May 21st, 2014
We adopted new rules on small lot infill houses Monday, rules I believe will stop the terrible “grain silo” and “alley skyscraper” houses that popped up on previously unrecognized lots all over the city. More on these new rules in a moment, though. First, context setting. At a breakfast Monday someone asked
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Posted: May 21st, 2014 under
Planning and Land Use.
January 22nd, 2013
Once in a while I come to think that a particular subject is the most complicated of the various issues that come before the Council. Land use is complicated, but it’s nothing compared to taxi regulations. And taxis are nothing compared to the towing industry. And just when you think there’s nothing
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Posted: January 22nd, 2013 under
Planning and Land Use.
July 9th, 2012
The proposal for a new basketball arena has launched many thousand emails to councilmembers as of early July and I know there will be many more to come. While the emails break down into the “for” and “against” camp, they also split into the “click-and-send campaign” variety of few words and the
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Posted: July 9th, 2012 under
Planning and Land Use.
December 13th, 2011
Usually the Council’s Committee on the Built Environment (COBE) meetings begin at 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m. Tomorrow’s meeting, one of the more anticipated of the year, will begin instead at 10:30 a.m. due to cascading series of errors with the agenda release. We usually post the agenda several days in advance
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Posted: December 13th, 2011 under
Planning and Land Use.
December 8th, 2011
Today in the Committee on the Built Environment we confirmed appointments of 16 citizens to various city boards, commissions, and councils. [caption id="attachment_1593" align="alignright" width="300" caption="The planned North Lot Tower near Qwest Field will undergo a review by the Pioneer Square Preservation Board. (Source: Daniels Development.)"][/caption] Thanks to people stepping forward to
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Posted: December 8th, 2011 under
Government,
Planning and Land Use.
December 6th, 2011
As we get closer to what will likely be final committee-level action Dec. 14 (there’ll be no Roosevelt action at the December 8 Committee on the Built Environment), the Roosevelt rezone work is shaping up to set a template for thoughtful zoning and development standards review in other transit-connected urban villages in
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Posted: December 6th, 2011 under
Planning and Land Use.
November 29th, 2011
In the last few weeks I’ve written about how, when I re-upped as the committee chair for COBE in 2010, I made it a goal to focus on land use as service, as a means to an end. I talked about the ways I wanted land use to serve the greater good
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November 16th, 2011
Creating affordable housing in Seattle I have a colleague and friend here in City Government who just returned from a Policy Link meeting in Detroit. If you read much about urban affairs you know Detroit is the crucible for everyone’s anger about the economy, the tanked automotive industry, bank foreclosures, overwhelmed public
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Posted: November 16th, 2011 under
Planning and Land Use.
October 18th, 2011
I can’t believe it’s the fourth quarter of the year already. As usual the year is flying by. It’s a little startling to realize I have just two and a half months left as chair of the Council’s Committee on the Built Environment – COBE, perhaps known to normal people as the
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Posted: October 18th, 2011 under
Planning and Land Use.
October 4th, 2011
Seattle expects to gain 115,000 new jobs and 120,000 new residents in the next 20 years. As a community, we want to ensure that this growth is positive for our economy and our neighborhoods. You can help. This summer Seattle’s Department of Planning and Development started a major review of the Seattle
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Posted: October 4th, 2011 under
Planning and Land Use.
