CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION __________________
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A RESOLUTION adopting revised Street Vacation Policies for the City of Seattle and repealing previous versions of the policies adopted by Resolutions 27527, 28605, 30297, 30702, and 31142.
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WHEREAS, on October 13, 1986, the City Council adopted Resolution 27527, adopting Street Vacation Policies for The City of Seattle; and
WHEREAS, those 1986 rules were revised by Resolution 28605 in 1993, Resolution 30297 in 2001, Resolution 30702 in 2004, and Resolution 31142 in 2009; and
WHEREAS, in 2015, the City Council adopted Resolution 31577, affirming that The City of Seattle’s core value of race and social equity is one of the foundations on which the Comprehensive Plan is built and stating that “race and social equity planning includes not only shared benefits and burdens of growth and investment, but also partnership in the process resulting in shared decision-making and more equitable outcomes”; and
WHEREAS, in 2015, as part of the 2016 budget process, the City Council adopted a Statement of Legislative Intent 101-1-A-1 requesting the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) develop a report and analysis of the public benefits received from street and alley vacations; and
WHEREAS, as part of their report in response to SLI 101-1-A-1, SDOT recommended that if the City Council wished to revise the street vacation policies, the Policies should be considered and revised as a whole; and
WHEREAS, in November 2016, the City Council adopted the Seattle 2035 Comprehensive Plan Update, which reiterated race and social equity as a core value for the City’s growth, and recognized that “the goals and policies of this Plan can also influence the actions of other government agencies and private businesses to promote social justice and racial equity”; and
WHEREAS, in 2017, Councilmember O’Brien convened a Street Vacation Stakeholder Workgroup to make recommendations for legislation to: (1) help identify areas of consensus around potential process improvements for street vacations; (2) surface differences of opinion; and (3) help crystallize the policy questions the Council will ultimately decide upon to revise the street vacation policies; and
WHEREAS, the Street Vacation Stakeholder Workgroup recommended: (1) providing greater clarity for all parties about the type of public benefits that will be supported/funded as part of a street vacation process; (2) create clear expectations for community engagement, with improved understanding about the communities that should be engaged in discussions with project proponents; (3) provide opportunities for the community and the City Council to provide comments on a proposed project earlier in the process, when their comments can be incorporated into the planning for a projects; and (4) look for opportunities to make the street vacation process easier to understand and more transparent; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE THAT:
Section 1. The Street Vacation Policies for the City of Seattle (2018) attached to this resolution as Exhibit A are adopted.
Section 2. The Street Vacation Policies, adopted by Resolution 27527 and last amended by Resolutions 28605, 30297, 30702, and 31142, are repealed.
Adopted by the City Council the ________ day of _________________________, 2018, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this ________ day of _________________________, 2018.
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President ____________ of the City Council
Filed by me this ________ day of _________________________, 2018.
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Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk
(Seal)
Attachments:
Exhibit A - Street Vacation Policies of the City of Seattle 2018