Jesse Reynolds is the lead planner for the King County Local Services Sub Area plan for North Highline. The agency is seeking public participation in a survey to get clearer direction on what people want to see in terms of design elements in the White Center and North Highline communities.
The long process of developing design standards for the North Highline Community is taking its next step. After public meetings, the release of the first land use and development guidelines and lots of public outreach the King County Local Services agency is hoping to get public input from the North Highline/White Center communities for the North Highline Urban Design Standards process.
Visit the page to participate in the survey
What are the North Highline Urban Design Standards?
The purpose of this project is to create urban design standards for new commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use developments in North Highline. North Highline is a 2.7 square mile urban area in unincorporated King County that includes the communities of White Center, Top Hat, Glendale, and the South Park “Sliver by the River.” Like many neighborhoods in the Seattle area, North Highline is experiencing development pressure and the community has expressed a strong desire to have urban design standards in place to protect and enhance the community’s character.
The King County Council has directed Local Services to study and develop urban design standards that prioritize the pedestrian environment, encourage human-scale design and reflect the character of the North Highline community. The new urban design standards are expected be transmitted to the King County Council by June 30, 2022.
Meaningful public engagement is key to this project’s success. It’s how we’ll make sure that the design standards reflect the community’s values. To date we have had several opportunities to engage with the public, shown in the draft Equity Impact Review below. This is now the time for you to share your thoughts on our complete draft.
This is your main opportunity to share with us your thoughts and ideas, so they can be addressed before Local Services transmits this to the County Council on June 30th.
The Draft Design Standards
Design Standards Document Explained
This document (named DRAFT NorthHighlineUrbanDesignStandards.pdf is the main body of work and applies to new and substantially improved buildings that are commercial, multi-family, and mixed-use. These proposed standards are made to reflect what the project team has heard from the community, focusing on: cultural expression that reflect the community, preserving the current scale of the historic portion of White Center, making the neighborhood safer, and increased landscaping and environmental considerations. Design standards are a tool within a suite of regulations that can help new developments meet the needs of the community. It is a tool to help gather your feedback to help with future designs.
Design Standards Explanation and Survey
The standards are broken down into four basic sections: explanation of the intent and how values of the community are incorporated, how the standards are used, the standards themselves, and the forms that would be used during the permit review process. Each section of the suvey (accessed in the tabs above or green 'Continue' button below) explains each section and has questions. It helps to have the draft design standards document open at the same time (download to the right).
Please feel free to skip any section, or complete the whole survey, starting with the demographic questions below.
For any additional comments or questions beyond this survey please email Jesse Reynolds at jesreynolds@kingcounty.gov.
