The Downtown Plan, or Land Use and Transportation Plan for Downtown Seattle, was a project begun in the early 1980s to replace the Comprehensive Plan with new land use policies, a new zoning code and a new zoning map. The Downtown Plan is the most well-documented project within Kraabel's papers. The project was inspired by the Seattle 2000 Commission, which established long-range goals and objectives for the City and was intended to be a guide for downtown growth. The many parties that contributed to the Plan are reflected in Kraabel's papers, including the Executive Office, City Council, the Mayor, many citizens, several technical advisory committees, a Mayor's Task Force, Special District Boards, the Design Commission and the Planning Commission. Land use, transportation issues, housing, traffic, open space, the waterfront, parking, pedestrian traffic, and human services were all discussed during development of the Plan. The Plan was adopted by Council in 1985 through Resolution 27281. Many related documents can be located through the Published Documents Index; specifically, proposed, draft, and revised versions of the Downtown Land Use and Transportation Plan can be found there.

The Document List in Box 1 for the Downtown Plan is a list of documents with alphanumeric codes compiled by the Kraabel staff. Documents can be found by their code, which are on tabs attached to the documents, but they are not in the exact order in which they appear in the list. Agendas of the Urban Redevelopment Committee, which Kraabel chaired during this period, are included for 1984 to 1985. Also included are discussion agendas for the Land Use Committee, notices of public hearings, memoranda and correspondence. The Downtown Plan was a complex project, involving issues relating to the land use code, housing, economic development, and environmental and social issues. The complexities of the issues are reflected in the records through interdepartmental correspondence, constituent comments, reports, and drafts of legislation. Correspondents include Allied Arts of Seattle, Denny Regrade and Capitol Hill community organizations, and many downtown businesses as well as many individuals. Peter Steinbrueck, Virginia Galle, and Brewster Denny were among the citizens helping shape the Plan and its revisions. The newspaper clippings in Box 6 contain many business and community organization newsletter clippings regarding the Downtown Plan.

Revisions and updates to the Downtown Plan are also included here and date from 1988-1989. The update includes documentation of Initiative 31 and the Mayor's proposed alternative. The Initiative, known as the Citizens' Alternative Plan or CAP, was passed in 1989 by Seattle voters. The Initiative limited the height and size of downtown buildings. The Initiative was supported by Margaret Pageler and Peter Steinbrueck, among others; Paul Schell and Walt Crowley were among those against the Initiative.