Seeking Candidates for a Neighborhood Advisory Committee

Currently there are two membership positions open on the Rainier Beach NAC (youth and person living with a disability) and four positions on Broadview-Bitter Lake-Haller Lake NAC (youth, person living with a disability, low-income renter, persons of color—including immigrants and refugees).  

Interested individuals should download   recruitment information and the application.  Positions will remain open until filled.

Program Background

Neighborhood plans were completed between 1995 and 2000 to manage growth in the neighborhoods, especially in light of Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan and growth management strategy, adopted in 1994. Since neighborhood plans were completed, growth throughout Seattle has been generally consistent with expectations but has varied by neighborhood. In some neighborhoods growth has been far more or far less than anticipated.

The City Council passed legislation in September of 2008 that authorized the Department of Neighborhoods (DON) and the Department of Planning & Development (DPD) to work with Seattle’s citizenry to begin updating neighborhood plans where appropriate. The ordinance and a companion resolution implement three key programs that together are intended to create a neighborhood-based planning process that is rooted in the good work citizens conducted in the 1990s.

Neighborhood Planning Outreach and Engagement Earns Governor's Smart Communities Award

City of Seattle has won a Judges Merit Award for its innovative civic engagement efforts for Neighborhood Planning Updates and Status Check.  Gov. Chris Gregoire announced the winners of her 2010 Smart Communities Awards for creating livable communities in Washington State.  See news release for more information.    

Updating Plans — Neighborhood Plan updates began in Autumn 2008 in North Beacon Hill, North Rainier and MLK Jr. @ Holly. Each of these neighborhoods is home to a newly opened light-rail station and experiencing or expecting significant new population and business growth.  In Spring 2011 we started updates in Rainier Beach and Broadview/Bitter Lake/Haller Lake.

Outreach —  For both Updates and Status Reports, the City is reaching a broad cross-section of neighborhood stakeholders, using both innovative and time tested tools, from hands-on workshops to smaller scale interactive meetings with community-based organizations, as well as on line updates and surveys.  In 2009, city staff sponsored or contributed to more than 300 meetings and events, reaching both long-time veterans of neighborhood planning, stewards of the important work begun in the 1990s, and a new generation of neighborhood planners, building a broader base for civic engagement.  This included the work of Planning Outreach Liaisons (POLs), engaging historically underrepresented communities and multiple language groups.