(WSB photo from July 2009)
On the hottest day in Seattle history last July, the group in that photo talked about the West Seattle Junction Neighborhood Plan, as part of a West Seattle-wide meeting at Youngstown Arts Center (WSB coverage here), with breakout groups discussing all five of our peninsula’s neighborhood plans. The Seattle Planning Commission co-sponsored that gathering and others like it around the city, as a series of Neighborhood Plan Status Checks; now the commission is out with a report suggesting which neighborhood plans it believes should be updated next, and the Junction plan is among those at the top of the list. The “white paper” sent a few days ago to Mayor McGinn and other elected officials (see it here) lists five neighborhood plans as in “urgent” need of updating – and the Junction plan is the only one from West Seattle that’s in the group. The document explains:

An unanticipated, significant development opportunity exists in this neighborhood planning area because Huling Brothers Automobile has vacated/sold several acres of land. The redevelopment opportunity at the “gateway” to West Seattle, in combination with the future RapidRide stations, warrants a precisely focused subarea plan and urban design effort that would implement goals already outlined in the neighborhood plan; the current neighborhood plan calls for redeveloping this area and improving the gateway. We understand that DPD’s City Planning office has begun a small planning effort here and would encourage more resources for an interdisciplinary approach that includes transportation, housing, parks and economic development in addition to land use and urban design that will result in right of way improvements, urban design, zoning and land use. We also strongly recommend enhanced efforts designed to create transitions between the new development and the retail core on California Avenue that serves as West Seattle’s downtown heart.

The “small planning effort” refers to the Triangle planning process, which launched with an advisory-group’s first meeting two weeks ago (WSB coverage here) and continues when they meet again tomorrow night, 6 pm, Senior Center of West Seattle. Meantime, this same “white paper” also has a group of neighborhood plans around the city listed as “important” to update – those 6 plans include Delridge (see the plan here), with this explanation:

Recent assessments have shown that current infrastructure exists to support additional jobs and housing growth in this neighborhood. A neighborhood plan update would look fully at the opportunity this presents and also allow for planning that considers whether, where and how additional growth should occur.

The city’s neighborhood plans were developed more than a decade ago; an updating process has begun, but because of budget constraints, only a few are expected to be tackled each year for the foreseeable future. West Seattle’s other three neighborhood plans are Admiral, Morgan Junction, and Westwood/Highland Park, but the Planning Commission did not rate any of those three as either “urgent” or “important” to update soon.