The Seattle City Council select committee approved resolution 32183 on Thursday, adopting a docket of items for potential amendments to the city's comprehensive plan in 2026 and asking city departments to analyze specific topics and return with proposals. The committee voted to send the resolution to full council after adopting several targeted amendments.

Why it matters: the resolution directs the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) and other departments to study items that could shape zoning, neighborhood centers and development incentives in a future comp-plan update; the committee also added language asking OPCD to develop proposals and SEPA analysis for reducing or eliminating required amenity areas in certain zones.

Key outcomes
- Docket adoption: Committee Chair Joy Hollingsworth moved that the committee recommend adoption of resolution 32183; the committee voted in favor (9-0) after several amendments were adopted.
- Study items: The resolution asks departments to analyze accessory dwelling unit (ADU) regulations, environmentally critical areas, frequent-transit definitions, parking requirement changes, tree protections and incentives for mandatory housing affordability (MHA) projects; it also asks OPCD to study potential higher building heights and neighborhood-center boundary changes and to examine anti-displacement strategies.
- Amenity-area study added: Council member Kettle moved an amendment (added to the resolution as subsection j in section 2) asking OPCD to develop proposals and SEPA analysis to reduce or eliminate required amenity areas in Neighborhood Residential and Low Rise zones to allow design flexibility and better support tree protection; the committee adopted that amendment after clarifying it would be subject to SEPA and law review.

Debate over Alki ("Elkai") neighborhood center
Council member Sacca moved an amendment to delete the proposed Alki neighborhood-center study from the resolution. Sacca argued the area did not meet OPCD's definition of a neighborhood center, cited limited transit access, geographic isolation, environmental risk from shoreline exposure and extensive community opposition; she said "it clearly does not meet our currently agreed-upon definition of neighborhood center." The motion to remove Alki failed on a 4-4-1 vote (4 in favor, 4 opposed, 1 abstention), so Alki remains on the docket for study.

Other technical fixes and compromises
- Nickerson boundaries: An amendment adopted by the committee directs that both boundary versions for the Nickerson neighborhood-center proposal (from earlier amendments) be placed on the map so both options can be studied.
- East Ballard / Phinney (Finney Ridge): The committee adopted a motion aligning the resolution text with earlier votes to study expansion in East Ballard and to include Phinney/Finney Ridge study language consistent with prior committee decisions.
- Height-limit study: Council president Nelson withdrew a direct height-change amendment and instead obtained committee agreement to ask OPCD to study modest increases in height limits in Neighborhood Residential and Low Rise 1 zones and report back; Nelson said the study will ensure any new capacity is properly analyzed under SEPA.

Process and timing
Central staff reminded the committee that, under the Growth Management Act, the comprehensive plan docket is typically a once-a-year process and that OPCD is already working on regional center plans. Staff said SEPA and consultant work on docketed items will take time and estimated the earliest return of studied items would be late October or early November, depending on scope.

Quotes
"Per OPCD, neighborhood centers are specifically defined as areas near transit with growing business centers, amenities, and added housing capacity," Council member Sacca said in explaining her motion to remove Alki from the docket.
"This amendment would ask OPCD to develop proposals to reduce or eliminate amenity areas in Neighborhood Residential and Low Rise zones to facilitate design flexibility and tree protection," central staff read when the oral amendment was entered into the record.

Ending
The committee forwarded resolution 32183 as amended to the full council. Central staff said departments will develop proposals and SEPA analysis for the docketed items and return with recommended language and environmental documents for council consideration next year.