Montlake Rezoning Task Force
Montlake’s response to rezoning
The Montlake Rezoning Task Force (MRTF) has been created to represent the Montlake Community in response to the Mayor’s plan to include Montlake as one of 30 neighborhood centers (NC) in its upzoning plan for Seattle. The City’s plan affects about 24 blocks, nearly 400 historic homes, roughly 30% of our neighborhood!
The Task Force’s Mission is to work with the City of Seattle, on behalf of the Montlake Community, to accommodate growth while at the same time preserving the unique character of our Historic Neighborhood.
About ten talented and committed professional Montlake neighbors have worked diligently for several months on this mission!
Updates
Members of the MRTF met with the Office of Planning and City Development (OPCD) on April 24th to walk Montlake and share community concerns, understand criteria and discuss options.
Members of the MRTF met with Representative Hollingsworth and her staff on May 7th to present ideas that increase density in Montlake while better preserving our historic community, per our mission. The MRTF was commended by the Hollingsworth team on our professional approach!
Bright yellow educational flyers were distributed to every doorstep in Montlake prior to May 7th asking for community letters to CM Hollingsworth, City Council and Mayor with concerns. Thank you to all Montlakers who sent letters and feedback to the City Council – please keep it up and cc Zoning@Montlake.net.
Montlake’s Neighborhood Center (NC) boundary has been officially reduced by the blocks adjacent to the Arboretum, and the WSDOT site (old Hop-In site) has been added! (Click the link above and scroll down to Montlake to see adjustments.)
MRTF has joined a group of 13 neighborhoods to share ideas and work together on impacting the implementation of HB1110.
HB1110 was passed by the WA State Legislature back in 2023. This bill effectively eliminates all single-family zoning in Seattle as well as reducing setbacks etc. So, the entire Montlake Community, outside our NC, can also be upzoned much more than with our current ADU’s. HB1110 potentially affects Montlake more than the NC designation.
A citywide letter and petition were circulated explaining the impacts to our neighborhoods along with concerns. Seattle is going above and beyond what is required by HB1110. Please continue to read and sign the petition!
Many Montlakers testified in person, remotely or in writing at the public hearing on May 19th. Thank you! We’ll let you know about upcoming opportunities to testify.
HB1110 must be implemented statewide by the end of June. Interim legislation was passed by the City Council on May 28th, to meet this deadline. There is concern that the City of Seattle has included more than needed in the bill that will adversely affect our fair City! Items of concern include loss of setbacks/tree canopy, building heights and lot coverage. Amendments were included in the passage to “keep the door open” on issues prior to passage of permanent legislation.
Accomplishments so far:
Well researched background information was gathered and posted on Montlake.net. You’ll see the Rezoning tab above where this wealth of information is accessible to all and is updated regularly!
Flyers and posters summarizing this information were beautifully designed and distributed to all Montlake residents and posted around the community.
Several MRTF members along with other Montlake residents have “testified” at City Council meetings.
Feedback was and continues to be solicited from Montlake residents. This feedback went/goes to Joy.Hollingsworth@Seattle.gov and Zoning@Montlake.net.
Montlake concerns from this feedback were summarized nicely in a letter signed by the MCC that went to Joy Hollingsworth, our City Council representative, (who is also the leader for this project), as well as to all other City Council members and the Mayor. This letter is shown below.
Members of the MRTF met with Representative Hollingsworth’s staff for a walkabout in Montlake while sharing Montlake’s concerns – a very productive meeting!
MRTF has met with and keeps in contact with other designated NC neighborhoods in D3 such as Madison Park and Madrona during the City’s fluid process.
Next steps:
The MRTF is taking a little breather!
Our next meeting is the 3rd week of June. We will be strategizing:
Which issues to focus on and how to impact the permanent legislation for the implementation of HB1110.
How to further impact our Neighborhood Center’s boundaries and zoning (heights) prior to implementation.
The current City Council steps and timing are below, per CM Hollingsworth, but subject to change:
HB1110 Interim Legislation end of May – Complete!
HB1110 Permanent Legislation-June (Appears this have moved to October per Seattle Times.)
Phase I NC Boundaries-June-August (prior to budgets)
Phase II NC Zoning- (after budgets) in 2026
Updates should be listed here – https://www.seattle.gov/council/issues/2025-comprehensive-plan but things change quickly.
A huge thank you to the Montlake Rezoning Task Force’s dedicated volunteers for all their amazing work!
Please reach out to Zoning@Montlake.net with any questions, comments or concerns.
Letter to Councilmember Hollingsworth
Learn more on other MCC Rezoning pages
The contents of this webpage were assembled by a small group of Montlake Community Club members to help educate the neighborhood about upcoming zoning changes proposed by Mayor Harrell. Any opinions expressed are not necessarily representative of the greater Montlake community.