On Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell rolled out a package of design review reforms intended to speed up homebuilding and comply with a state deadline that is fast approaching. The mayor has proposed a six-month pause on design review requirements to ensure state compliance in time and provide a t
In shift away from office and toward housing growth, Downtown Bellevue’s development pipeline has seen nearly 4,000 additional homes proposed and more than two million square feet of office space abandoned in just the last couple of years. Once built, the pipeline of 14,000 homes would more than dou
As a new 45-story apartment tower goes up at the Elephant Car Wash site, Seattle is building apartments at a rapid pace – but a slump may be on the way.
City officials have insisted that the staff cuts for SDCI in next year’s budget will not impact permit approval times. Staff are not convinced.
New housing, hotel, and research science developments in Seattle’s downtown core will be exempt from the onerous design review process for three years. Only Councilmember Cathy Moore voted against the proposal.
New developments downtown would get an exemption from design review for three years under a proposal from Mayor Harrell. But first he must win over the Seattle City Council.
Three years after the Seattle City Council tasked the department of construction with examining how to reform its cumbersome design review process, the agency released its report. The department still remains nearly a year away from making substantive changes to design review.
To prevent a 19-story apartment building long in the works, a group of Belltown residents are trying to stop code updates to Seattle’s Living Building pilot program. The purported risk of bird deaths headline the group’s laundry list of concerns.
Two housing projects — one in Wedgwood and one in Capitol Hill — are running into similar issues around tree retention, parking, and scale.
Mayor Harrell is hoping to activate downtown through greater housing development and his administration has proposed a design review exemption for qualifying housing and/or laboratory projects in the downtown core to encourage such growth.
Design review is currently under the microscope, with a stakeholder process evaluating the problems of housing delays and racial inequity. The Seattle City Council recently passed an extension of a Covid-era design review exemption for affordable housing projects. Councilmember Dan Strauss and the Mayor’s Office also floated a pilot
Highway Lids, Design Review Waivers for Affordable Housing, Continuing Streateries, and Easing Food Truck Restrictions In its final full meeting of 2022, the Seattle City Council passed a series of measures that could go far in making the city more habitable, affordable, and lively. Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6) received
The Office of the Mayor announcing legislation extending Covid-era exemptions that allow affordable rental housing projects to skip design review, the costly and time-consuming architecture critiques widely seen as a roadblock to development in Seattle. The year-long extension would allow for development of further legislation that may permanently codify the
Buried behind a storm of mammoth projects are yet more potential development proposals in Downtown Bellevue. While these projects don’t possess the scale of the mega-projects addressed in the previous article, they do jockey for their potential place in the city’s skyline and will impact the look and
Among the many projects up for consideration in Downtown Bellevue, a significant faction stands out for the sheer scale of its developments. These projects are defined by being constructed in multiple phases, consisting of multiple mid-rises to skyscrapers, including hundreds of dwelling units, and adding millions of square feet of
Few things perfectly encapsulate the problems of planning like a city’s land use code. Unlike the building code, which dictates the life safety requirements to make sure a building doesn’t burn down or collapse, the land use code simply sets your building’s height, location, and how much
On Thursday, Mayor Bruce Harrell promised the imminent release of housing data dashboard that will show his administration is on course to meet a campaign pledge of producing 1,000 units of emergency housing and shelter beds in his first six months in office. Until the dashboard is out, The
The Puget Sound Regional Council adopted a Regional Housing Strategy which could have a big impact on housing growth — if cities and counties follow through. In this installment of housing notes, the Seattle metro region emerges as a nationwide leader in building multi-family housing, the Puget Sound Regional Council adopts
First a quick factoid to kick off this installment of housing notes. U.S. Census data shows that housing construction is on the rise across the country. In November 2021, 1.48 million housing units — both single-family and multifamily — started construction, the highest level since 1973. Even better, the numbers
The Seattle City Council has prepared more than 200 amendments to Mayor Jenny Durkan’s 2022 budget proposal. Among them are amendments that would initiate work to reform design review, increase outreach staffing to address Seattle’s inequitable zoning, and rededicate JumpStart funding to its original intent when the council
A working group has spent a year analyzing Seattle’s design review process. Here are their suggestions for improvement. When most new mixed-use, multifamily, and commercial development projects are proposed in Seattle, they undergo a locally controlled and mandated city process called design review. The program works like this: volunteer
Tonight the West Design Review Board will take another look at a proposal for a 19-story residential tower near the waterfront in Belltown. The building’s design was approved back in February, but the developer has identified a necessary design departure that breaks with existing guidelines, so they’re back
Fifteen housing advocates applied for 15 open seats on Seattle’s design review boards this winter. A public records request revealed that all 15 were shut out as the City opted instead to appoint mostly architects with connections to major firms or past or current board members, even in seats
Seattle has been taking the lion’s share of the region’s housing growth for the last decade, but developers are starting to look to Tacoma in greater numbers. One big reason why is that Tacoma’s permitting and approval process is simple and quick, while Seattle’s has increasingly
The all-volunteer West Design Review Board will hear about a project at 2550 32nd Ave W that would house new neighbors and bring an updated grocery store to the heart of Magnolia. The design review meeting (following a postponement) is scheduled for June 23rd at 5pm. It’s a deep
Are you passionate about increasing housing affordability in Seattle? Or maybe you want to have a say in how your neighborhood develops? If so, you should consider applying before January 15th for one of the 15 slots currently open on the Seattle Design Review Boards. Each of the city’s
Facing gripes about brick color and other minutia, 323 homes will need to wait. In 1994, Councilmember Jim Street proudly predicted Queen Anne would be effectively off limits to new development thanks to the interventions of anti-housing activists in the neighborhood planning mandated by the 1990 Growth Management Act. “I’
On Monday, Seattle Parks and Recreation (Parks, for short) released a preliminary site plan for the new Green Lake Community Center as part of the third open house for the redevelopment project. The Urbanist covered the past two open houses, when they were narrowing down site selection and site configuration
We know two things are true: we need more housing—1.8 million more people are expected to move to the Puget Sound region before 2050—and our region is falling behind our climate goals, as evidenced by the fires raging across the West Coast and the smoke choking off
Seattle Parks and Recreation’s online open house has returned for the Green Lake Community Center/Pool redevelopment project, including the results of the previous open house. The selected and current site, adjacent to Green Lake’s commercial core, received overwhelming support at 75%. None of the other sites even
Last week, the Seattle City Council couldn’t muster the votes to pass an emergency ordinance to keep design review moving during the pandemic era, coming up a vote shy. Yesterday that vote flipped and it passed. Councilmember Tammy Morales provided the decisive seventh vote needed to pass the emergency
Onlooker and Seattle City Councilmember alike seemed to wonder what just happened yesterday after the city council rejected an emergency ordinance intended to continue design review via administrative and electronic means during the COVID-19 crisis. Since the pandemic may preclude normal in-person design review for several months, the legislation was
Since COVID-19 has made Seattle Design Review’s open meeting process impossible, on Monday, April 20th the city council is considering adoption of Council Bill 119769, an ordinance to temporarily lift some of the requirements for affordable housing projects and unclog the process for other development projects. The American Institute
Seattle’s design review process has been on a hold for about a month now due distancing measures to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. Today, Mayor Jenny Durkan unveiled a work around to keep projects advancing so that the housing pipeline does not dry up, punctuating this crisis with another. The
On Monday, the Seattle City Council took a big step in approving a rezone and development plan for the Fort Lawton site. The legislation will pave the way for an affordable housing complex with more than 235 homes to move forward. The city council also extended what amounts to a
On Wednesday, the Seattle City Council’s held the last Planning, Land Use, and Zoning Committee meeting of the year. Three items were on the agenda, with changes to regulatory requirements for transportation level-of-service standards being the most substantial issue before councilmembers and receiving a vote out of committee. Councilmembers
On Monday, the Seattle City Council waded through a very lengthy agenda. Councilmembers voted to extend a heavy industrial moratorium in Aurora-Licton Urban Village (ALUV) in hopes of later attracting denser mixed-use development. They also passed South Lake Union design guidelines, expanded a SoDo Business Improvement Area, approved a Seattle
On Monday, the Seattle City Council approved disposition and sale of a City-owned brickyard (3819 4th Ave NE) next to Dunn Lumber in Wallingford. The property is currently owned by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) and zoned Industrial Commercial with a 45-foot height limit, which allows light industrial and
A few months back The Urbanist wrote about The M, the first new highrise proposed for the U District since the upzone was approved. In the next few month at least three more proposed highrises will come before the city’s Design Review Board, proving the upzone is working and
Under new rules that started this month, early community engagement will be a key element of Seattle’s design review process. Policymakers hope that the change will get developers and community members talking to each other before the formal design process begins and result in outcomes where proposals better reflect
On April 10th, a building proposed in Little Saigon was approved by the Southeast Design Review Board. It will occupy a 51,402 square foot site on the block bounded by Jackson and King Streets and 10th and 12th Acenues. The site is the former Acme poultry processing complex, from
On Monday, the Seattle City Council commissioned design guidelines and a new design review board specifically for the Central Area. The design program will hopefully retain local culture and sustain the historically Black community through sensitive development initiatives. Also on the docket, the city council approved legislation to support energy
In February of last year, the Seattle City Council passed a major upzone of the University District, which allowed highrises in parts of the neighborhood for the first time since the 1970s. On April 9th, the first new highrise proposed under the upzone went before the Northeast Design Review Board
A 28-story tower planned for site adjacent to Denny Park would bring 268 apartments to South Lake Union, and the project could clear a hurdle on Wednesday. The West Design Review Board will give feedback–and potentially a design recommendation smoothing the way for a Master Use Permit–to Ankrom
Alchemy’s proposal for 40 small efficiency apartments in Wallingford could get the green light at its Design Review Recommendation meeting on Monday. As tenants feel the pinch of rapidly climbing rents, we need more projects like this one to provide more housing choices, especially targeted at moderate-income folks. A
Last week, the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development released draft changes for the South Lake Union design guidelines. That guidelines have been in place 2005 and were last revised in 2013. Since then, rapid growth has taken hold across the neighborhood in the form of new development, several
The urbanist community spit-taked last week reading a glib op-ed in The Seattle Times that railed against a project planned for Fremont which includes small efficiency homes. The author (who lives in an ample Fremont townhome likely priced around $800,000) said living in a small efficiency is akin to
The corner of 23rd and Union in the Central District has undergone dramatic changes in the last few years. It’s seen familiar businesses and churches give way to new stores catering to the areas new more affluent residents. It’s seen its African American and immigrant residents displaced to
The saga of Civic Square will take a step closer to a conclusion at a second Early Design Guidance meeting with the Downtown Design Review Board tomorrow. James K.M. Cheng’s curvy design rises 57 stories and provides a public plaza at ground level, as the Seattle City Council
Earlier this month, the Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) in conjunction with the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) held an open house on updating Capitol Hill’s neighborhood design guidelines. The design guidelines update follows on the heels of updated design guidelines adopted in July specific
Light rail has revolutionized the way many people get to and from Capitol Hill since its station opened in 2016. But the station will bring more change to the neighborhood in the years ahead. In October, plans for four new mixed-use buildings at the station received design approval from the
The Downtown Design Review Board will take its first look at a design proposal for a 14-story hotel at 103 Pike St on Tuesday, October 3rd. Across from Seattle’s premier tourist destination which attracts more than 10 million visitors per year, the project aims to connect with Pike Place
Before most new buildings in Seattle can be constructed, their plans must first go through a process known as “Design Review.” Design Review Boards (DRBs) consist of volunteers selected by the city. These boards review building proposals and recommend changes to make building designs more aesthetically pleasing and functionally integrated
The Seattle City Council is hosting a double feature at SIFF Cinema Uptown Auditorium 3 on Monday September 11. The first public hearing for the Uptown rezone will start at 5pm. The second will cover the design review improvement package and start at 7pm. We urge you to attend or
Last week the East Design Review Board threw a wrench in plans to begin construction on the complex planned around Capitol Hill Station when they declined to recommend any part of the project, including Capitol Hill Housing’s planned 110 affordable homes on the B-North site. Board members voiced a