Section 23.41.010 of the Seattle Municipal Code to approve the 2019 Uptown Neighborhood Design Guidelines.
Let's start with introductions again, please, Ms. Panucci.
Ali Panucci, Council Central Staff.
Patrice Carroll from the Office of Planning and Community Development.
And as before, Patrice, if you wouldn't mind just giving us a brief overview about the uptown design guidelines before we open it up for the public hearing.
Sure.
So we do have been working for several years in the uptown community.
There has been a lot of foundational work through the development of an urban design framework, some significant new zoning has been introduced in the neighborhood, and so updating the design guidelines was really the next step that we wanted to take to implement the community vision that came out of the urban design framework.
So that was a big reason for doing this update.
Also, since the last Design guidelines were done in 2009. We had changes to the citywide design guidelines.
So this was another area where we really could Look at the citywide design guidelines and see if those were sufficient to express what the community wanted So there was a lot of duplication that we were able to eliminate some of the other some of the other things that were important to the community was the fact that we Uptown has been designated an arts and cultural district.
And so there was a lot of discussion about how to make that visible in the design guidelines and the importance of arts and culture in new development.
So those are a couple of the important reasons for doing the design guidelines.
And obviously we're also keeping an eye on the new Lyrell station coming to the neighborhood as well.
Community involvement, again, in addition to the extensive community involvement that had gone on in the years prior, we worked with the Uptown Alliance Land Use Review Committee, which was a fairly new committee that was formed to specifically follow the design review program and provide input to developers who are proposing new development in the neighborhood.
So this was an important tool that this community saw not only for the design review board, but for their work.
So, we use them as an advisory committee through this process.
And then there was also, there was a lot of other work, but we worked very intentionally and very closely with the Uptown Alliance Land Use Review Committee.
In terms of where some of the changes happened, there were three sections where we made, where we wrote some new guidelines.
In context and site, I think some of the biggest changes were really, as I mentioned before, to make the arts district visible and also to implement some of the information from the urban design framework, where were the important gateways and the corners and house sites adjacent to the Seattle Center were expressed.
In public life, again, this is the diagram from the urban design framework that we brought into the design guidelines.
Again, looking at those edges around the Seattle Center, where there were special streets, some additional guidance to improve the edges around live work.
Also, some guidance to encourage and support smaller retail spaces, which is very important to the community because that's often where we find the local businesses.
We added some language for bus layover facilities, which is something that Metro is considering incorporating in this area.
And then in the design concept, and this is where we talk about the specifics of the particular architectural design and materials.
And the biggest change here was the old guidelines had these very distinct character districts, but what we've seen in Uptown is that there's really been much more of a mix.
And so there really wasn't a preferred architectural style.
People felt it was very exciting and very distinctive of Uptown, that you see different buildings of different architectural styles on the same block, and very modern buildings with very historic buildings.
And that was really the character that they wanted to continue, so that was kind of a big shift.
So again, and that was expressed in the discussion of building materials and lighting, and also very important to integrate art throughout the district.
So those are just some of the highlights.
Questions, colleagues, for Patrice before we open it up for the public hearing?
Thank you again for that overview, Patrice, and again, as I mentioned to Janet earlier, like the University District Uptown has been in discussion for a very long time.
It's hard for me to believe that it's been more than a year since the zoning changes passed, but my how time flies in this job in particular.
So why don't we now open the public hearing on Council Bill 119439. Right now we only have one individual signed up to give public comment, Steve Rubstello.
Now is your time to talk about design guidelines.
Ms. Berrientos, thank you for raising your hand.
We'll get to you after Mr. Rubstello.
Very interesting public processes we've gone through.
Most of the meetings that I've attended have been selling meetings rather than meetings where there was actually an ear open to listen.
And I still haven't heard how many times the population with the existing zoning we could put into the city of Seattle rather than the need for this immediate large up zone changing character of many, many neighborhoods in the city.
And is there anything in Uptown which is worth saving?
Because as you well know, when you raise the cost of the ground, many uses that were formerly there can no longer sustain the costs and you require a great deal of building in order to higher density in order to make it work.
Because we are a highest and best use state, as you should well know.
That means that the ground will be taxed as if you had the skyscraper on it, if it's allowed.
Even if you're using it for a parking lot or it's open land.
Granted, you won't be charged the property tax for the skyscraper until it's built.
But the economics make it very, very difficult.
And I think that it's time you start looking at are there any trees?
What is it really worth saving in this neighborhood?
Is there anything worth saving in this neighborhood?
Or are we marching on to the grand and beautiful future?
And the people who propose these large, zones don't even have to show up at the meetings anymore.
They just talk to your staff and you give a couple of minutes sometimes to people who might disagree, but the plan comes pretty well baked before it gets here.
And citizens don't really like that.
I think your numbers and popularity will probably show it.
I don't think they're down to our fearless leaders.
Thank you.
Ms. Barrientos, please.
Thank you.
So I'm here to ask the council to please suspend the rules and vote yes to implement these design guidelines today.
That's my main purpose.
We're pleased that there's a lot of new development in Uptown, and the Uptown Land Use Review Committee has been reviewing three to four projects a month for the past probably eight months.
As we review all these projects, we're seeing a real disconnect between our design guidelines the UDF and the goals for the uptown from the community perspective and the old design guidelines.
It's been a fairly frustrating process for many reasons is what we're focusing on as we review new development projects and we give guidance and support to applicants and they've all been very responsive to us, is really identifying the items that Patrice mentioned that we've been working on for the last year, and more importantly, integration of projects with the Arts and Culture Designation of Uptown.
It feels like there's a real disconnect and opposite of what the old design guidelines asked for and the current ones, particularly things that we really haven't been encouraging, which is uptown banners, murals on buildings, creative use of lighting and color and architectural diversity.
And the old guidelines actually discourage all of those.
So we've been at a little bit of a loggerhead.
So the faster this can get implemented, the better.
our neighborhood would be and the guidance we can give to developers.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Perrantes.
Is there anybody else who wishes to speak on this topic?
Seeing none, I'll close the public hearing on Council Bill 119439. Ms. Panucci, I don't believe we have any technical amendments on this piece of legislation.
That's correct.
No amendments.
Anything you'd like to add, Patrice?
No, just again, I want to thank the community again for all the thought and effort and the time that they spent with us pretty much all last winter going out.
When it was one of our last snowstorms, last winter was the day of our walking tour around the neighborhood.
But we still had some hearty community members come out and participate.
So I do want to thank them for that.
Great.
Thank you.
Colleagues, just as we did before, I'll ask your courtesy to allow us to suspend the rules and pull this bill out of committee on the same day as a public hearing.
So I would move to suspend the rules to vote on Council Bill 119349. All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
None opposed.
We don't have any technical amendments on that, so I would then ask for your support and move to adopt Council Bill 119349. All those in favor, please say aye.
Aye.
None opposed.
The bill will be in front of council next Monday, February the 11th.
Thank you, colleagues, for this.
To add to your pleasure of having a short meeting today, this allows us to cancel our meeting on February the 20th so that we can all stay focused on the citywide MHA discussions, which continue this Friday, February 8th, where we'll be discussing draft amendments, but not taking any action on those amendments.
And we'll be back in front of the full council select committee on MHA on Monday, February 25th.
So in order to allow time and energy for all of us to focus on those discussions, we're going to cancel our meeting on Wednesday, February 20th, and we'll be back in front of you on March the 6th.
Any final thoughts?
Seeing none, we're adjourned.
Thanks.