Next week, Seattle residents have an opportunity to make a real impact on the future of the city. With your help, we can deliver an important message to the City Council: We want Seattle to be sustainable, diverse, and affordable for all its citizens. As part of the Complete Communities Coalition, Habitat SKKC supports a bold comprehensive plan for Seattle.
As a refresher: Comprehensive plans happen only every ten years, and they serve as a blueprint for where housing, transportation, and businesses will go in a city. Seattle’s plan is currently in front of the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan, where an amendment package is being considered before it will be passed out to the full Seattle City Council.
The Complete Communities Coalition is pushing for more housing density to match our city’s rapid growth. To do that, we need to build more homes of all types, particularly townhomes, triplexes, stacked flats, and other affordable housing options.
“This comp plan is our opportunity to address our housing crisis through increased supply at a more reasonable price point,” says Ryan Makinster, Advocacy and Policy Manager at Habitat SKKC.
We also need to expand the number of proposed neighborhood centers: Small walkable communities within a city that give residents access to grocery stores, childcare, and other essential services near public transit. By adding eight more neighborhood centers—in Alki, Dawson, Roanoke Park, Gasworks, South Wedgwood, Broadview, Loyal Heights, and Nickerson-South Canal—than were proposed in the original comp plan, we aim to ensure that Seattle has affordable and inclusionary communities that are supported by ample public transportation.
We need to go big if we want to see big changes! The next public hearing when residents can comment on amendments to the comp plan happens September 12. Add your voice and encourage City Council to take bold action on the One Seattle Comprehensive Plan amendments.