Dear Whittier Neighbor:
The One Seattle Plan and rezoning proposal are now under discussion at the City Council. This email outlines how to participate in the Council’s public process. Urgent and sustained action by a large number of vocal neighborhood residents will be needed to influence the outcome.
Information on the council process can be found here: https://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/2025-comprehensive-plan
What You Can Do
- Email your comments to City Council members - (see details below and sample comments for ideas).
- Attend the February 5, 5:00 PM public hearing at City Hall. (details below). Make comments, carry a sign, and show your concern.
- Plan to attend future council meetings or hearings in coming months – this process will be a marathon, not a sprint.
- Share this information with friends and neighbors in Seattle who care about this issue.
How to send comments to the City Council
It is critical to send comments to the City Council members now, even if you signed the Whittier petition and/or submitted comments in December.
Feel free to use any speaking points from the Whittier petition https://chng.it/5GVPPvDWS8. Some additional sample comments are provided at the end of this message if you need more ideas.
At minimum, send your comments to the entire City Council at:
If possible, also send your comments directly to the following key council members:
Attend Public Hearings – Numbers matter!
- The first public hearing is February 5, 5:00 PM at City Hall (600 Fourth Ave., 2nd Floor)
- Our council members need to see there is a large groundswell of opposition to rezoning neighborhoods like Whittier for large, multifamily buildings.
- Advocates for rezoning are well-organized and will be very visible at public meetings – neighborhood residents must also show up in large numbers to demonstrate our concerns.
- Sign up inside the council meeting room well in advance of the meeting to make public comments.
- If you are uncomfortable or unable to make public comments, it is still extremely valuable to show up, carry a sign indicating your position, and just be present in large numbers to demonstrate neighborhood concern.
- The council chambers may not accommodate everyone who shows up – it’s still very impactful for a crowd of residents to be present outside the meeting room, in the corridors, etc. to show that many people are concerned about this proposal. The more people there, the more pressure on the council.
- Feel free to bring the whole family – it’s educational for kids and teens and helps to show that this proposal affects existing Seattle families.
- It is also possible to attend public hearings remotely, however, in-person attendance has more impact. Virtual attendance does not create the same pressure/impact on our elected officials.
- If you attend remotely, see instructions on the webpage on how to register to make comments remotely.
Questions or need help participating?
Email whittierzoning@gmail.com
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SAMPLE COMMENTS – Feel free to use any of these points in your written or verbal comments. The Whittier petition is another source of comment ideas.
Possible taglines or sign messages:
- Stop the wrecking ball rezone!
- Don’t let developers bulldoze my neighborhood!
- Don’t displace my family to make way for gentrification!
This plan will be massively disruptive and will likely result in rapid dislocation of existing households. It does not provide a balance between the needs of existing residents and those hoping to live here. If the plan is enacted, thousands of middle-income Seattle families will be dislocated to make room for wealthier people in the new Seattle economy.
Seattle has grown dramatically over the past ten years, and this plan aims to increase the rate of change and disruption further still. Even relatively minor changes made in 2018 to upzone single family lots in urban villages have resulted in whole blocks being bulldozed in nearby in Crown Hill. Seattle should consider better ways to evolve than wholesale deregulation that threatens to clear-cut existing neighborhoods overnight.
Many existing residents will be pushed out of their homes by the physical and environmental impacts of large developments, or by the property tax increases resulting from “highest and best use” taxation under the new zoning.
There is little evidence that the zoning plan considers families or the life cycles of people who hope to grow old in a community they’ve put down roots in. There is little in the plan that acknowledges that housing needs evolve over one’s lifetime, or that community life and roots in place are as important as adding to housing supply.
The plan will not substantially improve housing affordability, despite the rhetoric over a crisis in housing supply. Seattle’s economy is generating amazing wealth and wealth has gravity, which attracts a steady stream of wealthy and soon-to-be-wealthy newcomers. The plan infers that middle income people in the old Seattle economy are in the way of housing affordability. The reality is that a significant portion of Seattle’s builders are exclusively in the gentrification business, producing more and more expensive housing, with a clientele that has an almost endless willingness to pay. Housing prices are high – and will continue to be high – because many in the new Seattle economy can afford them.
This plan will promote gentrification rather than affordability, The only question is how quickly the gentrification will take place. Developers will seek out the lowest-cost, most affordable houses first, systematically eliminating the houses that are most affordable for families hoping for a starter home.
This plan is in total denial that the city’s infrastructure is poor, our radius of transportation access is shrinking rapidly, bus service is slower and less reliable, and alternatives to driving are not making a dent in mode preferences. Seattle’s approach to transportation concurrency is to set failure as its acceptable level of service. Denial is not planning.
There is no attention to placemaking in this plan, which involves a collaborative approach to planning, designing, and managing spaces to enhances a community’s quality of life. The plan lacks attention to creating vibrant, welcoming, and functional environments that reflect the unique identity and needs of the people who use them. Rather it will create a free for all for developers, with no plan for improved infrastructure, services, or neighborhood amenities that are needed to support the additional proposed density and sustain vibrant, livable communities.
One function of zoning is to provide stability and security to residents that the home they are investing their time, energy and resources in will be a safe place to put down roots over the life-cycle of their family. This plan disrupts that stability and security in a big way. It is not surprising that those of us who value place and community connections are not comfortable being uprooted abruptly and with little notice or involvement.
There is a mistaken perception that Seattle neighborhoods are the enemy of housing affordability. This appears to have led to this zoning proposal being intentionally flown under the radar. The release of the plan was two weeks before the contentious national election, and the comment period occurred in the busy lead up to the holiday season when many people have many social, religious, and family obligations to attend to. No mailings were made to affected households, despite substantial implications for their homes and family’s future. As a result, very few Seattle households were/are aware that a legal status of their properties is under consideration.
Over the past decade, housing, like everything else, has been cast as part of a culture war. The City of Seattle’s approach to outreach for this plan appears to have embraced the notion that existing homeowners are somehow responsible for high housing costs and homelessness, rather than the many other legitimate factors affecting both supply and demand.
Seattle cannot continue treating its residents as the enemy; the City needs to walk the talk about inclusion and find solutions that work for everyone, including the people living here already.
THANK YOU!