The Department of Community Development (DCD) was established in 1969, assuming the responsibilities of the City Planning Commission staff and the Urban Renewal Program, previously a division of the Executive Department. Throughout its existence, DCD administered the City’s comprehensive planning and provided direction and support for the City’s physical and economic development through community planning. The Department was the City agency responsible for coordinating public and private efforts toward physical redevelopment and renewal in both residential and business districts. This work was based on the social, economic, and physical needs of the target community or district.
A very large portion of the DCD budget was realized from federal funds. This reliance on federal grants significantly impacted DCD's operational focus as certain types of federal funding dried up and other funding programs emerged. The administration of the Seattle Model City Program was moved to DCD in 1970, but funding ended in 1974. All but one of the City's Urban Renewal projects were closed out in 1977. And at about the same time, the Community Development Block Grant program, a federal pass-through program, was established. Other federal funding programs included the Neighborhood Improvement Program, Targeted Neighborhood Assistance Program, Neighborhood Development Program, and Urban Development Action Grants.
These changes in funding impacted the DCD's priorities and also led to several departmental reorganizations in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1972, the Department added economic development to its responsibilities in response to an economic decline in Seattle that had begun in the late 1960s. The focus was to provide information to businesses that were expanding or relocating in Seattle. At this point, DCD was managing planning and implementation of complex projects that had interdepartmental implications, such as development of the Central Waterfront, Freeway Park, Westlake Mall, Pike Place Market renewal, and the huge renewal projects in the Yesler/Atlantic, Northlake, and South Seattle neighborhoods.
In 1974, a Mayor's task force report recommended separating policy planning from development planning and implementation. While policy work went to the newly created Office of Policy Planning, DCD's focus turned to development and operational planning with added renewal projects in the Denny Regrade and International District, among others. With the addition of Community Development Block Grant funding, as well as other federal programs, DCD grew considerably in the late 1970s.
However, with the advent of President Ronald Reagan's administration, federal funding for Seattle was curtailed. In 1982, DCD's budget was cut by twenty percent and remained flat for the next three years. In 1986, following passage of the City's Housing Levy, the Department added a new function, administering the construction of new moderate to low income housing units. In addition, DCD was the lead agency working with the University of Washington in the late 1980s to promote Seattle, nationally and internationally, as a technology center.
Mayor Norm Rice, whose first term began in 1990, reorganized the City's housing, human services, economic development, and planning functions. DCD was abolished in 1992. Its programs were relocated in several City agencies, including the newly organized Department of Neighborhoods, Department of Housing and Human Services, and Planning Department.
The collection consists of 31.8 cubic feet of working papers, correspondence, and subject files of Department of Community Development directors. Included are memoranda, notes, and reports relating to planning and project and program development. The records cover the major functional areas of concern to the Department: housing, economic development, neighborhood revitalization, urban renewal, and downtown planning. The files were generated by Paul Schell, James Hornell, Darel Grothaus, Evelyn Sun, Dean Mosier, David Moseley, and Linda Dupont-Johnson. Series are described more fully below.
The records are arranged into ten functional categories:
Records are open to the public.
[Item and date], Department of Community Development Director's Records, Record Series 1600-03. Box [number], Folder [number]. Seattle Municipal Archives.
The records of the Department of Community Development's first director, James D. Braman, Jr., are currently at the University of Washington. Braman was DCD's director from 1969 to 1974.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
The DCD director's Administration records document the department's finance and budget matters, federal and state legislative agendas, relations with other City departments, public relations, internal policy and organization, and the director's role in the Mayor's advisory cabinets. A significant body of this material relates to the administration of federal grants, especially Community Development Block Grants and Urban Development Action Grants. Nearly a quarter of the records concern work with the Mayor's Office, especially in the areas of housing, human services, land use, and physical development.
Planning and development of the downtown core area was one of the principle program areas for DCD. Most of these records relate to the physical development of downtown, but also touch on economic development issues and downtown neighborhood preservation. Major topics include the development of the Denny Regrade area, renovation and revitalization of Union Station and the Union Station corridor, preservation and development in Pioneer Square and the International District, and planning for the central waterfront. Among the issues addressed for most of these topics were downtown transportation, parking policies, stadium construction, street populations, mitigation related to transit and transportation projects, and the development of downtown institutions such as the Seattle Art Museum and the Seattle Aquarium.
The records in this category focus on projects and programs designed to have an economic impact on the city's downtown core, but also in certain neighborhood commercial areas. Important projects and topics include the Neighborhood Business Development Loan Program, the disposition and development of the Lake Union Steam Plant, trade and tourism issues, Promenade 23 in the Central Area, issues related to construction of the Washington State Trade and Convention Center, and cooperative efforts between the City and the University of Washington. Also documented is the City's participation in regional economic development agencies such as the Seattle Economic Development Commission and the Seattle King County Economic Development Council. Labor, education, and equal opportunity issues are reflected in files related to the Seattle Worker's Center, Seattle Minority Business Development Center, Seattle Opportunities Industrial Center, and education and economic development.
The records in this sub-series have extensive crossover with the zoning records below. Records relate to issues such as shoreline management, alternative energy development and conservation, and residential weatherization programs. Other topics include coastal zone management, greenbelt acquisition and protection, and environmental protection legislation.
The Housing sub-series covers a wide range of issues including low and moderate income housing, homelessness and shelters, renovation and rehabilitation of existing housing, senior and special needs population housing, and needs of specific geographic areas of the City. There is a substantial amount of material covering the Centeral Area Draft Development Plan and Area Action Plan, housing levies, the Housing Preservation Ordinance, and housing and related social service needs in downtown Seattle. Although alternative housing does not comprise a large portion of these records, there are files of interest on co-housing, cooperative housing, homesteading, and mobile homes.
Low income and senior housing records document the policy development and implementation of programs such as Section 8 housing, Scattered Site housing, and specific building projects such as the Morrison, Aloha, and Oregon hotels. Rehabilitation programming is documented in records of the Neighborhood Housing Rehabilitation Program, Rental Rehabilitation Program, and Section 312 Program.
DCD's neighborhood planning dealt with development issues in all neighborhoods, but particularly in the original urban renewal area of Yesler-Atlantic, Northlake, North Greenwood, and south Seattle. A large body of the records relate to the I-90 Home Ownership Program. This program was created to make is possible for surplus land to be transferred to the City of Seattle from the Washington State Department of Transportation, who purchased the land for the construction of the I-90 Corridor Project. The City of Seattle then turned around and sold the land to tenants who resided in state-owned I-90 housing and allowed them to carry home loans at low interest rates.
The records also show the cooperation between the City and the Seattle School District on neighborhood issues, including such topics as integration, joint reuse of closed schools, and development of former school sites. Also comprising a significant portion of the neighborhood planning records are files on the siting of social and human services and special needs programs and agencies in neighborhoods.
Many of the neighborhood planning records touch on economic development issues including neighborhood/industrial issues in the Empire/Rainier Valley area, South Lake Union Corridor, and South Park/Duwamish development area. Neighborhood traffic and transportation is an important thread running throughout these records.
The proposed Urban Renewal and redevelopment project for the Pike Place Market during the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a massive citizen movement to save and preserve the Market. The DCD director's records document the redevelopment, rehabilitation, and preservation of the Market following the citizen initiative that saved it from redevelopment.
These records illustrate the wide range of activities involving the City in the Market's preservation. This includes sale and purchase of parcels within the Market neighborhood, rehabilitation and renovation of specific buildings, relocation of tenants during the renewal process, and the improvement of streets, sidewalks, lighting, and stairways in the public right-of-way.
Also of interest are records related to social services sited in the Market district, housing issues, funding for the renewal project, creation of parks in and around the district, and discussions of operating the Market on Sundays.
The Urban Conservation records document the development and operation of the City's historic preservation program. These records relate to the creation and regulation of historic districts including the Ballard Avenue Landmark District, Fort Lawton, International District, and Pioneer Square. Policy and legislation regarding historic preservation is also included. Specific buildings or building types that are documented include Anhalt apartments, Fire Station 3, historic downtown theaters, Home of the Good Shepherd, the Martha Washington School site, and Smith Tower, among others.
The historic preservation and landmark designation process is illustrated in these records, as is the creation of the Historic Seattle Preservation and Development Authority, a public corporation established to develop historic properties.
The records document the controversies and the development of a downtown park and retail center around the Westlake triangle. Included are records relating to financing development, relocating and renovating the Monorail terminus, the closing of Pine Street, relocation of utilities, negotiations with the Rouse Company, tenant and business relocation, and creation of the short-lived Westlake Development Authority.
The Zoning records deal with a wide variety of land use issues in Seattle and the City's comprehensive planning. The records document the planning for a project approach to zoning that broke the process into relatively manageable categories. These included individual zoning projects based on specific use of the land, thus focusing on major institutions, single family land use zones, multi-family land use zones, and neighborhood commercial areas.
In addition, these records deal with issues of annexation, parking, moorages, adults-only theater controls, skybridges, code interpretations, sign regulations, and street vacations. Also documented is the Citizen's Alternative Plan, a successful citizen initiative to restrict the height of new buildings constructed in the downtown area.