Serving on one of Seattle’s Design Review Boards offers an excellent opportunity to provide guidance to the design of individual projects in the city and to stay abreast of development activity in your neighborhood. From now until Dec. 10, 2007, DPD is accepting applications for board positions which will open on April 4, 2008, when retiring board members’ terms expire.

Design review provides an alternative to prescriptive zoning requirements and fosters new development that better responds to the character of its surroundings. Each five-person Design Review Board holds public meetings twice a month during the evenings to evaluate development projects based upon citywide and neighborhood-specific design guidelines. Projects reviewed include mixed-use developments, multifamily housing and commercial projects of certain sizes. For more information on Design Review, visit www.seattle.gov/designreview.

Each Design Review Board includes a:

• design professional
• development representative
• community at-large representative
• local business representative
• local residential representative

Board members must live in the City of Seattle. In addition, the local residential representative must be nominated by a community group or association (e.g., community council) that operates within the board district. Similarly, the local business representative must be nominated by a business group (e.g., chamber of commerce) that operates within the board district. The nominations for these local positions are often facilitated if the board member lives or works within the district he or she is serving, but residency in a district is not a requirement to serve as a local representative. Applicants need not have secured a nomination at the time of application.

Board members are appointed by the Mayor and City Council to serve two-year terms. Board members should expect to work 12-14 hours a month attending and preparing for meetings, which are held twice a month in the evenings. Board members are expected to attend at least 90 percent of the meetings.

All applicants regardless of the position should have knowledge of or interest in architecture, urban design and the development process; the ability to listen, communicate effectively and run public meetings; a passion for design and community development; and the ability to work well with others under pressure. For each specific board position (design professional, development representative, etc.) the most successful applicants demonstrate how they understand the concerns of that group. Prior experience with community or neighborhood groups is a plus. Women, sexual minorities, persons with disabilities and persons of color are encouraged to apply.