The Land Use and Urban Development series is the largest within Kraabel's Subject Files, in part because he chaired the Planning and Urban Development Committee for a total of seven years. The records date from 1972 to 1990. Many topics are covered in this series, ranging from bed and breakfast zoning to the Shoreline Master Program.

Kraabel's efforts to regulate houseboat rates, one of the issues for which he is most well known, are documented here through hearing transcripts, draft legislation and correspondence. The records on this issue date primarily from 1980 to 1983, but range from 1977, when the first Equity Ordinance was passed, to 1986. Known as the Houseboat Equity Ordinance, the original ordinance was intended to control moorage rate increases and regulate eviction notices. Various aspects of the original ordinance and subsequent amendments were declared unconstitutional by the State.

Also well-documented in the Land Use and Urban Development series are changes made in multi-family residential land use policies reflecting complex growth-related issues. Residential density provisions as a whole were reexamined and elements such as open space, scale, and varied housing types considered; parking and setbacks as well as neighborhood character also made up part of the discussion. Changes in policy are documented through policy planning reports, constituent mail, and Council correspondence. The multi-family zoning records date from 1979-1989, but the bulk of the records and discussion date from 1989. Prior to multi-family land use policy discussion for the City as a whole, Ballard and Fremont were chosen as re-evaluation pilot projects beginning in 1987. Community input, draft legislation and reports document the Ballard and Fremont projects, dating from 1987 to 1988.

Public hearings and Council actions regarding land use and zoning changes related to the Shoreline Master Program in the mid-1980s are also in this series. Site planning in the late 1980s is well documented in the Land Use and Urban Development series. The projects most well documented are planning for a City Hall, the Convention Center and Westlake. Beginning in 1979, the City began exploring office needs for the City and performing long- and mid-range space planning. Several different options were explored for a new civic center with the final recommendation being for a location in the vicinity of the existing buildings, as that location offered "the best opportunity to meet the City's needs in a responsible, systematic way that will achieve a noble legacy for our community" (Box 22/4, New City Hall Project : Planning and Design Advisory Committee - Project Recommendations March 1, 1988). It would be the next decade before any of the planning was realized. Also documented in the Site Planning subseries is discussion over how to develop the PC-1 site located on Western Avenue west of the Pike Place Market. The Westlake Project Files include discussion of how the site was to be developed. Issues discussed included whether or not the Seattle Art Museum would be located there, the Rouse Company proposal, financial issues, and the monorail.