The public is invited to participate in a forum on neighborhood
planning on Saturday April 19 from 8:30 am – noon in the Bertha Knight
Landes Room, of Seattle's City Hall, 601 Fifth Avenue.   The event is
organized by the City Neighborhood Council and co-sponsored by City
Councilmember Sally Clark, and Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods.
Refreshments will be served.  Interpretive services are available upon
request.   

Featured speakers include City Councilmembers Richard Conlin and Sally
Clark, Department of Planning and Development official Tom Hauger,
Department of Neighborhoods Director Stella Chao and Jim Diers, who was
the first director of that department.     
 
Panels of citizen leaders will discuss the successes and shortcomings
of neighborhood planning and the current approach to dealing with the
impacts of growth on neighborhoods citywide.  Topics covered include:
Why have neighborhood plans?   How and by whom should a neighborhood
plan be crafted?  And what can a successful neighborhood plan help
citizens accomplish?

Homeowners, renters, and business people all have a stake in the
upcoming decisions on how the city will “update” the existing 38
neighborhood plans.  Changes in neighborhood plans and policies are a
precursor to land use and zoning changes as well as a way to identify
and prioritize needed infrastructure improvements to accommodate growth.
 
The City Council is weighing a proposal from the Mayor to spread the
updates over several years, group plans by geographic sector, and rely
heavily on city staff for professional guidance.  The City Neighborhood
Council has raised questions about this approach particularly the way it
differs from the grassroots model used when the plans were prepared in
the late 1990’s.  The key documents and issues are covered in the
Resources section of CNC's web site,
http://seattle.gov/neighborhoodcouncil.