HALA UPZONING: Morgan Junction’s next step toward ‘a neighborhood planning process with the city’

(New ‘preferred alternative’ upzoning map for Morgan Junction; the interactive citywide map is here)

Even before Thursday’s release of the city’s “preferred alternative” for HALA Mandatory Housing Affordability upzoning, the Morgan Community Association was working to ensure that it doesn’t override a longstanding parts of the community-created neighborhood plan. MoCA had proposed amending the city’s Comprehensive Plan toward that end; then the city countered with its own amendment. What next? Here’s the MoCA reminder about its followup meeting next Tuesday:

As discussed at the October 2017 Morgan Community Association Quarterly Meeting, the MoCA board has reviewed all the moving pieces of MHA and the Comprehensive Plan Amendment proposed for the Morgan Junction Urban Village. We found gaps between what we have heard at the community meetings and what the city is proposing to do with the single family zoned lands inside our Urban Village. Those gaps include the character change of the single family zones, the loss of starter homes and owner occupancy, and few ways to address displacement.

We have identified some specific options to address those gaps to propose for community consideration at a meeting set for Tuesday, November 14, 2017 at The Kenney Community Room, 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW. The meeting is set for 6:30 to 8:30 pm.

The community discussion and voting at this meeting will identify the Morgan Junction-endorsed options to move forward into a neighborhood planning process with the city. We encourage everyone who lives, works, shops, or enjoys the Morgan Junction area to come and weigh in!

We covered MoCA’s October discussion here.

Michelle November 10, 2017 (6:32 pm)

Thank-You so much Morgan Community Association for all your efforts to protect the single family neighborhoods in the Morgan St. Junction. I love living here but I will move if they sell out our single family neighborhood to high-rise apartments and square box buildings. It is so sad how the city of Seattle destroys the quality life of single family neighborhoods.

Mike November 11, 2017 (1:23 pm)

I’m the owner of a single-family home, but I actually wouldn’t mind if that zoning went away. First of all, if duplexes or apartment buildings were allowed in my neighborhood, my property values would go up–I could sell my house for more! Second, updating zoning doesn’t mean all the homes would get bulldozed overnight. When people move out of their homes they can choose to sell them to other families, or to developers. Yes, my neighborhood would change, but it would take years. Capital hill is zoned for low-rises and there are still tons of single-family homes there. It’s also a lot more walkable than my neighborhood.

But more importantly, this city has an affordability crisis. Rents are spiking everywhere and thousands of people are being displaced from our city. I consider myself a liberal. I’m concerned about inequality and climate change. Allowing more people to live in our city, to access all the jobs here and take transit to work, is one of the best things we can do, on an individual level, for those issues. If we allow more apartment buildings to be built I’m sure some of them will be ugly. It will become more difficult to park. But if that’s the price I pay for a more equitable, sustainable city, I’m fine with that.

Maybe I’m being sanguine, though. My thinking has evolved a lot on this lately. Let me know if there’s something I’m not taking into account.

Cindi Barker November 11, 2017 (7:16 pm)

Mike, I hope you’ll be able to come to the meeting to hear the discussion. Over 50% of the Morgan Junction Urban village is currently Single Family, so it would be a massive transition if it is all developed into just rental units. We think we have several good proposals which strike a balance between creating density but still working to retain affordable, family size, entry level homeownership opportunities. We are looking for input on those proposals!

Bruce November 11, 2017 (8:48 pm)

Sadly, I don’t think transit from West Seattle is good enough for increased density. I would think people with housing affordability issues need to be within a 5-minute walk to an existing light rail station. Why not zone high rises for Beacon Hill, Mount Baker, Columbia City, Othello, Rainier Beach stations first? Even the Capital Hill and UW stations don’t have high rises. Has anyone taken a look at how it works in Vancouver, BC, with condos, townhouses, stores and offices right on top of their Skytrain stations?

HT November 11, 2017 (9:03 pm)

I’m very concerned…my building is right in I think the “orange” zone, next to one of the open spaces. Should i be worried that my apartment building is going to be sold?

KB November 12, 2017 (9:30 am)

We live in a city of individuals who love the outdoors. Though I see people are committed to public transportation during the week, they have cars and go to nature on the weekends.

If you build up, put in ample parking. The micro-units and apartments and condos/townhomes without ample parking is a recipe for disaster and a poor quality of life for everyone. We already see this so why are we using the same recipe and not changing as we go to increase the density while making improvements; learn from our mistakes? If you are on the carless society wagon you won’t agree but that’s okay, we all have our opinions.

It was a sad day when Jon Grant, the candidate at large, lost the city council seat in our election. If NYC and other large dense cities can require 25% income based housing in all multifamily unit buildings, Seattle can and should as well. The individuals who keep the city running daily should be able to live in the city. We are creating a city that is only affordable for those who have and make top salaries. We are also creating a city of frustration because the developers went to the city in 2010 and said we can’t continue to put in the number of parking spots required as it increases the cost per unit. No! Your greed makes it cost prohibited. My hope is that Lisa Herbold and others who share some of the same sentiments can make a difference.

Seattle must become denser IF we want everyone who moves here to have a place in the city to live. We should also make it affordable for all, not just the “haves”.

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