Your input matters! The Wallingford Community Council is working with the State of Washington to expand public access to Lake Union at Waterway 20, just west of Gas Works Park. We want to hear from you about how this space should serve the community.
Take a few minutes to fill out the Waterway 20 Community Survey and help shape the future of our waterfront. Whether you kayak, paddle board, walk the shoreline, or just want more green space — we want to hear from you.
Want to learn more about Wallingford’s shoreline initiatives and how we got here? Visit our Shorelines page for background on Waterway 20, the history of Lake Union’s public waterways, and how to get involved with the Shoreline Committee.
⚠️ Date Correction: An earlier version of this announcement listed the wrong day. The Waterway 20 kickoff is Wednesday, April 8 — not Thursday, April 9. We apologize for the confusion!
💧 This Wednesday — Waterway 20 Kickoff!
Hi Neighbors,
There’s a stretch of Lake Union shoreline on the west side of Gas Works Park in Wallingford that’s been closed to the public for decades — fenced off and awaiting environmental cleanup — that most people don’t even know about. That’s about to change!
The Wallingford Community Council has been awarded a 2-year grant from the Washington State Department of Ecology to bring the community into the investigation and cleanup of Waterway 20 — and to chart a path toward reopening public access to this priceless public waterfront.
Join us for the kickoff meeting to learn where things stand now, what’s planned for next steps, and how you can shape the outcome of this site.
📅 Wednesday, April 8, 2026
🕖 7:00 – 8:30 PM
📍 Gasworks Brewing 2441 N Northlake Way (Waterway 17)
This is the first of two public meetings this year. Your voice is needed as a part of the grant — literally! Come be heard. The future of Lake Union is calling you!
See you Wednesday! — Wallingford Community Council, Shorelines Committee
What proposed zoning near Neighborhood Centers & Transit Corridors could mean for Wallingford & Tangletown
Seattle is growing, and neighbors broadly agree: we need more housing.
But the decisions being made now will shape what kind of housing gets built — and whether Seattle continues to support family‑sized homes alongside studios and one‑bedroom apartments.
Why family‑sized housing must be part of the plan
Many neighbors support adding housing, including increased density near transit and shops. What’s missing from current proposals is a clear commitment to encouraging family‑sized housing — both rental and ownership.
No requirements or incentives for family‑sized homes in proposed Lowrise 3 (LR3) zoning
LR3 zoning most often results in studios and one‑bedroom units, because these maximize financial return under unlimited density
When zoning strongly favors small units and removes limits on unit count, larger homes with multiple bedrooms are less likely to be built
Seattle invests heavily in schools, parks, libraries, and neighborhood amenities. Residents want zoning choices that align with those investments by making room for households with children and multi‑generational families — not just smaller households.
What’s already been approved — Phase 1
On December 16, 2025, Seattle City Council passed CB 120993, permanently implementing Washington State’s HB 1110 Middle Housing law as Phase 1 of the One Seattle Plan.
This already added substantial housing capacity across Neighborhood Residential (NR) zones (formerly “single‑family”):
4–6 homes on most residential lots
Duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhouses, cottage housing, and stacked flats
Increased flexibility near major transit
Subdivision options that allow ownership or shared land ownership
Seattle already has citywide opportunities for modest‑scale, family‑oriented housing growth.
What’s being decided now — Phase 2
City Council is now considering Phase 2 zoning legislation (March 19 – June 18, 2026) focused on:
Neighborhood Centers (30 citywide)
Frequent transit corridors
Expanded Lowrise and Neighborhood Commercial zoning
Two public hearings:
Monday, April 6
Thursday, May 29
Why Wallingford & Tangletown neighbors are concerned
Wallingford transit corridors
Along frequent bus routes 31, 32, and 62, proposals would rezone over 30 blocks of current Neighborhood Residential streets currently zoned NR — those facing Meridian Ave N, N 40th Street, Wallingford Ave N, and N 35th Street — from NR to Lowrise 3 (LR3) zoning.
These blocks currently support 1–2 story homes, duplexes, small 2–3 story apartments, courtyard‑scale housing, and sixplexes. Under proposed LR3 zoning, these same lots could be redeveloped with:
5‑story apartment buildings
No limit on number of units
80% lot coverage
5‑foot front setbacks
The concern is that existing family‑sized homes and apartments could be replaced with predominantly studio and one‑bedroom units, without encouraging 3-4 bedroom units, reducing opportunities for families to live along these corridors.
Tangletown Neighborhood Center
In Tangletown, Phase 2 proposals would:
Eliminate all Neighborhood Residential zoning within the proposed Neighborhood Center
Rezone roughly 400 residential lots from NR to LR3
Allow 5‑story buildings adjacent to 1–2 story homes
Remove unit caps and significantly reduce shared outdoor space
The result could be the loss of existing family‑sized housing without creating comparable family‑friendly replacements.
This isn’t about saying “no” to growth
It’s about aligning growth with community needs. Residents across Wallingford and Tangletown support more housing near shops and transit, reducing sprawl and car dependence, and welcoming new residents citywide.
What they’re asking for is intentional zoning that supports both smaller households and families, rather than zoning that strongly encourages studios and one‑bedroom apartments by allowing unlimited units per lot to maximize building yield.
Is there a middle path? Yes.
Neighborhood Residential (NR) zoning offers a balanced approach — designed to add housing while supporting everyday neighborhood life:
Encourages stacked flats and family‑sized homes
Allows 3–4 story buildings (height cap at 3 stories, with a stacked‑flat exception up to 42 feet / approx. 4 stories)
Maintains front setbacks and 50% lot coverage for daylight, trees, gardens, and social space
Includes unit caps, making family‑sized homes more feasible
Supports growth while keeping neighborhoods welcoming and livable
Community members support retaining NR zoning in Neighborhood Centers like Tangletown and along neighborhood‑scale transit corridors where buildings are currently 1–3 stories. This approach allows Seattle to add homes without losing family‑friendly housing choices.
Why speak up
These decisions are being made now. Hearing from residents who support housing growth thoughtfully helps the City Council make better choices.
A short email, phone call, or public comment makes a difference!
How to make your voice heard
1. Show up
Attend the Monday, April 6 City Council meeting at City Hall and sign up to speak.
Post this on your block’s message board. Forward it. Hand it to a neighbor.
Suggested message to send to elected officials
Feel free to personalize this — even a few sentences in your own words make a stronger impact than a form letter.
Subject: Support Family‑Friendly Housing in Neighborhood Centers & Corridors
Dear Councilmember [Last Name],
I am a resident of Wallingford, and I’m writing about the proposed zoning changes in Neighborhood Centers and along corridors like Meridian Avenue N, N 40th Street, Wallingford Avenue N, and N 35th Street.
I support building more housing in Seattle, including near neighborhood‑serving business districts. The question is what kind of housing gets built, where, and at what scale — especially now that state law already creates substantial opportunities for new homes citywide. I want our neighborhoods to remain welcoming to both current residents and the next generation of families.
Family‑sized homes, including family‑sized rental homes, are increasingly hard to find in Seattle. Without intentional zoning, families can be priced out — even though access to Seattle’s schools, parks, and neighborhood amenities is a major reason families want to live here.
I’m concerned that the proposed expansion of Lowrise 3 (LR3) zoning extends beyond Neighborhood Center cores into surrounding residential streets, while not requiring or encouraging family‑sized homes, meaningful front setbacks, or gradual height transitions. LR3 zoning allows 5‑story buildings, up to 80% lot coverage, 5‑foot front setbacks, and no limits on units per lot — which strongly incentivizes studios and one‑bedroom units, and results in open space being pushed to private rooftop decks instead of shared, street‑level green space.
I encourage the Council to consider a more balanced approach by prioritizing Neighborhood Residential (NR) zoning in and around Neighborhood Centers and along neighborhood‑scale corridors. NR zoning already allows 4–6 homes per lot, encourages stacked flats and family‑sized units, and preserves setbacks for daylight, trees, and shared outdoor space.
Seattle can add housing and remain a place where families can live, grow, and stay. Thank you for considering this perspective.
Sincerely, [Your Name] [Your Address or Neighborhood]
For more information
Attend the WCC Meeting — Wednesday, April 1, 2026 at 7 PM, Good Shepherd Center, Room 202
The City’s proposed One Seattle Plan will impact all residents whether owner, renter or occupant. Please take this opportunity to add your voice in deciding how our community is going to change over the next 20 years.
What & Why?
Passed in 2023 by the State Legislature, HB 1110 allows at least 4 units on all residential lots in Seattle. It also allows at least 6 units on all residential lots if a.) located within a 1/4 mile (2 blocks) of a “major transit stop” such as light rail or rapid ride, or b.) at least 2 are affordable units. Seattle is required to adopt zoning in compliance with these new requirements by June 30, 2025. The City’s proposal is called “Seattle One Plan,” and it further upzones beyond the State’s mandate various areas of the city, including within Wallingford. WCC has noted articles by a number of city and housing advocates who have called into question the mayor’s request to change zoning to allow for more than twice as many housing “units” than either HB1110 or other population projections prescribe.
We need more density. We need livability. We think Seattle can have both. The city has shared maps and a proposal. The WCC has spent considerable time reviewing and assessing the One Plan’s new proposed growth strategy. It is complicated, even for those versed in prior zoning efforts. Here are a few recommendations that we think would help us, as a city, to increase housing while keeping livable.
Ask for Density with Livability:
Utilize capacity along 45th east/west where there are already existing commercial zoning at NC2-55 and NC2- P75 in the Wallingford business district.
In the Tangletown proposed Neighborhood Commercial Center, create transitions by stepping up from NR (single family) gradually, using LR1 to L2, and reduce the number of blocks leading up to the NC2-55 and NC2-65 in the business core. This allows for increasing density while also keeping eight and six story structures from being built next to two story houses.
Avoid “canyon effect” with taller buildings through good urban design. For avenues and streets that are being upzoned to 5 to 8+ stories, ask that the sidewalks be widened, setbacks honored and expanded, and the buildings themselves be designed to set back the mass at maximum height to avoid overcrowding the corridor and creating a canyon effect. Street canyon effect has well documented negative mental, physical and environmental health consequences.
NR (formerly Single Family) setbacks: Ask that the proposed front setbacks in NR be enforced at 10 feet from sidewalks as proposed, and remove the proposal to allow porches in the setback. The NR setbacks are proposed to be reduced from 20 feet front setbacks in single family to 10 feet in NR zones. This setback should be reserved for planting new trees lost during redevelopment, and to allow for longer periods of sunlight to reach the ground.
Front setbacks in LR1, 2, and 3 are 7 feet average and 5 feet minimum. Ask that these setbacks be increased to allow more tree replacement as many arterials slated for LR3 along frequent transit have either no parking strips or very narrow ones that are not conducive to tree planting, nor to longer periods of sunlight at the ground level.
Do not Upzone narrow tree-lined streets in Wallingford. Reject the plan to upzone lots facing “frequent transit” arterials on remaining single family 5,000 square foot lots or smaller through the Wallingford neighborhood to LR3. In this plan, Bus routes 31, 32, and 62 trigger an additional upzone. Specifically, do not upzone using LR3 allowing 50 foot, 5 to 6 story buildings in an older neighborhood with narrow tree lined streets and existing homes with heights of less than 3 stories /30 foot heights. Ask city to reduce the LR3 proposal at 50 feet/ 5 stories on frequent transit arterials to NR or LR1 at 30 feet, which are more compatible with existing heights.
Ask for Density with Affordability:
Ask the city to extend the MHA program to apply MHA fees when the result is exclusively market units in NR areas (Neighborhood Residential). Thousands of formerly single-family lots are being converted by HB1110 to multi-family allowing 4-6 units per 5,000 square foot lots city wide. A loophole exists that allows a builder to “opt out” of building additional affordable units, scrape a lot, and build only market rate units. The HB1110 state mandate includes OPTIONS for developers to add extra units voluntarily above the allowable four units. Developers can include “affordable units” that meet requirements of 60% AMI for renters and 80% AMI for home ownership for 50 years, but this is the developer’s choice. The builder can simply choose to build 4 units or fewer at market rate on a 5,000 square foot lot and “opt out” of building any affordable units. Currently, MHA fees are charged in ALL Low-rise 1, 2, 3 and higher zones, but not the NR zones.
Additionally, ask for the City to review MHA fees to keep pace with building costs so more money goes into the City’s fund for affordable housing.
Ask for Density with Quality of Life
Ask the City to explain how it plans to pay for investment in infrastructure to support the additional density, especially in areas that are being upzoned beyond what HB1110 allows such as the proposed “Neighborhood Commercial Centers” and “frequent transit arterial” upzones as per the Mayor’s plan.
Ask the City to explain both how the State’s HB1110 will impact property taxes, and how the City’s proposed additional upzones will impact the current residents of Wallingford, renters and owners alike? Upzoning increases property taxes by adding “potential housing” capacity on individual lots which affects property taxes, affordability and increases the risk of economic displacement and gentrification.
Ask the City to explain how this plan “meets the challenges of climate change for a resilient future.”
Talk to family, friends and neighbors – everyone is encouraged to email opinions, experiences, and/or questions about development and the Seattle One Plan to our elected officials no later than Friday, December 20, 2024.
The public comment deadline is Friday, December 20th, 2024. Your voice matters, and this is a crucial opportunity to shape the future of our community.
Helpful Video: How to Read and Comment on Zoning Maps. An overview of the One Seattle Zoning Plan and navigating the website to view specific addresses with current zoning and proposed changes.
Office Hour Appointments with OPCD Staff: Available until December 16th. Visit the Engagement Section on the One Seattle Plan Zoning Hub to schedule an appointment
We have several critical updates and upcoming events to share with you, including an important discussion on the “One Seattle Plan” zoning changes that will significantly impact our neighborhood.
1.) Save the Date – November 12th WCC Meeting
Join us at our upcoming WCC meeting on Tuesday 11/12 for a comprehensive review of the proposed “One Seattle Plan” zoning maps and their impact on Wallingford.
The “One Seattle Plan” (youtube overview) proposes sweeping zoning changes for formerly single family lots outside the Wallingford Urban Village and across all Seattle neighborhoods.
The plan is to increase density by authorizing the construction of 4-6 units on remaining single family lots as mandated by the State’s Middle Housing Bill HB1110.
Date: Tuesday, November 12 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Location: Good Shepherd Senior Center, Room 140 Key Topic: “One Seattle Plan” Zoning Changes
Some Key Details:
The city’s neighborhood zoning changes reflect up-zones in proximity to a 1/4 mile walk from major transit (rapid ride and light rail) with unexpected up-zones to lots located adjacent to “frequent transit” bus routes.
In Wallingford, for example, single family lots abutting the streets of bus lines 31, 32 and 62 currently have height limits of 30 ft in Neighborhood Residential zones. In the proposed rezone, heights on redeveloped lots would rise to 55 ft for 5-story, multi-family developments.
A new Neighborhood Commercial Center is proposed in West Wallingford/Upper Fremont
There is a plan to expand the Tangletown commercial core and create a “new neighborhood center” where single family NR zoning is proposed to be rezoned to LR3.
Key Resources: The city website has a consolidated page with an interactive Draft Mapping tool, the Neighborhood Residential Housing Models proposed for HB1110, and an Engagement Section with a listing of the seven in-person information sessions with the OPCD staff. (Office of Planning and Community Development) There is also a helpful video on how to explore the maps and comment on them directly. https://one-seattle-plan-zoning-implementation-seattlecitygis.hub.arcgis.com/pages/zoning-map (Please note, these Zoning Maps are available for Public Comment through 12/20.)
As mentioned, OPCD will host meetings on this topic from Oct. 30 to Dec. 12 across in-person and virtual meetings:
Other “office hour” appointments with the OPCD will be held from Oct. 31 to Dec. 16. See the “engagement” section on their map website.
Please note that Public Comment Closes on Dec. 20, 2024
2.) Transportation Levy “Proposition 1” Update
Following our October WCC meeting with SDOT representatives, please review the following links to find answers to any outstanding questions or decisions on this ballot issue.
