Sustainable Policies

Bike Master Plan

Seattle is already known to be a great city for cycling, and the number of cyclists is on the rise. Between 1992 and 2000 the number of bicyclists entering and leaving the Central Business District during morning peak period increased by 57%. In response to the growing popularity and need for cycling opportunities in the city, Seattle released a Bike Master Plan in 2007. Goals of the plan include tripling the amount of cycling and reducing the rate of crashes by one third in the next ten years. The Bike Master Plan will increase the bicycle network from 67 miles to 452 miles, and it will put more than 95% of population within ¼ mile of a bike facility.

The master plan includes many types of facilities such as bicycle lanes, shared lane pavement markings, bicycle boulevards, signed local street connections, and multi use trails. Seattle is also planning for bicycle and transit service connections, more bike parking, and showers at places of employment.

Some innovations planned for the future are bicycle detection technology at signalized intersections and shared land pavement markings to indicate proper direction of travel to encourage riders to ride away from parked car doors and make driver's more aware of cyclists.

Seattle Bike Master Plan (Enlarge)

(Source:http://www.seattle.gov/transportation/docs/
bmp/BMP%20Executive%20Summary.pdf)

Seattle Green Factor

The Seattle Green Factor is a landscaping requirement implemented in 2007. The Seattle Green Factor provides a menu of landscaping strategies required for all new development in neighborhood business districts. It is intended to increase the amount and quality of urban landscaping, while allowing increased flexibility for developers and designers. The menu has different landscaping options with different point values. Each new residential development with more than four units or commercial properties with more than 4,000 s.f. are required to achieve 30% vegetation on the parcel.

The Seattle Green Factor rewards:

• landscapes visible in the public right of way
• layering of plant material
• low water use
• tree preservation
• larger canopy trees

Seattle Green Factor Score Chart (Enlarge)

(Source:http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/stellent/groups/pan/
@pan/@permits/documents/web_informational/dpds_009388.pdf)

CITY Green Building Program

All new City funded projects and renovations with over 5,000 s.f. must attain LEED, Silver. There are also height or density bonuses for LEED, Silver projects in the downtown area and "Built Green" grants for single-family and community development projects.

Seattle's green building initiative has four components:

• Incentives-Seattle offers financial and code-based incentive packages for green building projects
• Technical assistance - CITY Green offers design team coaching, assistance with code barriers, design charrettes, and referrals to resources on green building practices, materials, and technologies.
• Education programs--workshops, lecture series, and continuing education programs targeted to developers, design professionals, building managers, homeowners, and real estate agents
• Recognition- Seattle has an awards and publicity program to help spread the word about green building.

Seattle Public Library, L.E.E.D., Silver

(Source: http://www.furdell.com/images/seattle_library.jpg)