Vision 2014

Capitol Hill is distinguished by historic architectural landmarks, pedestrian-scale commercial streets, tree-lined residential streets, and picturesque parks. New buildings echo the area's historic scale and character. A rich array of parks and open spaces, of various sizes and styles, provide respite from the neighborhood's dense urban fabric. Capitol Hill's natural features, such as views in nearly every direction, are enjoyed by all. Quiet residential streets are located in close proximity to commercial districts, parks, jobs and transit.

 

Community Objectives
Highest Priorities: • Preserve historic landmark buildings. • Retain Capitol Hill's pedestrian scale and character. • Enhance commercial streetscapes. • Retain existing density levels. • Encourage high-quality new construction. • Retain and increase landscaping in public areas. • Retain and increase affordable housing.

Community Objectives

Preserve historic landmark buildings. Capitol Hill residents would like to preserve the physical environment of Capitol Hill as it is. Community members cherish Capitol Hill's older elements, like its beautiful brick apartment buildings, grand mansions near Volunteer Park, single-family bungalows, masonry and terra-cotta commercial buildings on Broadway, picturesque parks, and pedestrian-scale streets. Workshop respondents cited a number of historic buildings as their favorites: the Anhalt apartment buildings, Saint Mark's Cathedral, the Seattle Asian Art Museum, Cornish College of the Arts, the Fire Station on 15th Avenue, and the Conservatory and Water Tower at Volunteer Park. See also: "Preserve older housing structures," p. 26.

Retain Capitol Hill's pedestrian scale and character. Community members praise Capitol Hill's "village feel," mixed use, and pedestrian friendliness. Neighborhood growth will present an inherent conflict between preserving existing scale and character while absorbing more housing and jobs. Neighborhood residents would like to engage developers in participatory design development and review of neighborhood projects. Mechanisms for achieving this goal might include establishing neighborhood design guidelines and design review processes to help ensure that new development fits in with the neighborhood's character. See also: "Preserve and enhance pedestrian access," p. 29.

Enhance commercial streetscapes.Outreach results indicated strong interest in improving sidewalks and enhancing the aesthetics of commercial streetscapes. Suggestions for physical streetscape improvements included widening sidewalks (especially on Broadway, 15th Avenue, Olive Way, and 12th Avenue), providing pedestrian-scale street lighting, expanding public art, calming traffic, providing more open spaces associated with commercial sidewalks, planting more street trees, maintaining clean sidewalks, providing more trash cans, and providing seating along sidewalks. See also: "Preserve and enhance pedestrian access," p. 29, and "Support neighborhood commercial districts," p. 34.

Retain existing density levels. One workshop respondent described Capitol Hill by saying, "I like the feeling and density, it's busy and full and interesting, it supports an incredible array of uses, the scale is generally about right." Community members are concerned that the Comp Plan's targets of increased housing and jobs will result in higher density levels that will destroy the neighborhood's existing character. Most residents seem to feel that Capitol Hill's current density of buildings is successful and would like to preserve the neighborhood's prevalent building heights (not more than five stories). However, some people favored building up rather than out as a way to increase density. It was also suggested that increased density could be concentrated in specific areas of the urban village, specifically along commercial corridors. The neighborhood plan might propose instituting zoning standards to assure that new development meets density levels desired by the community.

Figure 22. Densities of comparable cities and their most dense neighborhoods.

Encourage high-quality new construction. Residents would like new buildings to be well designed and well constructed and to blend in with the style of the older buildings. This is not to say that new buildings must replicate historic architectural styles. The fact that the contemporary Rainbow Grocery on 15th Avenue and the Broadway Market are among the community's favorite buildings suggests that neighborhood character can be preserved by creative, sensitively designed new architecture.

Retain and increase landscaping in public areas. Capitol Hill's natural features are recognized for the contribution they make to the neighborhood's character. Urban design planning should address enhancing the green and urban landscape and its relationship to urban form and architecture.

Capitol Hill Urban Center Village: Land Use (Insert Table Here)