Tell City Council To Pass A Bold Comprehensive Plan

Seattle City Council

The Seattle City Council has a once-in-a-decade chance to address our housing shortage and affordability crisis.

The Comprehensive Plan—Seattle’s regular planning update that determines how many homes can be built and where over the next decade—is now before the Council. More than 100 amendments have been proposed. This is the final opportunity in this process to push for more homes and a fairer distribution of them.

Seattle YIMBY has carefully reviewed all proposed amendments and identified the ones most crucial to creating a more inclusive, affordable, and sustainable city.

You can help! By signing this letter, you’ll show your support for these key amendments. The letter, along with your signature, will be delivered to City Council in the second week of September.

Please sign—and share with your friends and family. This moment won’t come again for another decade.

Sponsored by
Syim
Seattle YIMBY
Seattle, WA

To: Seattle City Council
From: [Your Name]

Dear City Council,

Seattle YIMBY is a member-driven organization representing the diverse voices of Seattleites—renters and homeowners, young and old, service workers and tech employees—united by the belief that solving the city’s housing affordability crisis requires bold action. We appreciate the tremendous efforts you’ve put into drafting the proposed amendments to Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan based on community feedback. Please take advantage of this once-in-a-decade opportunity to strengthen the Comprehensive Plan to ensure a housing-abundant, affordable, accessible, sustainable, and equitable future for our city. Below is a list of the amendments that we believe are crucial for achieving this vision. We look forward to continuing the discussion with you and getting these amendments passed!

Stacked Flats


  • Amendment 90 (Kettle): Stacked flat bonus apply everywhere in NR, no minimum lot size for stacked flat bonus, increase FAR for stacked flats from 1.4 to 1.6, increase allowed density from 1 unit per 650 sf to 600 sf, increase allowed lot coverage from 50% to 60%

  • Amendment 89 (Nelson): Same as 90 except increase allowed lot coverage from 50% to 55%

Affordability Bonuses


  • Amendment 60 (Nelson): affordable housing bonus applies even if they’re located away from a frequent transit route, increases FAR, removes parking mandates

  • Amendment 61 (Kettle): affordable housing bonus applies even if away from a frequent transit route, removes parking mandates, applies to social housing

  • Amendment 63 (Nelson) and 64 (Strauss): adds a new density bonus program for the City’s low-rise (LR) zones, providing additional development capacity if certain metrics are met

Reducing Construction Costs


  • Amendment 82 (Hollingsworth): increasing the exception to street improvement requirements from two to four units to reduce construction costs

Neighborhood Centers


  • Amendment 34 (Rinck): restoring the previously studied Neighborhood Centers in Alki, Roanoke Park, Gasworks, Loyal Heights, South Wedgwood, Broadview, Dawson, and Nickerson-South Canal

  • Amendment 33 (Strauss): allowing seven to eight-story buildings in Neighborhood Centers near major transit stops or near existing concentrations of goods and services (up from max of six stories)

  • Amendments 43, 46, 47, 48 & 49 Version Cs (Strauss): Adjusting the boundaries and increasing the size of the Magnolia, Phinney Ridge, Tangletown, Upper Fremont, and West Green Lake Neighborhood Centers

Accessory Dwelling Units


  • Amendment 54 (Rinck): allowing Unit Lot subdivisions for ADUs

  • Amendment 55 (Rinck): increasing ADU size for legacy homeowners in certain zones

  • Amendment 56 (Rinck): excluding ADUs from floor area ratio limits

  • Amendment 57 (Rinck): allowing larger maximum size for ADUs

  • Amendment 58 (Rinck): excluding ADUs from density calculations

  • Amendment 59 (Rinck): exempting ADUs from Mandatory Housing Affordability

Families, Accessibility, and Environmental Justice


  • Amendment 78 (Hollingsworth): granting additional height and FAR for stacked flats within 1/4 mile of a school in which at least 25% of the units have 3+ bedrooms

  • Amendment 79 (Hollingsworth): incentivizing developers to build more units that are accessible to people with disabilities by exempting “Type A” accessible units from FAR and density limitations

Parking


  • Amendments 7 and 84 (Rinck): eliminating all minimum parking requirements citywide

Trees


  • Amendment 91 (Nelson): adding a new green stacked flats bonus that increases height to 42 ft, FAR to 1.8, lot coverage to 60%, and max density to 1 unit / 500 sf for stacked flats that retain one Tier 1 tree, two Tier 2 trees, or a 0.6 Green Factor

  • Amendment 104 (Strauss): granting flexibility whenever builders are preserving trees, allowing structures to be located anywhere within a setback and allowing reduced or eliminated amenity area requirements when a tree is protected

  • Amendment 87 (Rinck): parking waivers for any residential development that retains a Tier 2 tree

Corner Stores


  • Amendments 65 (Nelson), 66 (Rinck), and 67 (Strauss): legalizing corner stores and neighborhood cafes beyond only corner lots plus other improvements

Other Improvements to Increase Housing Production


  • Amendment 70 (Kettle): increase FAR to 1.6; stacked flat FAR 1.8 if within frequent transit areas & 6000 sf lot

  • Amendment 73 (Strauss): allowing any density fractions of 0.85 and above to be rounded up to allow one additional unit

  • Amendment 74 (Nelson): increasing NR and LR1 height limits from 32 feet to 35 feet

  • Amendment 76 (Rinck): amending the definition of “major transit” service to include “frequent transit service”, thereby expanding parking exemptions, among other things

  • Amendments 95 (Rinck), 96 (Kettle), and 98 (Rinck): reducing or making setbacks more flexible in various situations

Please meet the moment and pass your colleagues’ thoughtful amendments listed above to ensure a brighter future for current and future residents of this great city.