Street Activation - What & Why

What's Happening Now?

Mayor Harrell’s Downtown Activation Plan is revitalizing Seattle’s downtown core neighborhoods. See the Downtown Activation Plan webpage for more information. SDCI’s Street Activation proposal is one of the proposed actions in the Mayor’s plan. See the Project Documents page.

In April 2025, the City Council approved the Mayor’s recommended interim code updates. Mayor Bruce Harrell signed Ordinance 127198 and it went into effect on May 10, 2025. See more information about the ordinance and related documents at the webpage for Council Bill 120771.

The adopted codes add more flexibility to the Land Use Code and help fill empty spaces in existing buildings. This eliminates restrictions on the range of uses allowed at street level and on second floors in several parts of Downtown, Uptown, and South Lake Union. These restrictions limit the types of tenants that can occupy vacant street-level spaces. 

It also gives more design flexibility in how ground floor spaces can be sized, to better encourage small businesses – startups, services, offices, and small spaces for popups – that will add to vitality in our core urban centers.

This will help activate streets and increase eyes on the street for greater pedestrian comfort.

The adopted codes apply these interim provisions for three years, through May 2028.

This does not apply to Chinatown/International District and Pioneer Square, where current rules already provide flexibility that fits with their historic districts’ character.

Wider Variety of Uses at First and Second Floors

This adopted codes renew the interim code flexibility (first approved in 2021) for tenants in street-level spaces, for a 3-year period. This relates to several streets with active street-level use requirements in Downtown, Uptown, and South Lake Union. The types of uses that are allowed are:

• Offices, meeting rooms, and shared work spaces
• Medical offices and services
• Research and development laboratories
• Community centers and institutions (except hospitals)
• Gyms
• Art facilities and museums
• Food processing/craft work and horticultural uses
•  Non-household sales and service (such as restaurant supply stores)

Reduced Minimum Depth of Street-Level Uses

The adopted code reduces the required minimum depth of spaces/store-fronts at street-level  (currently 15 or 30 feet) to 8 feet.  This encourages small-scale food vending shops, and other varieties of creative retail opportunities that cannot occur today.

Encourage Activating Uses on First and Second Floors in Existing and New Development

The adopted code gives more flexibility for existing street-level spaces to be remodeled or expanded, including adding mezzanine floors or second-floor spaces. The rules in Downtown otherwise penalize or prevent these spaces by counting them against floor area density limits. The adopted code lifts this restriction in more areas of Downtown (as it already is in the retail core), and in certain corridors in Uptown and South Lake Union. Removing this restriction gives more flexibility to design creative spaces that could attract businesses like destination restaurant and specialty retail stores.

This restriction is also lifted for future new development of first and second floor spaces. This removes code barriers and encourages a wider variety of uses that are people-centric. As a result, it will generate additional activity and attractions in a majority of Downtown and parts of Uptown and South Lake Union.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Gordon Clowers
Senior Planner, SDCI
gordon.clowers@seattle.gov 

Project Benefits

The adopted Street Activation code amendments are part of the Downtown Activation Plan, a coordinated strategy that supports economic recovery in Downtown by making code requirements more flexible and more responsive to today’s needs.

The End Result

The Downtown Activation Plan reinforces Downtown’s roles as an active and inviting hub for the region’s economy, tourism, and daily living. It is stimulating new growth that builds on our strengths as the pre-eminent city in the Pacific Northwest.