Mar 5 WCC Meeting 7-9 pm: Zoning Proposals, FEIS Appeals, Q&A, Memberships

The Wallingford Community Council will hold a meeting on Wednesday, March 5th, from 7-9 pm. The meeting will cover updates on City Council Zoning Proposals and Select Committee February meetings. It will also detail the six appeals filed to challenge the FEIS’s validity. There will be a Q&A session on the city’s Wallingford rezone maps, a reminder to join or renew Wallingford Community Council memberships for 2025, and information about volunteer opportunities.

The City Council’s Select Committee is currently paused, awaiting the outcome of six appeals challenging the Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS), which was released on January 29, 2025. The appeals were filed within the 14-day window in mid-February and will be heard by the City’s Hearing Examiner.

The Select Committee/City Council must resolve these appeals before voting on legislation within the One Seattle Zoning Plan, including the HB1110 state plan, the Mayor’s Plan, and the Comprehensive Plan. Although the Council may continue Select Committee discussions, the appeals likely prevent them from voting on legislation as previously scheduled.
March, April, and May Select Committee meetings are awaiting rescheduled dates.  The Wallingford Community Council did not join any appeal on the FEIS.
SAVE THE DATE: The Next WCC Meeting is Wednesday, March 5, from 7-9 PMWallingford Community Council Meeting
Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Location: Room 202, Good Shepherd Center (4659 Sunnyside Ave. N.)

The FEIS (Final Environmental Impact Study) was just released on Jan 30, 2025. There was only a two-week appeal period. This document is 1300 pages if you are interested in downloading it, here is the link: https://www.seattle.gov/opcd/one-seattle-plan?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery
  
Here is the link to look at details of the appeals challenging the FEIS by appeal sponsors: https://web6.seattle.gov/Examiner/casesearch?fid=0&sval=w-25

We recommend reading the talking points about the impacts of rezoning for upcoming Select Committee meetings and public hearings on the Comprehensive Plan 2044 Wallingford Community Council’s “One Seattle Plan-Call to Action”. https://www.wallingfordcc.org/2024/12/14/call-to-action-the-city-needs-to-hear-from-you-on-one-seattle-plan/
 
Join or renew your Wallingford Community Council Membership for 2025 online at wallingfordcc.orgJoin or renew your Wallingford Community Council membership for 2025 online today! Your annual membership fee supports our primary fundraising efforts and helps sustain our operations throughout the year (January- December). As a member, you’ll stay informed about current issues, meet new friends, and give back to your neighborhood. You’ll also receive our emailed newsletter and have the opportunity to participate in Wallingford Council initiatives that shape our neighborhood’s future on a local, citywide, and statewide level.

This year, we’re focusing on outreach and educational information about the city’s rezone plans. Our all-volunteer board members work on concerns voiced by neighborhood residents and businesses. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to vote in the mid-May Annual Election Meeting for 2025-26 board officers – you must join by April 25th to be eligible.

Annual dues are as follows: Family Membership $25.00, Individual Membership $15.00, Senior Member $10.00, Business $100.00.

Key Criteria: You must be an active part of Wallingford to join as a voting member. (You have to either reside, own a property, or manage a business, in Wallingford).You must join or renew by April 25 to vote in the mid-May election.Join or Renew Today!
Volunteer to be a “Friend of Wallingford Council” to offer occasional helping hands If you would like to help us out during a demanding year of challenges with rezoning proposals for Wallingford, please give your contact information to any of the board members to be a “Friend of Wallingford Council”. This means we would contact you for occasional tasks such as distributing informational flyers about special meetings, graphics, or extra hands at meetings or special events, such as greeting people at the door. Give us your contact information at the next WCC meeting or sign up to volunteer online!
Gasworks Park Project Needs Volunteer with Excel or Numbers SkillsIn 2024, the city permitted special private weekend music concerts/events at Gasworks Park, accommodating up to 10,000 people per event. These events are expected to continue in 2025.  We need help creating a calendar or graph of permitted events to ensure sponsors meet contractual obligations for allowed usages (e.g., displaying permits) and that the public retains access to Gasworks during peak weeks of public demands for park access.

If you have a few hours and Excel or Numbers skills to help with this project, please email hodder@gmail.com.
 
Key Topic for 2025: The City Council/Select Committee now focuses on the Public Process for the Comp Plan 2044 and Re-zoning Legislation. The City Council’s Select Committee, consisting of all nine City Council members, began discussions on January 6th regarding the 2044 Comprehensive Plan and the One Seattle Plan. The Council is responsible for making final decisions on the Comp Plan legislation, the HB1110 Middle Housing state mandate (passed in 2023), and the Mayor’s additional rezone map proposals.

Select Committee meeting dates and times for public participation in Phase 1 legislation (through May 2025) are subject to change due to appeals filed on the FEIS. The state deadline for the city to adopt HB1110 legislation is June. 

All Select Committee meetings can be seen live at the time of the meeting or recordings are made available on the Seattle Channel shortly after the meeting ends. (Link: https://www.seattlechannel.org/mayor-and-council/city-council/select-committee-on-the-comprehensive-plan)Jan. 6 “Comprehensive Plan Overview”Jan. 15: “Growth Strategy Overview & Phase 1 Zoning Preview”Jan. 29: “Select Committee key Topic ‘Displacement’”Feb. 5 “Public Hearing on rezone plans” 5 hours of neighborhood commentsFeb. 19 “Special meeting from City Departments on Infrastructure Needs”Refer here for the full City Council Select Committee Schedule.

Only two more Public Hearings are planned through May!

Please review the Wallingford Community Council’s “One Seattle Plan-Call to Action” page for more details and talking points. 

The Select Committee meeting schedule below is now subject to change due to the appeals filed on the FEIS

Comprehensive Plan reference for March, April, and May meetings:https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/OPCD/SeattlePlan/OneSeattleComprehensivePlan.pdfWednesday, March 5th – “Comp Plan Issue ID Part I”Wednesday March 12 Comp Plan Amendments due sponsored by a council personWednesday, March 19th – “Comp Plan Issue ID Part II”April 2,16,( April 30 Public Hearing Comp Plan and Zoning)May 16 Public Hearing, May 22,23May 29th – Final Vote on Phase I – Meeting the state requirements for HB1110June to Sept – “Phase 2 zoning legislation”Other Resources: Zoning Proposal Maps: https://one-seattle-plan-zoning-implementation-seattlecitygis.hub.arcgis.com/ OPCD Project Documents / Mayor’s Recommended Growth Strategy (2024). This contains the Draft Plan and other key related documents. Essential WCC November / December – Meeting Information on One Seattle Plan and Rezone Maps Attached and Major Impacts explaining the 5 story plan on Bus Arterials for Wallingford 

On October 16, 2024, the city released online maps with the locations of “NR” (Neighborhood Residential) zones where formerly single-family lots outside urban villages will be converted to denser multi-family 5,000 square foot lots allowing 4-6 units per lot as required in the state-mandated legislation HB1110. Four units are now allowed in all designated NR zones, but six units are allowed ¼ mile from major transit (rapid ride or light rail). 

OPCD provided opportunities to comment on online maps using social media and held open houses for each city council district, distributed paper maps for neighborhoods, and closed public comment in December 2024. 

At our meetings, we demonstrated how you can use the online maps to show current and proposed zoning for individual properties by address. We also distributed maps showing proposed rezone locations and differences in the lowrise and NR zones, including heights, setbacks, and far, lot coverage for each of the zone changes.

WCC’s November presentation explained the details of the Mayor’s plan which is additional and separate from the state plan. The Mayor’s rezone proposals include expansions of 30 Neighborhood Centers and conversions of thousands of single-family lots to multi-family surrounding the 30 Neighborhood Centers citywide increasing bulk, height, and scale. In addition, the Mayor’s proposal proposes to rezone single-family lots facing arterials city-wide on the bus routes for “frequent transit” from “single-family lowrise” to 5 stories. The public comments received on the rezone maps through December 20 will be compiled and shared this coming spring 2025.

The Comp Plan housing growth target from April 2024 set a target of 80,000 to 120,000 housing units. The FEIS ( Final Environmental Impact Study) just released studied the 80k to 120k impacts for that housing growth target. The Mayor’s plan released on Oct. 16, 2024, surpasses the Comp Plan housing growth target by increasing housing unit growth to 330,000 housing units. 

The public comments during the Select Committee hearings for the next several months will be considered before the second set of rezone maps are prepared by OPCD and released in May 2025. The vote on revised maps will follow. Michael Hubner, Director for the Comp Plan said “he guarantees there will be changes on the revisions of rezone maps.

Major Wallingford Impacts

Ask the city to reduce heights in the Mayor’s frequent transit plan from “Lowrise 3” 5-story/50-foot buildings to more compatible heights of “NR” (4-6 units per lot 30 height) or “Lowrise 1” (30 feet) along arterials in Wallingford of routes 62, 31, 32.Let us consider the residents who want to stay in their neighborhoods and the potential displacement here. Many blocks of the formerly single-family zoned lots located along these bus routes in Wallingford have naturally affordable older homes. Many homes are family-sized rentals, including duplexes, triplexes, small apartments, and businesses. 

The Mayor’s plan is proposing city-wide upzoning on all “frequent transit “arterial facing streets encouraging demolitions, not rehabilitation. These proposed high unit capacity zone proposals at LR3 allow 5-story/50-foot buildings to offer more built-in profitability for developers and will likely accelerate demolitions. This can displace and force out occupants of all ages, races, and incomes who reside in these homes facing arterials citywide. Rezoning for greater unit capacity and jumping to the highest residential zones can increase land values and property taxes for homeowners, renters, businesses, and those on fixed incomes who simply can not keep up with these increases. Assessors base property values on market sales on “highest and best use”. That means you can have property tax increased on the rezoned potential capacity of your lot even though you choose not to redevelop it.

The 5-story city-wide plan for rezones citywide along “frequent transit” bus routes….Lack of nuances of various neighborhood street considerationsOver-reliance on the city’s online website and absence of  direct outreach by the city to neighborhoodsLack of consideration of context and existing heightsCreate corridor and canyon effects, reduce access to light and airShadow neighboring homes, devaluing investments in solar panelsCreate a loss of trees with an increase in lot coverage from 35% to 50%. Decrease front setbacks for larger tree retention and plantingCreate a scarcity of amenities like parks, libraries, and grocery stores for increased populations.Lack of mitigations for traffic, parking congestion Overall, a very weak plan for truly affordable housing Loss of older “naturally affordable “ small duplexes, triplexes, small apartmentsDisplacement of those who cannot keep up with higher property taxes as a result of rezones
A win/win can be achieved with either an NR designation (Hb 1110 4-6 units per 5,000 sq. foot lot) or a Lowrise One zoning designation both blending in with existing heights of 30-foot maximum in the context of older neighborhoods instead of such a height jump to 50 feet to large 5 story buildings on the bus route arterials described below. NR zones 4-6 units per lot or Lowrise one zones increase unit housing capacity and density at heights, but are more compatible with the existing context of these blocks.

Ask the council about revisiting and implementing impact fees for parks, fire, schools and roads instead of more levies which could help reduce property taxes.  Many other municipalities outside of Seattle collect impact fees for infrastructure.

Ask for reduced heights from LR3 /5 story /50 feet zoning proposed to NR or LR One /3 story/ 30 feet zoning for residents of these specific streets impacts for arterials on Wallingford bus routes 62, 31,32.Route 62 proposes to upzone properties to Lowrise LR3/5 stories, 50-foot buildings along Meridian north/south from 50th- 56th Routes 31 & 32 propose to upzone properties to LR 3 5 stories, 50-foot buildings along 40th east/west from UW to WallingfordRoutes 31 & 32 arrive at the 40th and Wallingford intersection then travel south on Wallingford to 35th Routes 31 & 32 at 35th and Wallingford intersection the bus travels west/east to Fremont Ave



(Click here for larger versions of the Wallingford Impacted Areas as seen above) 
 
Email all city council: at council@seattle.gov or contact them directly by phone with your concerns.