Wallingford Community Council – General Meeting & “Wallingford Open House”

📅 Tuesday, September 10, 2025

📍 Good Shepherd Center, Room 202

🕡 6:30 – 8:30 PM

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Dear Neighbors,

As the seasons change, let’s come together to celebrate what makes Wallingford such a vibrant, connected community. This September, the Wallingford Community Council is excited to host a Community Open House—a chance to connect, learn, and enjoy an evening together.

We’ll feature local organizations that bring life, beauty, and spirit to our neighborhood. Come meet them, hear about their work, and discover ways you can get involved.

✨ Light nibbles and desserts from local vendors will be provided—bring a friend or a neighbor and make it a community night out!

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🌟 Featured Community Spotlights

🏛 Historic Wallingford

Learn how Historic Wallingford is preserving the rich character of our neighborhood while helping residents engage with Seattle’s growth and change.

📰 Wallyhood

Our very own neighborhood blog! Meet the team behind Wallyhood, which has been keeping Wallingford informed and entertained for years.

🎉 Celebrate Wallingford

The nonprofit behind our beloved Wallingford Kiddie Parade! Learn how Celebrate Wallingford brings neighbors together through fun events that honor tradition and build community spirit.

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✨ Other Potential Organizations Joining

• Good Shepherd Senior Center
  
• Wallingford Branch Library
  
• Local Tree Preservation Group

(More details will be shared in our follow-up newsletter.)

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🗓 Evening Schedule

• 6:30 – 7:00 PM | Casual Welcome & Nibbles
  
• 7:00 – 8:15 PM | Community Organization Spotlights
  
• 8:15 – 8:30 PM | WCC Updates: Waterways & Zoning — Key topics shaping Wallingford’s future
  

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💡 Why Attend

• Meet the neighbors and groups making Wallingford thrive
  
• Find opportunities to get involved in fun, meaningful ways
  
• Hear important updates on Waterways and Zoning and what they mean for our neighborhood
  

📅 Community Calendar / Future Events

Lincoln High School – Sports Field Options & Discussions

Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and Seattle Parks & Recreation (SPR) are planning facility upgrades at Lower Woodland Park to service the student community.   More info here

• Track Upgrades Discussion at Lower Woodland
  
  📅 Saturday, Sept. 20, 11:00 a.m. | Lower Woodland Field #7, near the bleachers
  
• New Full-Size Athletic Field Discussion
  
  📅 Wednesday, Oct. 15, 5:30 p.m. | Location TBD

The Great Wallingford Wurst Fest

📅 Sept. 12–13 | St. Benedict School, Wallingford | Free!

All ages are welcome at this neighborhood tradition featuring live music, food, kid-friendly activities, and a 21+ beer garden. Learn more

Senior Center Fall Gala

📅 Sept. 12 | 6–9 p.m. | $40 fundraiser with cabaret performance

RSVP by Sept. 8 (casual dress encouraged)

Historic Wallingford Roaring 20’s Speakeasy

Reserve your spot for an unforgettable evening of prohibition-era cocktails, gourmet canapés, and 1920s entertainment.

📅 Sept. 14 | 4:30-6:30 p.m.| Murphy’s Pub | Event details

Candidate Forum – Fremont Community Council

📅 Sept. 30 | 7–8:30 p.m. | Doric Lodge | Featuring CM Nelson Learn more

Next WCC Meeting

📅 October 1 | 7:00 p.m.

We can’t wait to see you at the WCC event and these others — let’s celebrate Wallingford together!

The Seattle City Council is finalizing its Comprehensive Plan—the 20-year roadmap for growth and zoning across our city. As part of this, Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6) is asking for feedback on the boundaries of the proposed Tangletown Neighborhood Center.

The online survey lets you weigh in on four choices:

• The City’s original proposal (OPCD version)
• Version A
• Version B
• Version C

Each map redraws Tangletown’s boundaries in different ways: some shift south toward Meridian Park and closer to the Wallingford Urban Center, others extend east toward I-5 or connect to the University District. All of these changes could impact housing density, building heights (up to 4–5 stories), traffic, and neighborhood character.

👉 Importantly, the survey also gives you the option to mark “undecided” or to say that you don’t support any of the proposals. Every question provides space to add comments—so you can explain what you like, dislike, or want changed about each option.

Deadline: Tuesday, September 2

Councilmember Strauss will use this feedback to decide which one map to advance to the full Council for consideration later in September.

📝 Take the survey here: District 6 Neighborhood Center Survey

This is your chance to shape how Tangletown—and its connections to Wallingford, Green Lake, and beyond—will grow in the coming decades. Please take a few minutes to look at the maps, share your perspective, and make sure our neighborhood voices are part of the decision.

Original:

Version A:

Version B:

Version C:

Your Input Matters!

Seattle Design Process “Improvements” Public Hearing
MONDAY, Sept. 11, 2017

Sign up to testify: 5:00pm
Public comments begin: 7:00pm

LOCATION of Public Hearing:
SIFF Cinema Uptown, Auditorium 3
511 Queen Anne Avenue North
Seattle, WA 98109

Growth without Oversight
Do you believe in responsible growth that is positive for your community’s quality of life?

Then make your voice heard with the City Council! The City’s proposal to amend the design review process takes away your influence concerning what gets built in your immediate neighborhood.

Currently, both the City and the Neighborhood Design Guidelines combine with a format that offers two public Design Review meetings to make growth fit within the context of your neighborhood.  Without the check and balance of inclusive design review, growth can destroy neighborhoods.  With it, the character and quality of the neighborhood is strengthened when adding housing and commercial spaces.

If you can attend the Hearing & make public comment, please do so! See below for more info on the proposes changes.
Get there early & bring a neighbor! 

In addition to attending the hearing, please ask all Council Members to:
– Leave the Design Review process as is
– Enforce: Direct city employees and the Design Review Boards to enforce existing design guidelines

“Please leave the Design Process as is, and instead, direct the city to start enforcing design guidelines. Too many departures are being granted, too many setback requirements are being ignored, and too many loopholes are being exploited due to poor enforcement by the City.”

Please CALL City Council and tell them your thoughts:  206-684-8888
Please E-mail City Council:
sally.bagshaw@seattle.gov; tim.burgess@seattle.gov; mike.obrien@seattle.gov; kshama.sawant@seattle.gov; rob.johnson@seattle.gov; lorena.gonzalez@seattle.gov; lisa.herbold@seattle.gov; bruce.harrell@seattle.gov; debora.juarez@seattle.gov

Please submit your comments to Mayor Murray:
http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/get-involved/contact-the-mayor

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Proposed changes that impact neighborhoods include:

• Removing neighborhoods from the process by replacing language such as:
  • “Neighborhood priorities among the design guidelines” with “identify guideline priorities”.
  • “Highest priority to the neighborhood” with “highest priority to the Board”.
• Exempting projects on properties of less than 10,000 square feet from any design review. In the past 2 years, 29% of projects were in this category. For perspective: most four story apartment buildings are on properties of less than 10,000 square feet.
• Restricting the scope of the Design Review Process:
  • Administrative – Developments inside Urban Villages get Administrative Design Review, with no public meetings, if less than 20,000 square feet.
  • Hybrid – Developments up to 20,000 square feet (or larger inside an Urban Village) would require only the Design Review Board “Recommendation” meeting and not the “Early Design Guidance” meeting.
  • Full – Only the largest developments, over 20,000 square feet, and only outside Urban Village boundaries, would require the normal Design Review Board “Early Design Guidance” and “Recommendation” meetings.
• Revising who is a stakeholder by changing straightforward terms such as “Developers” to more generic terms like “Project Proponents”.
• Shifting responsibility and authority from the Design Review Board to the Director. This has the effect of making Design Review Boards less independent, and will make the Board positions less attractive to the professionals who volunteer their time.
• Granting departures from building code without public review.

Your input DOES MATTER!  Last year, due to comments and push-back from all over the city, the proposed changes were tabled until now.

Want to learn more?

The Seattle Neighborhood Coalition (SNC) will be discussing the proposed Design Review changes at their monthly meeting this Saturday, 9:00AM, 500 30th Ave S. (Leschi neighborhood of Central District).

Read more about the draft recommendations here:
Design Review Program Improvements, Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections (SDCI).
Draft Ordinance (PDF format).