Category Archives: Parking

Vote on subdivision with no minimum lot size, Wednesday August 12

The Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee of the Seattle City Council is considering Omnibus bill CB 119835 this Wednesday August 12 at 9:30 AM. This omnibus bill is supposed to be for minor editorial corrections, but several provisions will change all Single-Family lots into Multi-Family lots with no minimum lot size. We urge you to contact your Councilmembers and ask them to remove these provisions.

  • The Legislative Analysis of these provisions states: “However, the proposed omnibus language introduces ambiguity into the Code that could lead to unintended consequences for future development of vacant lots that are created through a unit lot subdivision process.”
  • The City Council should not be passing bills with ambiguous language.
  • Any single-family parent lot could be redeveloped with a house and an ADU and a DADU then subdivided in three unit lots that could be sold separately (as multi-family housing).
  • Unit lots have no minimum lot size requirement.
  • More trees would be cut to make way for these redevelopments.
  • The price of single-family lots would increase further reducing the affordability of housing.
  • The City Council should use a separate bill with a full public engagement to consider this major change in land use code.
Example of 4960 SF parent lot redeveloped into 2000 SF, 1150 SF, & 1800 SF multi-family unit lots.

Call to Action: Public to be removed from Design Review

Tomorrow Monday April 13 at 2 PM, the Seattle City Council will vote on CB119769, an emergency ordinance to expedite affordable housing during the COVID-19 crisis. The bill curtails public Design Review meetings for the next six to eight months to accelerate project approvals. Instead the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections will conduct only internal administrative reviews.

Administrative Design Review is where the developer can promote variances to set backs and allowances for roof-top structures for their projects. See the Downtown Residents Alliance post for further discussion of the bill.

Express your concerns to the City Council or your Councilmembers. We emphasize these concerns:

  • A better option is to eliminate Design Review for the crisis period. All developers would have to follow the land use code without exception.
  • Only projects with significant affordable housing units on-site should be given this exemption. Market-rate and commercial projects can wait.
  • Six to eight months is an excessive time period for a crisis that may ease in one to two months.

Route 44 Planning Drop-In Sessions, Thursday, November 21

The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and King County Metro have kicked-off the early planning phase of the Route 44 – Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor project. They are working to enhance safety, and to improve transit speed and reliability throughout the Route 44 corridor. SDOT and Metro anticipate implementing these upgrades to the Route 44 Transit-Plus Multimodal Corridor in 2023, prior to Metro’s future delivery of RapidRide.

Join SDOT and Metro at one of three drop-in sessions in the University District, Ballard, and Wallingford. The drop-in sessions are a good opportunity to learn more about the project, talk to the project team, and provide feedback on early concepts. Drop in any time; the information presented will be the same for each session.

University District
Tuesday November 19
2:00 – 3:30 PM
University Bookstore
4326 University Way

Ballard
Wednesday, November 20
6:00 – 7:30 PM
Leif Erikson Hall
2245 NW 57th Street

Wallingford
Thursday, November 21
6:00 – 7:30 PM
Wallingford Senior Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N, #140

The Wallingford Community Council (WCC) is committed to working with the City on safer streets and smart designs, and has been involved with Route 44 improvements for many years. The WCC promoted the present in-lane bus stops, supported queue-jump signals and reduced bus stops for faster Route 44 bus travel through Wallingford. The WCC maintains its support for Wallingford businesses that could be impacted depending on the proposed changes to the corridor.

Please attend a session, review the project, and comment on the proposals.

City Council Poised to Gut Environmental Reviews, Monday October 7

On Monday October 7 at 2 PM, the City Council is rushing to take a final vote on CB 119600. This legislation will substantially weaken requirements for the environmental review of projects and policies under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA).

In the opinion of the Seattle Times Editorial Board:

“Don’t be fooled by [the] greenwashing. It does the environment no favors to weaken the State Environmental Policy Act… This will mostly benefit real estate investors trying to further cash in on the Amazon boom.”

“Seattle’s environmental community should also urge the council to reject this faux-environmental policy. They must resist the siren song of developer-friendly think tanks, telling tales of how the earth will be saved by bulldozing houses, cutting trees and replacing them with big apartments.”

“This [legislation] is about weakening policy written to protect the environment and quality of life for everyone. It reduces costs for the few who profit off land speculation.”

We urge you to contact all City Councilmembers with your concerns about CB 119600, and ask them to delay this legislation for consideration by the newly-elected Council next year. (Contact information is below.) You can further express your concerns by testifying at the City Council meeting on Monday October 7 at 2 PM in Council Chambers at Seattle City Hall.

There is no reason for the City Council to rush. Under state law, the City has until April 2021 to consider and adopt more reasonable and more environmentally friendly provisions. When our big issues are climate change, equity, and human health, the SEPA process should be strengthened, not weakened.

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Paving Project Open House, Thursday July 25

Green Lake and Wallingford Paving Project

Thursday July 25, 6:00 – 8:00 PM
Brief presentation at 6:30 PM
Wallingford Senior Center
4649 Sunnyside Ave N, #140

Construction for the Green Lake and Wallingford Paving Project will start as soon as July 29. The Seattle Department of Transportation will host an Open House where you can learn what to expect from upcoming construction, meet the project team, and review maps of the final design.

If you are unable to attend or would like to learn more, see the Online Open House.
For more information, see Green Lake and Wallingford Paving & Multi-Modal Improvements.