Additional Montlake Rezoning Resources

Here you’ll find handy links to more information:

Articles on the Impacts of the One Seattle Plan

More concrete, less green: South Park’s cautionary tale
Article about the One Seattle Plan and the South Park neighborhood.

More paving, fewer trees. So much green for “One Seattle”
Seattle Times Editorial Board article about the One Seattle Plan and Seattle’s tree canopy.

New Zoning Will Make Seattle hotter for Everyone
Article from Tree Action Seattle: how the new zoning leads to higher temperatures.

Montlake’s Historic Designation

Wikipedia: Montlake Historic District

Wikipedia: National Register of Historic Places listings in Seattle

OPCD’s Project Documents for the One Seattle Plan and Related Zoning Regulations

The Mayor’s One Seattle Plan
This page has links to both the One Seattle Plan and its Appendices. The Growth Strategy section describes the creation of Neighborhood Centers, and says that they “. . . should generally allow buildings of 3 to 6 stories, especially 5- and 6-story residential buildings to encourage the development of apartments and condominiums.” This led to the proposed LR2 and LR3 zones in Montlake.

Phase One Zoning: Zone NR and “Middle Housing”
This presentation explains how Seattle plans to meet the “middle housing” requirements of WA state law HB1110 with Phase One zoning. By law, this must be in place by June 30, 2025, and it affects most residential lots across Seattle

Phase One Draft Zoning Legislation
This describes the proposed Zone NR changes. Per OPCD’s estimate, the final version of this should be delivered to City Council in March, 2025. There will be a Public Hearing on this at City Council, probably in May.

Phase Two Proposed Zoning Maps
This site shows maps of the proposed Phase 2 zoning changes by Council District (Montlake is in District 3), and there is also a link to the entire proposed rezoning map for Seattle farther down the webpage.

Phase Two Draft Zoning Legislation
This is a 22-page draft with much information missing. OPCD estimates that the final version will go to SCC in May for approval by September.

Environmental Impact Statements
The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) responds to the comments on the Draft EIS and analyzes the potential impacts of a Preferred Alternate (that is, the One Seattle Plan). The appeal period lasts 14 days from release of the Final EIS.

Seattle City Council

Comprehensive Plan (“One Seattle Plan”) Renewal Process
This is the City Council’s project page for the One Seattle Plan. Among other things, it includes a calendar of upcoming meetings and will be kept up to date as the project evolves.

Meet the Council
This links to each of the nine city council members’ webpages, which include contact info, newsletter archives, meeting calendars, blog posts, and more. You can send your comments on the One Seattle Plan and related zoning changes to individual council members via email, or to all of them at: council@seattle.gov. As of late-January, 2025, there are no deadlines for comments to, or communication with, the Council regarding the One Seattle Plan.

Montlake’s City Council Representative: Joy Hollingsworth
Montlake is in District 3. Joy Hollingsworth is our District 3 (D3) council representative. As of December 2024, she is also the Chair of the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Rezoning Plan, replacing Tammy Morales who resigned in December 2024 (effective Jan 6, 2025).

Seattle’s City Council Districts
This page shows Seattle’s seven city-council districts.

Watch Council Meetings Live
Here you can watch—or listen to—Seattle City Council (SCC) meetings as they happen. It also shows a calendar of future SCC meetings that will be streamed live.

Watch Past Council Meetings
Here you can find past SCC meeting recordings to watch. For meetings about the One Seattle Rezoning Plan, follow the “Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan link.

Seattle City Council YouTube Channel and TV Channels
City Council meetings can also be watched live on TV if you get the Seattle Channel:
– Channel 21 on broadcast TV, Comcast and Wave
– Channel 321 on Comcast HD
– Channel 721 on Wave HD

Seattle Office of the Clerk
This is an archive of Seattle City Council meeting agendas, meeting minutes and presentation materials. This site also looks forward about one week to show upcoming meetings.

Presentations from the Office of Planning and Community Development to City Council

Transmittal of the One Seattle Plan from OPCD to City Council
This presentation doesn’t include the plan details, but rather some history of the project, the process going forward, and some tentative schedule info.

Seattle City Council Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan 1/6/25
Public comments were followed by a presentation from OPCD, followed by questions and comments from each SCC member.

OPCD’s Growth Strategy presentation to City Council
An overview of the growth strategy that’s presented in the first major section of the One Seattle Plan. This is a really good overview of what OPCD is proposing.

Seattle City Council Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan 1/15/2025
Public comments were followed by a presentation from OPCD, followed by questions and comments from each SCC member.

State Laws and Regional Guidance Shaping the One Seattle Plan

HB 1110: Known as the Middle Housing Bill. This is the 2023 law requiring zoning that allows multiple housing units to be built on most residential lots in the state. This is what guided the creation of zone NR (Neighborhood Residential) in the One Seattle Plan.

Washington State Model Zoning Ordinance
This state zoning ordinance will automatically be in effect if Seattle does not pass the Phase 1 zoning legislation by June 30, 2025.

HB 1181: Addresses growth impact on climate change

HB 1220: Addresses emergency and affordable housing

Vision 2050: Puget Sound Regional Council’s growth plan

Learn more

The contents of this webpage were assembled by a small group of Montlake Community Club members to help educate the neighborhood about upcoming zoning changes proposed by Mayor Harrell. Any opinions expressed are not necessarily representative of the greater Montlake community.