WHEREAS, in response to urgent calls for action from community members, on April 2, 2008, five City Councilmembers participated in a public forum, attended by over 200 people, titled "Make Room for Art: Cultural Overlay Districts for Seattle," which addressed community concerns about the loss of affordable space for arts and cultural uses in Capitol Hill ; and

WHEREAS, Councilmembers Nick Licata and Sally Clark responded and established the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee (CODAC), a volunteer advisory committee charged with identifying and recommending to the City Council creative incentives and regulations that can help preserve and promote spaces and activities for art, culture, and entertainment city-wide, beginning with the Capitol Hill neighborhood; and

WHEREAS, the City Council greatly appreciates the expertise and commitment of CODAC, whose membership represents neighborhood residents, business and property owners, land developers, legal and finance professionals, individual artists and arts administrators; and

WHEREAS, over the course of nine months, between July 2008 and April 2009, CODAC worked to develop and present a set of preliminary recommendations to the City Council in September 2008 and a final comprehensive set of recommendations in June 2009;

WHEREAS, the Seattle Comprehensive Plan strongly supports many of the arts elements contained in the CODAC recommendations; and

WHEREAS, the City Council is prepared to implement practices, policies and programs involving several City departments that are consistent with the CODAC recommendations; and

WHEREAS, the City Council recognizes the economic and cultural benefits of coordinating efforts throughout City departments, including but not limited to the Offices of Arts & Cultural Affairs and Economic Development, and the Departments of Neighborhoods, Planning & Development, and Fleets & Facilities, in order to work toward efficiently and effectively preserving and creating affordable opportunities for the creative workforce, for the arts and for cultural activities in Seattle; NOW THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE:

Section 1. The City Council hereby formally accepts the Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee's (CODAC) final recommendations, dated April 30th, 2009, which identify actions to the City can take to prioritize promoting, preserving, and creating affordable space for arts and culture in Seattle, and which are attached as Attachment A.

Section 2. The City Council endorses the inclusion of cultural overlay districts in the Seattle Comprehensive Plan goals and policies, as described in Attachment B.

Section 3. The City Council hereby acknowledges and appreciates CODAC's six recommendations and will begin exploring implementation of them during the 2009 budget process. It is the Council's intent to collaborate with the Executive on pursuing implementation. The six recommendations from the CODAC final report, "Preserving & Creating Space for Arts & Culture in Seattle," are as follows:

1. Allow for the creation of designated cultural districts within Seattle's neighborhoods, to preserve and enhance space for arts and culture.

2. Create a cultural districts manager staff position to work specifically on behalf of cultural districts and to liaise on behalf of cultural district programs and activities with institutions, organizations, foundations, government agencies, individuals, and City departments.

3. Develop and promote an arts and cultural space 'brand' through the City's financial and land use incentives and its regulatory tools and processes.

4. Provide technical assistance for neighborhoods to ensure the most effective use of the above-mentioned tools.

5. Conduct outreach and build awareness about how neighborhoods can provide arts and cultural space to encourage economic sustainability, express community identity, provide community building through participation in the arts and culture, and enhance overall quality of life.

6. Identify and pursue partnerships with institutions, organizations, foundations, government agencies and individuals with the intent of achieving goals contained in CODAC's final recommendations.

Section 4. The City Council chooses the Capitol Hill neighborhood, as defined by Attachment C, as the first Seattle neighborhood for cultural overlay district designation. Additional priority neighborhoods will be considered for future designation.

Adopted by the City Council the _____ day of _____________, 2009, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this _____ day of ________________, 2009.

________________________________________

President __________of the City Council

Filed by me this ______ day of _________________, 2009.

________________________________________

City Clerk

(Seal)

Attachment A: Cultural Overlay District Advisory Committee Recommendations (3.8 MB PDF document)

Attachment B: Seattle Comprehensive Plan Goals and Policies relating to Arts and Culture, as of May 2009.

Proposed Changes to the Land Use Element of the Comprehensive Plan, Section C

May 2009

Amendments to Existing language (shown with proposed new wording underlined and deletions crossed out:

Section C-Location-Specific Land Use Policies

Discussion

The basic zoning categories described in Section B, are augmented here by policies that respond to specific characteristics of an area. For example, historic districts are governed by a basic zoning category as well as regulations that respond to the unique historic characteristics of an area. This section provides the policy foundation to guide how the City adjusts its regulations to respond to unique environments, particularly those created by: major institutions, historic districts and landmarks, arts and cultural districts, environmentally critical areas and shorelines.

Goal

LUG31: Provide flexibility in, or supplement, standard zone provisions to achieve special public purposes where circumstances warrant. Such areas include shoreline areas, airport height districts, historic landmark and special review districts, major institutions, arts and cultural districts, subarea plan districts, areas around high capacity transit stations, and other appropriate locations.

Proposed New Section C-5

C-5 Cultural Overlay Districts

Policies

LUXXX Encourage the preservation and enhancement of space for arts and culture by providing for the creation of cultural districts.

LUXXX Encourage significant community involvement in the development, monitoring, implementation and amendment of cultural districts.

LUXXX Allow for the designation of areas as cultural districts, to protect, enhance, and perpetuate the cultural identity of the area. Recognize that cultural designations help protect significant resources and qualities that distinguish these resources, and encourage stability, rehabilitation, restoration and planned development.

LUXXX Allow regulations and incentives to be adopted specifically for a designated cultural district. Allow adopted guidelines or regulations to modify, exempt, or supersede the standards of the underlying zone to encourage arts and cultural uses. For elements not included in the district guidelines, the standards of the existing zone designation shall continue to apply.

Recognize the significant economic benefits arts and cultural uses in the city and the region and their contributions to employment growth.

LUG35 Promote the integration of arts and cultural uses in cultural districts with the function and character of surrounding communities in the overall planning for urban centers.

Encourage economic activity and development of water-dependent uses by supporting the retention and expansion of existing water-dependent businesses and planning for the creation of new developments in areas now dedicated to such use.

Concentrate industrial and commercial shoreline uses by supporting the retention and expansion of existing water-dependent businesses, and planning for the creation of new developments in areas now dedicated to such use.

Attachment C: Map of Proposed CODAC Boundary with Cultural Spines

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