The contentious proposal, approved by a 6-3 vote in March, legalized residential uses in a small slice of SoDo. But a state board pointed out several areas where the City cut corners ahead of that vote, nullifying the change.
The 6-3 vote ends a long debate which rehashed a dormant fight over the future of Seattle’s Stadium District. With the door now open to residential uses, industrial advocates warn of the continued erosion of the city’s industrial lands.
The 3-2 vote in committee sets up a final decision later this month, but the Port of Seattle is suggesting they may take legal action against the move.
Port Commissioner Ryan Calkins argues that the Seattle City Council should reject Council President Sara Nelson’s rushed plan to add a housing district in SoDo and continue to reserve the area for industry and freight needs.
With housing advocates and the Port of Seattle divided on the issue of allowing housing near Seattle’s sports stadiums, councilmembers are being forced to pick sides, after Sara Nelson reintroduced the proposal earlier this month.
The idea of encouraging more residential development around Seattle’s stadiums had been put on ice in 2023 with the adoption of a citywide maritime and industrial strategy. Nelson’s bill reignites that debate just as the council starts to consider the Comprehensive Plan.
The opportunity to redevelop nearly five acres across from Lumen Field is pitting competing interests against each other. Some hope to see housing, but industrial stakeholders are pushing back.
The zoning changes could spur construction of up to 1,000 homes, many of them affordable, as part of a new makers district along 4th Avenue S in Georgetown.
The overhaul makes way for 3,000 homes, but a SoDo Makers District with 900 homes didn’t make the cut. On Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell signed industrial land reform into law, capping a lengthy process of study, outreach, and debate, spanning at least three mayoral administrations. The land
This week Ray Dubicki and I chat about the policy changes that have been proposed for Seattle’s industrial zones. These policies have been in the works for a long time and are finally coming up for consideration by the Seattle City Council in May and June. While we may
Through May and June, Seattle’s City Council will be considering a comprehensive rezoning of the city’s industrial lands. The changes are a long time coming, with many fits and starts. In following the evolution of this proposal, the legislation provides an interesting chance to say something I don’
New rules provide opportunities to develop employment centers north of the Ship Canal. Now that the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development has completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement for rezoning the city’s industrial lands, it’s time to start asking the important question: how do we get
As a volunteer with Friends of Street Ends, a group that works to open and enhance Seattle’s shoreline street ends for public access, I had the opportunity to tour the Duwamish Waterway in July, where one dozen street ends abut the shoreline. A centerpiece of Seattle’s industrial heritage,
A Coast Guard vertical clearance determination dealt a blow to elevated light rail options for Ballard Link, giving tunnel alternatives a boost — not to mention superrich superyacht owners. In order to accommodate the superyacht community, the United States Coast Guard has determined that fixed bridges crossing Seattle’s Ship Canal
![Industrial [Parks]: Seattle’s Green Edges](/content/images/www-theurbanist-org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/induspark-7.jpg)
For most folks, their mental image of a city park is somewhat focused, and kinda Victorian. It’s an Olmsted designed rolling green of trees and meadows and trails cloistered apart from the hustle. It’s a place to jog or dog walk or watch the clouds go by. There
Last week, concrete drivers represented by Teamster Local No. 174 offered to return to work at three of the six concrete companies facing a strike. Those companies have mostly declined to do so, which prolongs the concrete shortage around the region. The concrete drivers’ strike is now in its 125th
The Teamsters representing local concrete drivers rejected the latest offer from owners, which added just 15 cents to wages over three years. The concrete strike continues, shuttering construction sites across the region, and federal mediation has shown little sign of breaking the impasse. The latest offer from the six largest
As one of the few places in Seattle where industry rubs elbows with homes and small businesses, Georgetown is one of city’s most distinctive neighborhoods, a place for makers — people who dream up, design, build, and fix things. The neighborhood has long attracted people drawn to its industrial grit,
In this second (preview) episode of The Urbanist’s podcast, my fellow host Ray Dubicki and I continue on our journey toward becoming podcasters, which (hint, hint) is not as easy as it might seem. We also discuss the sad demise of Washington State’s proposed HB 1782, a.k.
From now until March 2nd, Seattle is taking comments on a proposal to change the zoning rules in the city’s industrial zones. Based on the work of the former mayor’s Industrial and Maritime Strategy group, the changes will address evolving manufacturing and maritime industries while protecting the lands
Build roads for freight, bikes, and transit, not peak cars Streets in Seattle’s industrial neighborhoods show massive disinvestment in the basic maintenance of curbs and pavement. It’s a discrepancy that the freight industry shares with cyclists and pedestrians in the city. The immense cost to maintain the largest
Seattleites have the opportunity to provide feedback on four alternatives guiding the future of our Industrial and Maritime lands during two upcoming public hearings: Tuesday, January 11th, 10am, and Wednesday, January 12th, 6pm. Written comments will also be accepted through January 31st. Ahead of the evening hearing on January 12th,
Recast Your City is subtitled “How to save your downtown with small-scale manufacturing,” which gives the impression that it’s a one trick book. But its author Ilana Preuss calls it a “community development self help book,” and it actually pulls off this feat. To do so, the book takes
Since the smaller of Seattle’s industrial areas is squeezed between three of the city’s richest neighborhoods, Interbay’s future is deeply uncertain. Development pressures are flipping industrial sites to big box retail. Recent closures cut into the local maritime community. Proposals for changing the local transportation network promise
Foss Maritime closed its ship repair facility this week. Located on the Ship Canal at the north end of Interbay, the yard provided dry dock maintenance to the company’s tugs and marine transportation vessels in Puget Sound. The company, founded in Tacoma in 1889 by Thea Foss and later
The Seattle City Council took the first step toward reforming single-family zoning on Monday by renaming it “Neighborhood Residential” in a unanimous vote. In an action-packed agenda, the Council decriminalized entheogens (also known as plant-based psychedelics or magic mushrooms), passed a land use change in Interbay that will clear the
For over a year, committees of local business and labor representatives have been working to develop a strategy for Seattle’s industrial and maritime lands. Given a pandemic and some other stuff going on in the city, it wasn’t a particularly high-stature initiative. In many ways, dozens of meetings
News that Amazon was planning a large distribution center in Mount Baker caught fire last week, and many people were rightfully outraged. This important 13-acre site sits at the crossroads of the Central District, the Rainier Valley, and Beacon Hill — the heart of a Black, Indigenous, and people of color
Amazon is planning a distribution center at a coveted site in Mount Baker, Brian Miller of the Daily Journal of Commerce reported Tuesday. Despite zoning allowing 145-foot towers and top notch transit that includes nearby access to Mount Baker Station, plans envision a low-slung warehouse and a colossal parking lot.
A bill to set up a public ownership authority at the Interbay Armory site is in the last stages of the legislative process. On Tuesday, the Washington Senate Ways and Means committee will hear House Bill 1173 at its 1:30pm session. The bill has already passed the House. From
SDOT’s new BIRT and Ballard Bridge studies continue history of mistreating the industrial neighborhood. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) released two studies last week. Both looking at infrastructure in Ballard and Interbay, the studies lay out a blueprint for spending billions of dollars in transportation money. They are both
Over this series of articles, I have laid out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. A long history of exclusion keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities, an absolute loss for building a vibrant and vital city. Now is the
Issues Over Image (with Pictures) Over this series of articles, I am laying out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. A long history of exclusion keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities, an absolute loss for building a vibrant and
The Terrible No-good Very Bad Use Table Over this series of articles, I am laying out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. A long history of exclusion keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities, an absolute loss for building a
How did we get here? Over this series of articles, I am laying out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. A long history of exclusion keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities, an absolute loss for building a vibrant and
In this series of four articles, I am going to lay out an argument that Seattle should mix industrial uses in our residential and commercial neighborhoods. It’s based on the idea that our bright-line description of industry keeps interesting and useful things out of our communities. Such exclusion is
Interbay is a collision of changing urban landscapes, expensive deteriorating infrastructure, and confused layers of authority. As the smaller of Seattle’s two industrial centers, Interbay is ground zero for the conflicts of a city that is changing from the great Yukon supply hub to the digital service economy. For