WHEREAS, social justice is one of the four core values of the Seattle Comprehensive Plan, which was first developed through a community process in the 1990's; and

WHEREAS, these core values are intended to guide decision making in City government; and

WHEREAS, to ensure the City carries out its commitment to social justice, as well as its longstanding commitment to ending racism, the City has developed a Race and Social Justice Initiative (RSJI); and

WHEREAS, the goal of this initiative is to provide information and tools to help City leaders and staff understand issues of race and social justice, and to ensure that the City's actions accord with its values; and

WHEREAS, often those who are privileged in society by virtue of social and economic standing have the most input to City actions, because they know who to talk to and how to talk to them, and the goal of RSJI is to ensure that the City's decisions are also informed by the voices of those who are not heard as often; and

WHEREAS, in 2011, the City Council asked staff members on the Legislative Department's RSJI Change Team, a group of staff volunteers, to look at several pieces of legislation to see if applying an RSJI lens would help the Council make inclusive decisions that reflect its social justice values; and

WHEREAS, the Change Team chose the South Lake Union (SLU) rezone for one of its first reviews, and the team completed its work in December, 2012, and formally reported to the Council's Special Committee on SLU on Monday, February 25, 2013; and

WHEREAS, the Change Team's analysis identified five key areas where opportunities exist to provide more equitable outcomes in SLU:

1. SLU is growing into a "community of opportunity" with access to family-wage jobs, housing, transit and open space;

2. Key areas of potential impact for race and social justice are in housing and jobs;

3. Risks of displacement of current residents in the Cascade neighborhood may be mitigated by retaining existing zoning in that area;

4. There may be opportunities to increase the provision of workforce housing in SLU through incentive zoning;

5. Creating pathways for communities of color to access the jobs and opportunity being created in SLU could help advance racial equity in Seattle; and

WHEREAS, the analysis offered five strategies to advance racial equity:

1. Do not change heights in the Cascade neighborhood;

2. Maximize affordable housing through incentive zoning;

3. Use education and job-training partnerships to expand access to job opportunities for communities of color;

4. Promote community gathering spaces like a community center or school;

5. Utilize revenues from a proposed tax increment financing (TIF) program to achieve social equity goals; and

WHEREAS, the Council values and appreciates the work of the Change Team and wishes to follow up on its recommendations; NOW, THEREFORE,

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

Section 1: The Council thanks the Change Team for their work, respects the work of the Change Team, and concurs with the analysis and direction suggested by the Change Team.

Section 2: In response to the Change Team's analysis, the Council will take the following actions:

A. The Council commits to ensuring that any changes to maximum building heights in the Cascade neighborhood will be targeted to areas where there are vacant lots or significantly underutilized properties, will not create incentives to demolish existing affordable housing, and will increase the opportunity for more housing to be built in the neighborhood. The Council will also consider providing a transfer of development rights provision to encourage preservation of historic, affordable structures.

B. The Council commits to adopting an incentive zoning program for SLU, to beginning a process to review options for increasing affordable housing, and to taking additional future actions that will increase opportunities for affordable housing.

C. The Council requests that the Office of Economic Development coordinate the development of a work plan that will specifically target education and job training partnerships in SLU in order to expand access to job opportunities throughout the neighborhood.

D. The Council commits to taking an active role in promoting and finding resources to support community center development in SLU, and to encouraging and facilitating the development of a school to serve the area.

E. The Council commits to using the RSJI screening process to guide the investment of future TIF revenues in SLU.

Adopted by the City Council the ____ day of ____________________, 2013, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its adoption this________ day

of ______________________, 2013.

_________________________________

President ___________of the City Council

Filed by me this ____ day of ________________________, 2013.

____________________________________

Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk

(Seal)

R. Conlin LEG South Lake Union RSJI RES April 8, 2013 Version #1