First we called them aPodments, but that soon switched to micros. Whatever you call them, they inspire either horror at the resurgence of the old-time single-room-occupancy hotel or they look to be the latest and greatest in affordable urban living. After Tuesday’s Planning, Land Use & Sustainability meeting they’re also the subject of a possible […]

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 me “what’s hot” […]

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 more complicated than […]

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 “took some time […]

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 (and far in […]

Today in the Committee on the Built Environment we confirmed appointments of 16 citizens to various city boards, commissions, and councils. Thanks to people stepping forward to serve, we have new appointees to the Seattle Design Commission, Seattle Chinatown International District Preservation and Development Authority, the Ballard Avenue Landmark District Board, the Historic Seattle Preservation […]

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 Seattle. I say […]

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 of our city, […]

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 services, you name […]

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 land use committee. […]