Join us for the WCC Annual Board Election and a special keynote presentation by Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis of the Seattle Police Department.
📅 Tuesday, May 5, 2026 🕖 7:00 – 8:30 PM (Check-in begins at 6:30 PM) 📍 Good Shepherd Center — Chapel (Top Floor) 4649 Sunnyside Avenue North (elevator available)
🎤 Keynote Speaker: Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis
Assistant Chief Davis is a 25-year veteran of the Seattle Police Department. He leads the Special Operations Bureau, which includes SWAT, Hostage Negotiations Team, Arson/Bomb Squad, Harbor Unit, and the Canine Unit. His career has spanned investigations for the Office of Police Accountability, police reform, and training on patrol tactics including intervention and de-escalation.
A/C Davis is passionate about community engagement and building trust — and WCC is grateful to host him to share his expertise with the Wallingford community.
Topics may include: Wallingford crime statistics (misdemeanors and felonies), burglaries (homes and businesses), car thefts, retail theft, arsons, integration with the Care Team and 911 crisis response, surveillance use in Seattle, business burglaries, behavioral health, drug use, and the city safety plan for the FIFA World Cup (June–July). Plus a chance to ask your questions.
📋 Meeting Agenda
6:30 PM — Member check-in at the Chapel (elevator to top floor). Everyone is welcome — paid and unpaid members alike.
7:00 PM — Welcome and introduction of board candidates. One ballot per person for those with 2026 dues paid.
7:20 PM — Assistant Police Chief Tyrone Davis — presentation and Q&A
8:00 PM — Closing remarks and thank you to Chief Davis and the WCC Board
🗳️ Board Election
Candidate list for Board positions to be announced prior to May 5 meeting.
Interested in running? Send a message describing your interest and involvement with the neighborhood and WCC to communications@wallingfordcc.org no later than Saturday, April 25, 2026.
⚠️ Voting Eligibility: To vote in the board election, you must have paid your 2026 WCC membership dues by April 19, 2026. Not a member yet? Visit wallingfordcc.org to join or renew today.
🙋 Volunteers needed! We need help setting up and putting away chairs before and after the meeting. Contact pres@wallingfordcc.org if you can lend a hand.
💬 Have a specific question or topic for Chief Davis? Email pres@wallingfordcc.org in advance.
🏟️ Reminder: Lincoln Athletic Field Meeting — This Saturday
📅 Saturday, April 25, 2026 🕙 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM (or via livestream) 📍 Hamilton International Middle School, 1610 N 41st Street
Community meeting on Lincoln Athletic Field Options A and C — including the Friends of Lower Woodland Park Option C proposal.
Saturday, April 25 — Lincoln Athletic Field Community Meeting (see above) Tuesday, May 5 — WCC Annual Board Election Meeting, 7 PM at Good Shepherd Center Chapel
April brings the wonderful colors of spring flowers along with fresh challenges to be addressed on citywide rezone proposals with the restart of Phase 2 Comp Plan legislation. There is a compressed timeline with only 2 meetings left and two public hearings between March 19–June 18. There will be amendments by Council representatives and voting in June.
It is now a reality that EVERY Neighborhood Residential (NR) lot—formerly single family—due to passage of the permanent Middle Housing legislation CB 120993 on December 16, 2025 in Phase 1, has increased capacity to allow building of 4–6 housing units on 5,000 square foot lots citywide. Phase 2 proposals under Council review include changes to Lowrise 1, 2, 3 zones, Neighborhood Commercial, and Midrise zones add more zoning layers to increase housing unit capacity per lot.
The most important contribution you can make is to use your voice at Public Hearings—either remotely or in person—and by contacting City Council representatives directly to advocate for your neighborhood.
WCC is excited to announce our Annual Board Meeting Election night will be held Tuesday, May 5. Our keynote speaker will be an Assistant Police Chief from the Seattle Police Department. To be eligible to vote for Board positions, you must pay your WCC 2026 membership dues before the April 12–13 deadline at wallingfordcc.org. Thank you to those of you who support us with new and renewed memberships and donations.
If you would like to be considered for a board position, please contact our nominating committee at pres@wallingfordcc.org.
Warm regards, Bonnie Williams, President — Wallingford Community Council
📅 Upcoming WCC Meeting
Next General Meeting
📅 Wednesday, April 1, 2026 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM 📍 Good Shepherd Center, Room 202 | Seattle, WA 98103
Agenda:
Phase 2 Zoning Update: Preview ahead of April 6 Public Hearing
WCC Board Updates & Community Announcements
Waterway 20 Kickoff — April 8 at Gasworks Brewery
Dan Strauss Community Meeting — March 25 (Wed). Contact Dan.Strauss@seattle.gov or 206-684-8806.
City Council has restarted Phase 2 of the Comprehensive Plan with a compressed schedule running March 19 through June 18, 2026. This process will determine rezoning for Neighborhood Residential lots facing frequent transit bus corridors and 30 new neighborhood centers citywide—including Wallingford and Tangletown.
Key Phase 2 Dates
Date
Time
Event
March 19, 2026
2:00 PM
Select Committee Meeting (completed — video available)
Background: State Zoning Compliance (HB 1110) — Phase 1
The City Council passed Permanent State Zoning Compliance legislation CB120993 on December 16, 2025, effective January 21, 2026. The legislation comprehensively updates Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential (NR) zones—formerly single-family zones—to comply with Washington State HB 1110.
HB 1110 requires cities to allow a wider variety of “middle” housing types, including duplexes, triplexes, and stacked flats, in single-family zones. The state mandates that the densest housing be located near major transit (light rail and Rapid Ride). Middle housing is defined as buildings compatible in scale, form, and character with single-family houses that contain two or more attached, stacked, or clustered homes—including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, sixplexes, townhouses, stacked flats, courtyard apartments, and cottage housing.
NR zones now have a density limit of 4–6 units per 5,000 square foot lot and a 32 foot / 3 story height maximum, with the exception of stacked flats at 42 feet / 4 stories.
What Phase 2 Proposes
Mayor Harrell’s One Seattle Plan has been controversial since its introduction in October 2024. Key concerns have focused on the scale of proposed housing growth—330,000 units, far beyond the Environmental Impact Study requirement of 80,000–120,000 units over 20 years—and questions about affordability and adequate public outreach.
OPCD has primarily proposed Lowrise 3 (LR3) zoning of 5–6 stories for NR lots facing bus corridors and NR lots surrounding 30 proposed neighborhood centers. Critics argue LR3/5–6 stories is out of scale with existing neighborhoods unlike NR zone 3 story heights and goes beyond what HB 1110 requires.
The March 19 meeting introduced additional proposals for changes to Lowrise 1–3 categories and Midrise zones, including a new 6-story Midrise zone. The proposed development standard changes to Lowrise 1 and 2 for greater heights, if passed, will change lowrise zones across the city—including the 2019 conversions of 750 lots from single family to Lowrise 1, 2, 3 inside the Wallingford Urban Village (now Center). In 2019, 45th and Stoneway were upzoned to 4–8 stories, which has led to significant apartment development around Stoneway in just 7 years.
Key Areas Impacted in Wallingford
Bus Corridor Map – Wallingford zoning impact areas
Wallingford Ave & N. 40th St. (Routes 31/32): LR3 proposed from I-5 along 40th to Wallingford Ave N., south to N. 35th St. and across to Stoneway.
Tangletown Business Core: NC-40 → NC-55–65 (5–6 stories).
Surrounding Tangletown: ~400 NR homes proposed for LR3 (5-story).
Meridian Avenue N. (Route 62): NR corridor from N. 50th to N. 56th proposed for LR3 (5-story).
Public Meeting #1: Wed April 8, 7–8:30 PM at Gasworks Brewery Public Meeting #2: Tentatively Thu May 26, 7 PM, Venue TBD
The WCC’s two-year grant from the WA Dept of Ecology (2026–2028) is moving forward. Two public outreach meetings are scheduled to reopen access to Lake Union through the fenced-off area just west of Gas Works Park known as Waterway 20.
Committee chaired by Ted Hunter is hiring consultants for soil contamination analysis.
🗳️ May 5 Annual Meeting & Board Elections
Tue May 5, 7–8:30 PM Good Shepherd Center Chapel (Top Floor)
Special Speaker: Assistant Police Chief, Seattle PD
Membership dues must be paid by April 12–13 to vote. wallingfordcc.org or mail check to 4108 Midvale Avenue North, Seattle 98103.
Community Updates — Seattle Neighborhood Alliance
WCC President Bonnie Williams attended the first meeting of a new networking organization for Seattle Community Council leaders, held at Doric Lodge in Fremont in mid-March. This coalition is a support group for strengthening operations of Community Councils citywide. There is no political alignment at this time. Members are encouraged to seek help and share expertise on website design, recruitment of members, and more effective neighborhood outreach.
🗓️ 2026 Meeting Schedule
April 1 (Wed)
General Meeting, Good Shepherd Room 202
May 5 (Tue)
Annual Meeting & Board Elections, Good Shepherd Chapel. Police speaker.
June 3 (Wed)
General Meeting
Jul–Aug
Summer break
🙋 Volunteer
Secretary: Needed urgently to take meeting minutes through May election
Gasworks Park Monitor (2–3 volunteers): Help track event impacts this summer
Legislative Liaison: Track state bills through the legislative session
We want to share two important updates with you this month: first, a quick recap on recent zoning decisions that affect Wallingford, and second, an invitation to our next Wallingford Community Council meeting on Wednesday, October 1st, featuring a Public Safety focuswith speakers from the Fire Department, SDOT, SPU, and more.
Zoning Update
The Wallingford Community Council thanks everyone who has followed and spoken up during the Comprehensive Plan and Middle Housing process over the last year. Your emails, calls, and testimony at the September 12th Public Hearing made a difference.
We are happy to report that the last-minute Amendment 34 (proposing 8 new Neighborhood Centers, including South Wallingford/Gas Works) was voted down by Council on September 18. However, Resolution 32183 directs future study on additional amendments with maps in consideration of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). The amendments in the resolution did not pass, but will be up for a Council vote in November. The maps for South Wallingford/Gas Works, Tangletown, and others are found within the link to Resolution 32183.
Council Bill CB120985 adopts the final Comp Plan update, CB120993 makes permanent the provisions of HB1110. You will find the latest updates from Council votes on amendments within the links to CB120985 and CB120993 considered in the final Select Committee meetings September 17-19 that concluded phase 1 of the Comprehensive Plan.
Visit this page to see how the council voted by each amendment number for all of the amendments: Voting Results PDF.
In January of 2026, the Council will begin Phase 2 of the Comprehensive Plan — which will include any concepts studied in Resolution 32183, and specific zoning for Neighborhood Centers, Lowrise Residential zones and frequent transit zoning for bus arterials.
WCC General Meeting on Wednesday, Oct 1st
For now, we invite you to take a pause from zoning and join us for an important community discussion on Public Safety at our upcoming General Meeting.
📅 Wednesday, October 1, 2025 | 7:00 – 9:00 PM
📍 Good Shepherd Center, Room 202
🔥 Featured Speakers
Seattle Fire Department – William Mace, Education & Outreach Coordinator, and Battalion Chief Debra Sutey
Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) – David Burgesser, Vision Zero Planning Lead
Earthquake Preparedness – Ann Forrest, with dates for future meetings to help organize a Wallingford HUB
Seattle Public Utilities – Clean City Division – Michael Eggers on safe needle disposal and clean streets
📣 Additional Updates
Committee reports and neighborhood announcements
Other Area Meetings
🗳 Upcoming Candidate Forum
📅 Tuesday, September 30 | 7:00 – 9:00 PM
📍 Fremont Community Council, Doric Lodge (619 N. 36th St.)
Who: Mayor, City Attorney, and Citywide Council Candidates (Positions 8 & 9, including Sara Nelson and Alexis Mercedes Rinck)
We hope to see you Wednesday, October 1st for this timely and practical conversation on keeping Wallingford safe, resilient, and connected.
We have an an update that the “Waterways Walk” has been moved to 10:00 am on Saturday, May 31st, 2025. (Corrected below.)
SAVE THE DATE: Annual Meeting and Officer Elections 2025 on Wednesday, May 14th, 7:00 PM
Elections for the Wallingford Community Council board member positions and our special guest: Jorge Barón, District 4 Representative on the King County Regional Council.
Wallingford Community Council – General Meeting Date & Time: Wednesday, May 14, 2025 | 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM Check-In: 6:30 PM – 6:55 PM (You must attend in person to vote) Location: Good Shepherd Center, 4659 Sunnyside Avenue, North Chapel, 4th floor Special Guest: Jorge Barón, District 4 Representative on the King County Regional Council (About Jorge Baron)
We invite you to an evening of learning about interconnections between state, county, and city government. Jorge is one of nine members of the King County Council for the 2024-26 term. D4 includes Belltown to the south, Broadview to the north, and West of I-5 to the water. Jorge follows Jeannie Kohl Welles, who retired two years ago. We are honored to have Jorge as our keynote speaker. Join us!
Agenda:
6:30–6:55 PM: Member Check-In (must attend in person to vote)
7:00 PM: Welcome and Officer Elections
7:20–8:15 PM: Special Guest — Jorge Barón, District 4 Representative on the Metropolitan King County Council 8:15 PM: Announcements and Closing Remarks 8:30 PM: Adjourn
Volunteers Needed: We could use help setting up and putting away chairs before the meeting and leave in place after.. Thank you!
Membership Reminder: To vote, you must have renewed or joined after November 1, 2024, and no later than April 28, 2025.
Interested in serving on the WCC Board? Please email communications@wallingfordcc.org with a short description of your interest and neighborhood involvement.
Upcoming Event: Waterways Walk
Join us for a walk to learn about Wallingford’s historic connection to Lake Union and ongoing efforts to preserve public shoreline access.
SAVE THE DATE When: Saturday, May 31, 2025 | Time: 10:00 A.M. Where: Meet at the tiled plaza at the Wallingford Steps (above the Burke-Gilman Trail) Learn More: Wallingford Shoreline Project
Gas Works Park News
The Wallingford Community Council Board recently met with the Assistant Superintendent of Parks to discuss concerns around large private music concerts and events at Gas Works Park. We have been meeting with park managers recently to ask for stricter monitoring of noise amplified at music and athletic events. We have requested better supervision related to traffic safety and congestion, parking management for extremely large private ticketed commercial events, as experienced last summer 2024. Gasworks has not hosted this type or scale of event since 2007. We have requested the Parks administration plan for the availability of on-site management to address problems that arise during these events.
The current schedule for large/major special events at Gasworks in 2025 is:
Seattle 4th of July Friday, ( 40 K estimated attendance)
Day Trip Concert: Saturday. July 26th (10K estimated attendance)
Obliteride: Friday August 8th (concert-3K estimated attendance)
Saturday. August 9th ( bike ride-7K estimated attendance)
AEG Concert: Saturday, August 30th ( 10K estimated attendance) ** date could be moved to August 23
The next several months will be critical for shaping Wallingford’s future. We encourage residents to get involved! Please visit https://wallingfordcc.org/contact to send us your information. We will follow up with ways to get involved.
Wallingford Community Council Meeting Date: Wednesday, February 12, 2025 Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Location: Room 202, Good Shepherd Center (4659 Sunnyside Ave. N.)
Join us on February 12 for the first WCC meeting of 2025, featuring District 4 Council member Maritza Rivera. We’ll discuss the latest updates on the Comprehensive Plan and zoning changes and their impact on Wallingford. With the Final Environmental Impact Study (FEIS) just released and a short window for public input, this is a critical time to stay informed and engaged. Key upcoming meetings and public hearings will shape the future of our neighborhood—get involved!
Maritza is a representative of the “One Seattle Team,” and this is a critical opportunity to hear about and discuss the impacts/mitigations identified resulting from the Comprehensive Plan updates and zoning proposals for Wallingford. Maritza can review her role on the Select Committee as she and the full council review the One Seattle Zoning plans and Comprehensive Plan legislation with a public process. (The Select Comm for 2044.)
Mark your calendar, bring your questions, and provide feedback to shape the future of our community.
Key Topic for 2025: The City Council/Select Committee now focuses on the Public Process for the Comp Plan 2044 and Re-zoning Legislation.
The City Council’s Select Committee launched discussions on Jan. 6 on the 2044 Comprehensive Plan and the One Seattle Plan. The “Select Committee” is comprised of all nine City Council staff members. They are responsible for final decisions on the Comp Plan legislation, the HB1110 Middle Housing state mandate passed in 2023, and the Mayor’s additional rezone map proposals. We are including the Select Committee meeting dates and times for people to participate in the public process for Phase 1 legislation through May 2025. The state deadline for the city to complete adoption legislation for HB1110 is June.
Upcoming “Select Committee” Meetings. (located at City Hall 600 4th Street Floor 2) – Wednesday, February 5 at 11 am – “Public Engagement” – Wednesday, February 5th at 5:00 pm – “Public Hearing”.Pre-register to be able to make public comments either in person or remotely bysigning up here. – Email: council@seattle.gov.
Future “Select Committee” Meetings: The Select Committee has announced tentative dates for future meetings in March, April, and May. – Wednesday, March 5th – “Comp Plan Issue ID Part I” – Wednesday, March 19th – “Comp Plan Issue ID Part II”April 2,16,( April 30 Public Hearing Comp Plan and Zoning) – May 16 Public Hearing, May 22,23 – May 29th – Final Vote on Phase I – Meeting the state requirements for HB1110 – June to Sept – “Phase 2 zoning legislation”
Other Resources: Zoning Proposal Maps: https://one-seattle-plan-zoning-implementation-seattlecitygis.hub.arcgis.com/ OPCD Project Documents / Mayor’s Recommended Growth Strategy (2024). This contains the Draft Plan and other key related documents. Recapping the WCC November / December Meeting Information on One Seattle Plan and Rezone Maps
On October 16, 2024, the city released online maps with the locations of “NR” (Neighborhood Residential) zones where formerly single-family lots outside urban villages will be converted to denser multi-family 5,000 square foot lots allowing 4-6 units per lot as required in the state-mandated legislation HB1110. Four units are now allowed in all designated NR zones, but six units are allowed ¼ mile from major transit (rapid ride or light rail).
OPCD provided opportunities to comment on online maps using social media and held open houses for each city council district, distributed paper maps for neighborhoods, and closed public comment on December 2024.
At our meetings, we demonstrated in our meeting how you can use the online maps to show current and proposed zoning for individual properties by address. We also distributed maps showing proposed rezone locations and differences in the lowrise and NR zones including heights, setbacks, far, lot coverage for each of the zone changes.
WCC’s November presentation explained the details of the Mayor’s plan which is additional and separate from the state plan. The Mayor’s rezone proposals include expansions of 30 Neighborhood Centers and conversions of thousands of single-family lots to multi-family surrounding the 30 Neighborhood Centers citywide increasing bulk, height, and scale. In addition, the Mayor’s proposal proposes to rezone single-family lots facing arterials city-wide on the bus routes for “frequent transit” from “single-family lowrise” to 5 stories. The public comments received on the rezone maps through December 20 will be compiled and shared this coming spring 2025.
The Comp Plan housing growth target from April 2024 set a target of 80,000 to 120,000 housing units. The FEIS ( Final Environmental Impact Study) just released studied the 80k to 120k impacts for that housing growth target. The Mayor’s plan released on Oct. 16, 2024, surpasses the Comp Plan housing growth target by increasing housing unit growth to 330,000 housing units.
The public comments during the Select Committee hearings for the next several months will be considered before the second set of rezone maps are prepared by OPCD and released in May 2025. The vote on revised maps will follow. Michael Hubner, Director for the Comp Plan said “he guarantees there will be changes on the revisions of rezone maps.
Major Wallingford Impacts
Ask the city to reduce heights in the Mayor’s frequent transit plan from “Lowrise 3” 5-story/50-foot buildings to more compatible heights of “NR” (4-6 units per lot 30 height) or “Lowrise 1” (30 feet) along arterials in Wallingford of routes 62, 31, 32.Let us consider the residents who want to stay in their neighborhoods and the potential displacement here. Many blocks of the formerly single-family zoned lots located along these bus routes in Wallingford have naturally affordable older homes. Many homes are family-sized rentals, including duplexes, triplexes, small apartments, and businesses.
The Mayor’s plan is proposing city-wide upzoning on all “frequent transit “arterial facing streets encouraging demolitions, not rehabilitation. These proposed high unit capacity zone proposals at LR3 allow 5-story/50-foot buildings to offer more built-in profitability for developers and will likely accelerate demolitions. This can displace and force out occupants of all ages, races, and incomes who reside in these homes facing arterials citywide. Rezoning for greater unit capacity and jumping to the highest residential zones can increase land values and property taxes for homeowners, renters, businesses, and those on fixed incomes who simply can not keep up with these increases. Assessors base property values on market sales on “highest and best use”. That means you can have property tax increased on the rezoned potential capacity of your lot even though you choose not to redevelop it.
The 5-story city-wide plan for rezones citywide along “frequent transit” bus routes…. – Lack of nuances of various neighborhood street considerations – Ignore direct outreach by the city to neighborhoods – Lack of consideration of context and existing heights – Create corridor and canyon effects – Shadow neighboring homes – Devalue investments in solar panels – Reduce access to air and light – Create a loss of trees with an increase in lot coverage from 35% -50%. – Decrease front setbacks for larger tree retention and planting – Create a scarcity of amenities like parks, libraries, and grocery stores for increased populations. – Lack of mitigations for traffic, and parking congestion – and overall is a very weak plan for truly affordable housing
A win/win can be achieved with either an NR designation (Hb 1110 4-6 units per 5,000 sq. foot lot) or a Lowrise One zoning designation both blending in with existing heights of 30-foot maximum in the context of older neighborhoods instead of such a height jump to 50 feet to large 5 story buildings on the bus route arterials described below. NR zones 4-6 units per lot or Lowrise one zones increase unit housing capacity and density at heights, but are more compatible with the existing context of these blocks.
Ask the council about revisiting and implementing impact fees for parks, fire, schools roads instead of more levies which could help reduce property taxes. Many other municipalities outside of Seattle collect impact fees for infrastructure.
Ask for reduced heights from LR3 /5 story /50 feet zoning proposed to NR or LR One /3 story/ 30 feet zoning for residents of these specific streets impacts for arterials on Wallingford bus routes 62, 31,32. 1. Route 62 proposes to upzone properties to Lowrise LR3/5 stories, 50-foot buildings along Meridian north/south from 50th- 56th 2. Routes 31 & 32 propose to upzone properties to LR 3 5 stories, 50-foot buildings along 40th east/west from UW to Wallingford 3. Routes 31 & 32 arrive at the 40th and Wallingford intersection then travel south on Wallingford to 35th 4. Routes 31 & 32 at 35th and Wallingford intersection the bus travels west/east to Fremont Ave.
Thank you for your ongoing support and commitment to making Wallingford a thriving community. Our goal is to update you on the Select Committee meetings and public hearing dates so you can be a part of the public process before final maps and policies for the Comp Plan 2044 are voted on in 2025.
