Seattle Comprehensive Plan

Background

The Comprehensive Plan is a 20-year roadmap for the City, and shapes where there are new jobs and housing, how to improve transportation , and where to make investments in schools, parks, utilities, and libraries. It needs to fit into regional planning, to be consistent with the Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2050, and King County's Countywide Planning Policies. The Comprehensive Plan addresses these challenges:

As a first step the County makes predictions about how much growth there will be, both in jobs and in population, and apportions the growth amongst the various cities and unincorporated regions. The update process for Seattle begins with a number of new jobs and new population that the city is required to accommodate over the 20 year period, as mandated by the State's Growth Management Act. The Comprehensive Plan must include zoning changes that can accommodate the growth, and usually other changes are made to the zoning at the same time. Changes in zoning then need to be reflected in the city's transportation plans, as well as plans for schools, parks, and other shared amenities. The decisions made as part of the Comprehensive Plan update affect everyone in the city.

Updating the Comprehensive Plan is a two and a half year process, kicking off in Q1 2022, and expected to be adopted by Council by the end of 2024. Here's the expected timeline: