Pinehurst Seattle

[THE FOLLOWING MATERIAL ACCOMPANIED THE DEPUTY MAYOR’S JULY 5 PRESENTATION TO CITY COUNCILMEMBER CLARK’S COMMITTEE ]

DRAFT
Proposed Approach for Updating Neighborhood Plans
July 2007

Update neighborhood plans by geographic sector (6 sectors overall). Determine the order of sectors to review by applying the following criteria:

1. Amount of household and employment growth, relative to the current growth targets
2. Significant changes that have occurred but were not anticipated by the earlier plans within the sector
3. Overall effectiveness or completeness of current plan in the sector

City staff would lead and provide professional support for the updates (DPD as the planning lead, with participation of DON, SDOT, Parks, OH and other departments and non-City agencies as necessary for each plan).

More standardization of plans – format and topics. All plans would address:

o Land use
o Transportation
o Housing
o Environment/open space
o Capital facilities
o Utilities
o All of these topics would be considered within overarching themes of sustainability and connectivity

Plans could include, where appropriate, one or more of these optional elements: Public Safety, Social services and Human Needs, Arts/Culture, Urban Design, Economic Development and Recreation.

Before beginning on any neighborhood plan, City staff would compile two major background reports:

· Citywide summary of relevant policy documents and plans that guide future actions (e.g. Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Strategic Plan, Urban Forest Master Plan, Comprehensive Drainage Plan, etc.)

· Background report that includes information on household and job growth patterns, demographics, recent and planned public investments, zoning / development capacity for each urban village in the sector.

Public Involvement

· Early stakeholder engagement to refine proposed approach.
· Each sector would be completed in one year, through structured public involvement. Approximately 2-3 meetings per neighborhood, and 1-2 per sector.
· Each sector and urban village with a plan being updated would be represented by an advisory group.
· The sector advisory group would meet to assess issues that cross boundaries of urban villages in the sector.

Council Process

· Council briefings on sectors selected; early issue identification
· Neighborhood plans submitted to Council for final action

Proposed Schedule* for Updating Neighborhood Plans

2008

January Sector analysis complete; choose first sector for planning based on criteria (level of growth, adequacy of current plan)

January Begin Background Reports

1. Citywide report on existing policies and plans (e.g., Comprehensive Plan, Transportation Strategic Plan, etc.) that will be basis for neighborhood plans

2. Sector-specific report for first sector, including e.g.:
– Household/job growth patterns
– Demographics
– Investments since plans adopted
– Local social issues
– Environmental concerns and opportunities

April Use sector report to:
– Identify sector-wide and local issues for plan
– Compare each village in a sector to criteria for deciding appropriate level of effort for each neighborhood

June Conduct sector-wide orientation on process, background, goals for first sector

June Convene advisory committee for each village doing an update in first sector

October Identify key issues, with each village advisory committee

November Brief Council on preliminary issue identification

*Note: 2008 schedule assumes the approach is finalized and adequate resources are provided by the end of 2007.

2009

January Check-in with sector-wide advisory committee regarding common issues for first sector

March Choose second sector, begin work on background report

June Conduct sector-wide orientation on process, background, goals for second sector

July Finish first sector plans

August Recommend amendments to Neighborhood Planning Element of the Comprehensive Plan for neighborhoods in the first sector.

Second and subsequent sectors will follow a schedule similar to the one for the first sector.