Goodbye, Department of Planning and Development; hello, Office of Planning and Community Development

| Development | West Seattle news | West Seattle politics

Mayor Murray is breaking up the Department of Planning and Development, and longtime director Diane Sugimura is retiring. Those are the bottom lines from an announcement this morning at City Hall. The mayor is creating a new city department, the Office of Planning and Community Development, that is supposed to have the big picture in terms of planning – not just construction/development but also transportation, among other things – and dismantling DPD, whose other functions such as permitting will be handled by a department to be named later. Read the full announcement ahead:

To better manage planning and investments in rapidly growing Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray today signed an executive order to create a new Office of Planning and Community Development to integrate strategic planning functions from across city departments into one single entity.

“We have moved beyond the debate about whether we should allow growth – growth is already here,” said Murray. “When we develop new housing in a neighborhood, we must ensure we also have adequate open space, transportation and access to jobs, social services and other amenities. How we grow and how we invest will go hand in hand.”

Seattle is currently one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, on pace to permit 9000 new housing units this year – 30 percent more than 2014. Seattle will be home to another 120,000 residents and 115,000 jobs by 2035.

The new office elevates the planning functions of the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to manage Seattle’s construction boom and job growth, while also coordinating public investments in transportation, parks and housing. This office will be composed of planners with expertise in a range of subjects across city departments.

The office will also act as a single point of contact for Seattle residents who have concerns or comments about City planning and investments. The Department of Neighborhoods, led by new director Kathy Nyland, will help facilitate a new approach to community engagement.

“We need an entry-point for community concerns about how we preserve the Seattle that drew us all here in the first place,” said Murray. “And most importantly, this office will help us develop a shared vision for what kind of city we want Seattle to become.”

The mayor also announced that longtime director of DPD, Diane Sugimura, intends to retire later this year after more than three decades of service to the City of Seattle.

“On behalf of the people of the Seattle, I want to extend my thanks to Diane,” said Murray. “I look forward to Diane’s continued contribution to this important conversation on managing growth, as well as her insights in what we are looking for in the next generation of leaders in Seattle planning.”

Over the last two decades, the City has successfully channeled new housing into urban villages to create planned density. Nearly 75 percent of growth has been focused into Seattle’s Urban Centers and Urban Villages.

“My 37 years with the City have been an amazing roller coaster of activity and change,” said Sugimura. “I’ve been fortunate to have been part of these exciting and challenging times. I look forward to helping create the new Office of Planning and Community Development, which will provide an integrated and equitable approach to city growth.”

As integrated planning is elevated to the new Office of Planning and Community Development, the existing regulatory functions of the Department of Planning and Development – permits, code enforcement and inspections – will be housed in a separate agency to be named later. Nathan Torgelson, currently the deputy director at DPD, will lead that agency. Torgelson has 25 years’ experience in planning and economic development in various roles in the cities of Seattle and Kent.

The mayor’s September budget submittal to the City Council will include a detailed plan for both agencies. City departments participating in this planning process include: Department of Planning and Development, Transportation, Parks, Public Utilities, City Light, Housing and Economic Development.

Peter June 23, 2015 (1:30 pm)

This is great news, assuming this new department is actually run in the best interests of Seattle citizens, and not just developers. DPD has been a joke for the last 20 years.

– Peter

Rick June 23, 2015 (1:40 pm)

Sounds like more of the same except adding another letter and another layer of bureaucracy.

sam-c June 23, 2015 (2:00 pm)

well, I guess it’s good they are responding to changes in the City, but can a City department ever remain the same for any reasonable amount of time? seems expensive to restructure and re-logo all the time. I mean just the forms, publications, etc…. I remember back it was ‘DCLU’, and I haven’t even been here that long……

Diane June 23, 2015 (2:17 pm)

wow wow wow, jumping up and down with glee

sardine June 23, 2015 (2:21 pm)

It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought — that is, a thought diverging from the principles of IngSoc — should be literally unthinkable, at least so far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meaning and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect methods. This was done partly by the invention of new words, but chiefly by eliminating undesirable words and stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meaning whatever.

— George Orwell, 1984

sam-c June 23, 2015 (2:26 pm)

(Funny thing, when they switched from DCLU to DPD, I thought one of the reasons was in order for the name of the department to reflect the planning work that they did, and that ‘DCLU did not just issue building permits’. Now, whatever version of DPD is left it WILL ‘just issue building permits, won’t it?)

Timing June 23, 2015 (2:28 pm)

Love when government is worried more about rebranding itself over doing their jobs! If you don’t like this name you only have to wait for a new mayor for s new name change! The only one benefiting here is the printer getting to change signs, letter heads, business cards, web pages etc.

Sandy June 23, 2015 (2:53 pm)

The idea of a department that will actually coordinate the activities of planning, transportation, etc is welcome news to me. One of the most frustrating things I have ever encountered is the finger pointing and passing the buck between DPD and SDOT with no one looking at the bigger picture of how the two influence each other. Fingers crossed.

that guy June 23, 2015 (3:09 pm)

Great. It will take them a year to figure out who is doing what, then they will have twice as many reviews for the simplest of permits. I guess the planners got sick of having to work with the lowly construction folks.

Peter June 23, 2015 (3:09 pm)

I say cut the “Planning” part and let’s just call it “OCD”.

Jim June 23, 2015 (3:37 pm)

Things should improve with Diane Sugimura leaving.

Mike June 23, 2015 (3:57 pm)

Around and round the carpenter bench!

JoB June 23, 2015 (4:39 pm)

Yada Yada Yada

Yup! June 23, 2015 (8:29 pm)

Agree with Sandy! Fingerpointing between SDOT, DPD, city council and King County left us with zero parking and a curb bulb that makes our 75′ lot lower in value compared to our neighbors with smaller lots and parking. We had endless circuitous loops. Nobody cared. We are the only ones in the whole project with a poorly sited curb bulb for a ditch/rain garden in Westwood. It was poor design. Diane was a Joke. SDOT tried to help, as the code was violated…but nope. No action. Rubber stamp project with Never so much as a site visit from DPD. Move along Diane. I’m happy to fund your lovely retirement.

Now I've seen everything June 23, 2015 (8:57 pm)

If anyone thinks this will mean any meaningful change, might I offer you a wonderful bridge in Brooklyn?

Empty, futile gestures are the refuge of the most cynical of politicians. This guy really takes the cake.

Pete June 23, 2015 (9:04 pm)

And now the Dept of Neighborhodds with their newly appointed director will be folded into this new dept. one more blow to the city helping our neighbors organize so they can better deal with the city bureaucracy. Just when folks in the neighborhoods start feeling like they understand the process a little bit we have to change initials, areas of non-responsibility and avenues you have to cross to get there. Will the city also move all of the offices to new buildings and floors so they can become more efficient to serve the citizens better?

WS since '66 June 24, 2015 (1:59 pm)

“We have moved beyond the debate about whether we should allow growth – growth is already here,” said Murray. “When we develop new housing in a neighborhood, we must ensure we also have adequate open space, transportation and access to jobs, social services and other amenities. How we grow and how we invest will go hand in hand.”

Seattle is currently one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation, on pace to permit 9000 new housing units this year – 30 percent more than 2014. Seattle will be home to another 120,000 residents and 115,000 jobs by 2035.”

Thank you Mayor Murray. The reconfiguration of some of the departments is a forward thinking move. There are those who are in denial that people are moving here and have a right to do so.

To all those vehemently against it please state what your solution would be if you were in a position to do so and not using generalities. It’s one thing to be against something but at least have your own idea for a better solution. So what would you do if you were the Mayor?? Keep in mind that if the density isn’t increased then the only other option is urban sprawl.

Timing June 26, 2015 (5:56 am)

Rubber stamping everything the mayor does makes the WSB look very foolish!

WSB June 26, 2015 (7:57 am)

Hi, “Timing.” Publishing a news release is not a “rubber stamp” – that phrase suggests support, and we voice neither support nor opposition (nor any other position). We don’t publish all the mayor’s news releases – just once in a while, when on a topic of potentially high interest, and in our editorial judgment, this one is. You’re more than welcome to disagree. – TR

Jon Lisbin July 1, 2015 (10:21 pm)

I think this is a good move. We need more coordination between development and transportation. I don’t know if that requires a new department or simply an over-site committee to ensure that they are working with the same metrics and the same goals. However, this is only part of the problem. A more efficient approach to government planning is not going to fund the infrastructure and transportation needs that are in the wake of all the development. Seattle is one of the few cities in our region that does not have impact fees for developers and it’s time we had growth pay for growth. Those are my thoughts and my platform as I have decided to actually do something about this and run for City Council district 6. Jon

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