DPD staff have been working with a group of neighborhood representatives to develop a proposal to rezone specific areas of industrial zoning within the Ballard Hub Urban Village (HUV) and outside the Ballard-Interbay Manufacturing and Industrial Center (BINMIC). The work stems from a Comprehensive Plan policy adopted by Council in December 2007, which states intensive industrial zones are generally not appropriate within Urban Villages:
LU147.2 – Industrial zones are generally not appropriate within urban centers or urban villages, since these are places where the City encourages concentrations of residential uses. However, in locations where a center or village abuts a manufacturing/industrial center, the IC zone within the center or village may provide an appropriate transition to help separate residential uses from heavier industrial activities.
There are three neighborhoods that meet these criteria: Ballard, Fremont and a very small portion of Eastlake. (DPD is addressing the industrial zones inside the Downtown and South Lake Union Urban Centers separately.) While to date DPD has primarily focused on developing recommendations for the Ballard HUV, staff has recently begun meeting with a similar working group in Fremont.
