City Council votes unanimously to upzone 27 neighborhoods

Meghan Walker Ballard

Crown Hill is among one of the many Seattle neighborhoods to see denser development and higher buildings in the coming years.

Seattle City Council voted unanimously Monday to upzone 27 neighborhoods in Seattle, as part of the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA), which will implement affordable housing requirements and increase density.

A closer look at the areas slated for changes in Ballard shows that some of the biggest changes will be in Crown Hill between 15th Ave and Holman between NW 85th St and NW 95th St, an area that would see an increase of one-to-two density levels, according to the city’s plans.

Here’s a list of changes expected for Crown Hill under the MHA:

  • Increase the height limit to allow denser mixed use commercial development in the 15th Ave. corridor
  • Convert blocks of Single Family zoning that are close to the 15th Ave. corridor to Lowrise 2 multifamily zoning, which would allow small apartment structures and townhouses.
  • Convert blocks of existing Single Family further from the 15th Ave. corridor to Lowrise 1 multifamily zoning, which allows multi-family development with a scale similar to a Single Family zone.
  • Convert blocks at the edges of the urban village from Single Family to Residential to the Residential Small Lot (RSL) zone. The RSL zone would allow development of small to moderately sized single family homes and cottages that complement the character of existing single family zoned areas.

For a detailed, interactive map of adopted zoning changes, click here. And, for a summary of what those changes mean, click here.

7 thoughts to “City Council votes unanimously to upzone 27 neighborhoods”

  1. Well I kind of wish that they would extend the zone south of 65th and west of 28th up to 30th! Then we could sell our paid off lot to a developer for a million bucks and get the hell out of here.

  2. Is it possible to do everything wrong for the sake of big developers under the guise of “social justice/diversity’? Yes, yes it is! The best part is you can call all your opponents “racists”.

    This kind of corporate neoliberalism with a side order of virtue signalling is cocaine for Seattelites.

    1. Golden comment, LOL. Freeattle is on its way to becoming SanVancouver. Just moved and rented out the house to a group of millenials. At least rent covers the ever increasing property tax bill.

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