In May, the City Council adopted Resolution 30976 identifying proposed Comprehensive Plan amendments to be considered in 2007. Councilmembers introduced several additional amendments to be studied by DPD beyond those described in the March 2007 issue of dpdINFO. The proposed amendments address urban sustainability, pedestrian safety, cost of housing, cost of living, training opportunities and the “complete streets” concept.

Urban Sustainability Goals and Policies
Taken as a group, the urban sustainability proposals would establish benchmarks against which to measure Seattle’s progress over time, including:

• Establish goals for reduction of greenhouse gasses that meet or exceed the Kyoto Protocol goal of a 7 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2012.
• Adopt the American Institute of Architects and US Conference of Mayors “2030 Challenge” as the standard for city buildings, procurement and other public investments.
• Set goals for increasing the amount of green canopy and decreasing impervious surfaces.
• Promote more aggressive solid waste reduction by increasing recycling, and applying zero-waste approaches.
• Develop Urban Center-based transportation demand management (TDM) strategies along with ways to link public investments in TDM to reduced automobile dependency.
• Make Seattle an affordable place to live in all respects, and not only with respect to housing affordability.
• Set goals for defining and supporting measures for healthy years lived and improving equal access to health care.
• Revise the Cultural Resources element to explicitly include “heritage” within the concept of “culture.”
• Promote public safety.
• Set a goal of achieving no net increase in water and energy consumption.
• Identify natural drainage and the restoration of urban watersheds as the preferred strategy for the City’s drainage policy.
• Include a “Resilient City Strategy” in the City’s Emergency Management planning.

Pedestrian and Public Safety
Councilmembers proposed to add goals or policies to the Comprehensive Plan’s Transportation Element to further pedestrian safety, and to revise the Transportation Element to ensure adequate reference to the concept of “complete streets,” which accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders and people with disabilities in addition to motorists.

Housing and Cost of Living
Councilmembers want to consider amendments to the Housing Element to establish housing affordability goals and policies that better reflect the income demographics of the city, including establishing a goal for development of housing affordable to those earning 80-120 percent of median area income, and distinguishing goals for rental housing from goals for home ownership.

Schools and the 21st Century Workforce
The Council directs DPD to develop Comprehensive Plan policies that increase access to training and to necessary social support policies that identify opportunities to support building an excellent education system for all Seattle students.

Reconsideration of 2006 Comprehensive Plan Amendments
In 2006, Council amended the Comprehensive Plan’s Future Land Use Map to redesignate the Goodwill site on South Dearborn Street from Industrial to Commercial/Mixed Use enabling a project on the site that would include housing, large retailers and new space for Goodwill. It also designated the North Highline Area of unincorporated King County as a Potential Annexation Area. Council directs DPD to reconsider these amendments in light of changed circumstances.

Amendments to Executive Proposals
The Council made the following revisions to the Executive’s initial recommendations:

• Add the east side of First Avenue South within the Duwamish Manufacturing/Industrial Center to the area considered for an expanded exemption to limitations on commercial space. The study will now be bounded by Colorado Avenue South, South Walker Street, Occidental Avenue South, and South Forest Street.
• Council revised a proposal regarding parking facilities in parks and forwarded for consideration in 2007. DPD will consider amendments that call for designing parking facilities in parks that maximize the preservation of parks open space and green space, minimize the provision of parking, and discourage auto use.
• Council determined that a change to the Future Land Use Map was not necessary for property owners to seek a rezone of six parcels on the east side of 33rd Avenue between East Union Street and East Spring Street from Multifamily to Commercial/Mixed Use.

Since the March 2007 dpdINFO article, the Executive revised a proposal for DPD to consider an amendment to the Future Land Use Map and the Land Use Element to redesignate land (the CEM Property) located on Harbor Avenue Southwest, adjacent to the northwest side of Terminal 5 in the Duwamish Manufacturing/Industrial Center from Industrial to Commercial/Mixed Use.