Project Overview

WHO: The Stroum Jewish Community Center (SJCC), the French American School of Puget Sound (FASPS) and Herzl-Ner Tamid (HNT) have applied for a Comprehensive Plan Amendment and rezone that would facilitate a master planning and redevelopment process for these institutions.

WHAT: The City is considering a comprehensive plan amendment along with a rezone to create a new zone called Private Community Facilities Zone. The zone is intended to be applied to private community facilities that are located in residential zones. These types of facilities provide great benefit to the community, however they have the ability to result in impacts due to increased traffic, lighting, and noise than what is typical in a residential zone. The purpose of the rezoning is to provide predictability to the community and allow for thoughtful development of community facilities that are located in residential zones. The proposed comprehensive plan amendment would identify policy direction to guide the writing and possible adoption of zoning code that would apply to the proposed new zone.

WHY: The properties owned by the applicants currently consist of four zones: R-8.4, R-9.6, B, and C-O (Single-family residential zones, Business zone and Commercial-Office zone). Some of the properties span multiple zones. Each of these zones has different requirements for lot coverage, gross floor area, height, parking, etc. While the properties can be redeveloped under the current zoning, the complexity of the requirements across the multiple zones makes it more difficult to understand what is allowed and to plan for potential impacts of redevelopment. A new zone specific to community facilities can better address the potential impacts and provide more clarity to the community around what to expect from redevelopment. The process of the comprehensive plan update and rezone will also allow for more public review and input into the future plans for the SJCC/FASPS/HNT sites.