The Seattle City Council Planning, Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee will meet on November 18 at 9 a.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall for a briefing on the Hearing Examiner’s decision. The briefing may include a summary of the proposal, an overview of the site, a review of the various program components and the process related to the development of the MIMP and the process for Council review.

As with all MIMPs, the Council will act as judges in this case, rather than as legislators. They will base their final decision on applicable laws and the Hearing Examiner’s record, along with considering the 11 appeals that have been made in this case.

• Meeting Agenda (76 KB)
• City Council Press Release

On August 25, 2009 Seattle Children’s filed an appeal of the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation for denial of the hospital’s Major Institution Master Plan (MIMP).

• Seattle Children’s appeal and attachments (3.4 MB)

The Hearing Examiner for the City of Seattle has recommended that the City Council deny Seattle Children's Major Institution Master Plan (MIMP). While the vast majority of the plan was found to be adequate, the Hearing Examiner recommended against approval of the MIMP based on what she described as "balancing" issues.

As part of her ruling on Children’s Major Institution Master Plan, the Hearing Examiner found the Department of Planning and Development's Revised Final EIS to be adequate. This ruling denies the appeal by the Laurelhurst Community Club challenging the adequacy of the Revised Final EIS.

• Findings and Recommendation of the Hearing Examiner (5.7 MB)
• Revised Final EIS (758 KB)
• Message from Seattle Children's Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Tom Hansen

On July 10, the City of Seattle Hearing Examiner issued an order dismissing two key elements of the appeal of the Laurelhurst Community Club (LCC) as related to the environmental review of Seattle Children's proposed Major Institution Master Plan. The order concluded that 1) the Hearing Examiner has no jurisdiction to determine whether or not the Planning and Development Director erred in preparing a Revised Final Environmental Impact Statement instead of a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement to assess the land use and housing information she previously determined was missing in the original Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and 2) in the absence of changes in Children's proposed Major Institution Master Plan, the Hearing Examiner lacks authority to ask the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to reconvene to comment on the Revised Final Environmental Impact Statement. The LCC filed a motion for reconsideration of this ruling, asserting that the Hearing Examiner committed an error of law in dismissing these appeal issues. On July 22, the Hearing Examiner denied LCC's motion for reconsideration, based on Hearing Examiner Rule 3.20

The combined EIS adequacy and Master Plan hearings held on July 14 and 15 are now closed. The Examiner has two remaining matters pending before her: a final decision on the adequacy of the Revised Final Environmental Impact Statement; and her recommendation to the City Council on the merits of Children's proposed Major Institution Master Plan. Her decision and recommendation on these matters is expected by mid-August.

The Director of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) has issued a recommendation on Seattle Children’s Hospital proposed Master Plan, and an environmental determination based on the Final EIS for the project. Read the DPD Land Use Bulletin.

The Seattle Hearing Examiner will hold a public hearing to consider the application of Seattle Children’s Hospital for approval of its Major Institution Master Plan. The public hearing will be held on July 14, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. at the Office of the Hearing Examiner. The Office of the Hearing Examiner provides barrier free access.

Written comments will be accepted until the close of the hearing scheduled on July 14, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Comments should be sent to:

Hearing Examiner
700 Fifth Avenue
Suite 4000
PO Box 94729
Seattle, WA 98124-4729

Copies of the Master Plan application, environmental documents, and the Director’s recommendation are available at the DPD Public Resource Center, 700 5th Avenue, Suite 2000 of the Seattle Municipal Tower, (206) 684-8467. The Public Resource Center is open 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Questions about the Master Plan or the Director’s recommendation may be directed to Scott Ringgold, Land Use Planner, (206) 233-3856.

• View document (114 KB)

Seattle Children’s Hospital has received the Findings and Decision of the Hearing Examiner for the City of Seattle in the matter of the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) appeal of the Laurelhurst Community Club regarding our proposed Master Plan.

While the Hearing Examiner found that the FEIS was sufficient in most areas including height, bulk, scale and transportation, Examiner Tanner sent the proposal back to the City’s Director of Planning and Development for reconsideration regarding two issues. These issues include: 1) impacts of demolishing 136 condominiums at Laurelon Terrace in terms of unit size and appraised value, and 2) additional information to resolve the differences between the proposed Master Plan and the City’s comprehensive land use planning policies.

We appreciate the Hearing Examiner’s thoughtful analysis and look forward to working with the City to provide information which enables the City Council to review our Master Plan and FEIS in a timely manner.

• View document (1.2 MB)

This report is produced pursuant to Seattle Municipal Code Section 23.69, and contains the findings and recommendations of the Major Institutions Master Plan Citizen’s Advisory Committee for the Seattle Children’s Hospital Master Planning Process.

• View document (1.9 MB)

This report is the Director's analysis and recommendation to the City Council on the Seattle Children’s Hospital Final Major Institution Master Plan (Master Plan). The report considers the recommendations of the Children’s Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), the environmental analysis and comments in the Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), and the applicable portions of the adopted policies and regulations of the Seattle Municipal Code (SMC) Title 23, Land Use Policies and Codes. The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) is the SEPA lead agency.

• View document (568 KB)

In accordance with Seattle Municipal Code, Seattle Children’s submitted the Final Master Plan (FMP) to the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) and the City of Seattle, Department of Planning and Development (DPD) on November 10, 2008. The Final Master Plan was reviewed by the CAC at the Committee's November 12, 2008 meeting.

If you have questions about the FMP, please contact Desiree Leigh, Director of Regional Government Affairs and Community Relations at desiree.leigh@seattlechildrens.org.

Questions about the CAC process should be submitted to CAC staff person Steve Sheppard at steve.sheppard@seattle.gov.

• Entire document (38.2 MB)
• Cover, Table of Contents and Executive Summary (3.76 MB)
• Introduction (1.48 MB)
• Development Program (30.2 MB)
• Development Standards (2.36 MB)
• Comprehensive Transportation Management Plan (1.5 MB)
• Appendices (1 MB)
• FMP User’s Guide (214 KB)

In accordance with Seattle Municipal Code, Children's presented a Draft Master Plan (DMP) to the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) at the Committee's June 10, 2008 meeting.

If you have questions about the DMP, please contact Desiree Leigh, Director of Regional Government Affairs and Community Relations at desiree.leigh@seattlechildrens.org.

Questions about the CAC process should be submitted to CAC staff person Steve Sheppard at steve.sheppard@seattle.gov.

• Entire document (18 MB)
• Cover, Table of Contents and Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Description Proposed Development
• Hospital Campus Facilities
• Site Concept
• Building and Facilities
• Transportation System
• Non-Motorized Connections
• Open Space
• Environmental Stewardship
• Appendix A

View the letter from Diane Sugimura, Department of Planning and Development Director commenting on Children's Preliminary Draft Master Plan.

In accordance with Seattle Municipal Code, Children's submitted a Preliminary Draft Master Plan (PDMP) to the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) at the Committee's January 8, 2008 meeting. The purpose of the PDMP is to provide CAC members, SDOT, and DPD with an opportunity to provide comments for inclusion in Children's Draft Master Plan.

If you have questions about the PDMP, please contact Desiree Leigh, Director of Regional Government Affairs and Community Relations at desiree.leigh@seattlechildrens.org.

Questions about the CAC process should be submitted to CAC staff person Steve Sheppard at steve.sheppard@seattle.gov.

• Entire Document (16 MB)
• Table of Contents
• Executive Summary
• Introduction
• Description Proposed Development Program
• Hospital Campus Facilities
• Site Concept
• Building and Facilities
• Transportation System
• Non-Motorized Connections
• Open Space
• Environmental Stewardship
• Appendix A

In response to the Department of Planning and Development's (DPD) Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) scoping report, dated September 24, Children's has developed three additional alternatives for development on the hospital campus and removed the campus-only alternative, submitted in the July 2007 Concept Plan, from further consideration. Children's submitted a letter regarding the proposed alternatives to the DPD on October 29 and presented a PowerPoint at the October 30 Citizens Advisory Committee meeting. In the PowerPoint there are 5 proposed alternatives with three slides per alternative as well as comparative cross-sections and elevations.

View Children's concept plan that was submitted as part of the master plan application to the City of Seattle in July 2007.

• Entire Document (7.7 MB)
• Cover (2.5 MB)
• Table of contents (209 KB)
• Executive summary (416 KB)
• Introduction (1 MB)
• Campus facilities (169 KB)
• Site concept (1.2 MB)
• Buildings and facilities (1.9 MB)
• Transportation (2 MB)
• Open space (1 MB)
• Environmental stewardship (1 MB)