Category Archives: City Council

Webinar with Councilmember Dan Strauss, Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2021

Time: 7:00 – 8:30 pm
Location: Zoom videoconference

Please join us to hear special guest Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6) discuss homelessness in Seattle. In September 2020, Councilmember Strauss introduced his homeless management strategy to his constituency when he said: “Homelessness throughout district 6 is untenable” and also “Our parks, libraries and Metro buses should not be our de-facto homeless shelters”. Come and hear him review the progress he is making in implementing this aggressive strategy.

There will be a Question & Answer session with Councilmember Strauss after his presentation, with Vice President Glenn Singer as moderator. Attendees may ask questions directly in the videoconference, or by submitting them through the chat feature or in advance by email to the moderator.

We will also devote time for reports from the Housing, Shorelines, Land Use, Quality of Life, and Communications committees that are being studied and sorted by the InPrime Legal law firm since these are used for any new business.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. Registration is presently limited to 100 participants. The Zoom service is available as an application for computers, as an app for iPhones or Android phones, or via browser. Please configure your device before the meeting to ensure your participation.

Webinar with Councilmember Alex Pedersen, Wednesday October 7

Time: 7:00 – 8:30 PM
Date: Wednesday, October 7
Location: Zoom videoconferencing

Happy fall! Join us and special guest, Councilmember Alex Pedersen (District 4), at the Wallingford Community Council (WCC) October monthly meeting. We will also devote time for chair reports, an update on Waterway 20, and new business.

Bring your questions on the community issues most important to you — homelessness, affordable housing, City budget, and more. Share in advance by email at communications@wallingfordcc.org. Questions will be asked by our moderators. We will also be taking questions from attendees during the Q & A portion of the meeting.

Register for the October WCC Meeting

We wish you and your families good health and safety.

Sincerely,
Jenny Ring-Perez
Wallingford Community Council President

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.

Webinar with Councilmember Alex Pedersen, Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Time: 7:00 – 8:00 pm
Location: Zoom videoconference

Please join the Wallingford Community Council on its first virtual community council meeting! District 4 Councilmember Alex Pedersen is our featured speaker in a webinar hosted by Wallingford Community Council President Jennifer Ring-Perez. You may submit questions for Councilmember Pedersen to be asked by President Ring-Perez.

To attend, you must register.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with the information necessary to join the webinar. Registration is presently limited to 100 participants. The webinar will be recorded.

The webinar will be held using the Zoom videoconferencing service. The Zoom service is available as an application for computers, as an app for iPhones or Android phones, or can be joined in many browsers. Configure your device beforehand to ensure your participation is working properly.

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.