The basic direction for how Seattle’s expected growth over the next 20 years will be managed was approved by City Council on Dec. 13 via recently adopted amendments to Seattle’s Comprehensive (Comp) Plan.

Part of the state-required, 10-year review of the Comp Plan, the amendments prepared by DPD staff are the culmination of a two-year effort to involve the public in identifying the plan’s successes so far, as well as how it should change.

The changes to the plan call on the City to prepare for an additional 47,000 households by the year 2024 and an additional 84,000 new jobs in that same time. The household target comes from state of Washington projections and represents the city’s share of King County’s total expected growth.

The Comp Plan, first adopted in 1994, introduced the “urban village” concept as the way Seattle would try to direct growth to certain areas called urban centers and urban villages. This year’s amendments include naming South Lake Union as the city’s sixth urban center, joining places like Downtown, the University District and Northgate as areas expected to take the largest shares of future growth.

Other new directions in the amendments would:

• allow reduced parking requirement for new development in urban centers and urban villages as a way to encourage a greater use of transit, walking and other ways of getting around;
• limit the amount of new development that could occur outside urban centers and villages to help concentrate growth in centers and villages;
• set goals for limiting the number of trips in each urban center made by a single-occupant automobile;
• outline a set of priorities for the City to address in planning for improving water quality and aquatic habitat;
• reaffirm the City’s commitment to preserving industrial land for industrial purposes; and
• add specific policies from the Northgate neighborhood plan.