Greenwood Community Council meets Tuesday to discuss how city’s new Design Review process works, plus the potential displacement of downtown Greenwood businesses

The Greenwood Community Council meets at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at the Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N., to discuss two pretty big topics.

The first is the city’s revised Design Review process, that requires developers to conduct early community outreach before they can schedule design guidance meetings with City staff.

The Greenwood Community Council is well positioned to add value and quality to this new outreach requirement but also requires volunteers to track, host, coordinate, participate, and respond to community outreach request from developers. We will take a quick look at the overall design review process and identify volunteer opportunities to help us prepare for more engagement with developers. (You can see Greenwood/Phinney Neighborhood Design Guidelines here.)

The second major topic is a discussion of how potential new developments will affect existing businesses in downtown Greenwood.

Proposed rezoning in Greenwood’s Business Core will allow the redevelopment of existing buildings to up to seven stories, leaving many of our local businesses wondering about their place in the neighborhood. The GCC Board is seeking volunteers to examine existing programs, studies and proposals, such as the 2017 Seattle Legacy Business Study Report and the 2017 University District Small Business Vulnerability Study by Steinbrueck Urban Strategies,and volunteers to create and conduct a survey of local businesses that would be useful to city government agencies in helping our local businesses.

The Council has produced a video about the potential for displacement of small businesses in Greenwood.