The Seattle City Council approved a new long-term growth plan, but according to an analysis by Ryan Packer in The Urbanist, the debate over the details of any rezoning efforts is just beginning.
The new comprehensive plan calls for 30 new “neighborhood centers” with higher-density zoning, but exact standards for those zones won’t be adopted until next year, when the city will also lift apartment bans in some transit corridors.
Earlier this year, Mayor-elect Katie Wilson commented on the plan, saying “We should be adding more neighborhood growth centers, expanding the definition of ‘near transit,’ granting social housing the same density bonus that other types of affordable housing get, eliminating parking minimums, fix the stacked flats bonus so it actually results in building stacked flats, exempt smaller projects from [Mandatory Housing Affordability] fees so they will pencil out, etc.”…