Two developments related to development: Design Review changes; OPCD director

| Development | West Seattle news

Two developments related to development. First, the mayor has nominated a planner from Boulder, Colorado, to lead the city’s Office of Planning and Community Development:

We welcome Sam Assefa, senior urban designer for the City of Boulder, Colorado, to Seattle. #SeattleOPCD pic.twitter.com/0x1SgiA4u3

— Seattle OPCD (@SeattleOPCD) March 9, 2016

OPCD is one of the two entities into which the Department of Planning and Development split. The mayor’s nominee – at the podium in the tweeted photo above – is Sam Assefa, senior urban designer for the city of Boulder, Colorado, who also has worked for the cities of Chicago and San Francisco. Mayor Murray says Assefa would bring “a holistic approach to urban planning that integrates land use, transportation, design and sustainability” and the perspective of an immigrant, having left Ethiopia in his teens, after his father was killed in a coup. He would succeed Diane Sugimura if confirmed by the City Council, and is expected to start work June 1st. Read the full announcement here.

DESIGN REVIEW CHANGES: Also today, the city has opened a month-long comment period for its proposed changes to the Design Review program. If the changes are finalized, they could mean fewer public meetings, as the threshold would be raised for what makes a project eligible for a full review by one of the city’s Design Review Boards. (Right now, for example, the SW board could meet two Thursdays a month – unless there are no projects to review, which is the case this month.) Meantime, board membership would expand – the Southwest board, for example, would have seven members instead of five. From this page, the “presentation” is the best place to review what’s being recommended. If you have something to say, short or long, they’re asking that you use this survey – which is really just one question, asking your feedback. April 8th is the deadline.

captainDave March 9, 2016 (10:17 pm)

What does a holistic approach in urban planning actually mean? Seattle consists of lots and lots of private property owners who may not agree with the dictatorial mandates of unelected boards. It sounds like another encroachment on private property rights. All big cities are starting to look the same because they are using the same urban planning guidelines developed by the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (for which the City of Seattle and King County are members). For those who don’t know, ICLEI is the local implementation tool for the United Nations Agenda 21 initiative. Agenda 21 is basically about cramming people into small standardized urban living spaces to save the planet. It’s a great program for big developers who get tons of money for micro podments, but not so good for those who don’t want to regress to living in college dorms. Hopefully, Mr. Sam Assefa will recognize Seattle’s unique characteristics and reframe from forcing any more generic global standards on us.

Donn March 10, 2016 (6:12 am)

I’m surprised that they couldn’t hire from within.

wetone March 10, 2016 (12:34 pm)

Looks like Sam Assefa will fit right in with Mayor Murray’s mind set. A quick search of his past shows he seems to work very well with developers, liking density, big builds and no parking : ( Interesting, SDOT director Scott Kubly and Sam Assefa both worked in Chicago…

Cass Turnbull March 10, 2016 (3:22 pm)

Oh boy, more monoculture. Not good for living things in Nature, not good for people in cities.

John March 11, 2016 (11:18 am)

Whaat?

What prompted this response?

More monoculture of what?

Taking the holistic world view, anything growth exported beyond our defined Urban Areas is bad for our environment.

Living things in nature do best when afforded real nature, not carved up urban parcels now populated primarily by coyotes, urban cats, raccoon and non-native invasive squirrels as well as a mono-culture of short lived dead and dying scrap trees, multi trunk big leaf maples, with invasive blackberry and holly dominating below.

Good for our world is densely grouping people in urban areas and providing unbelievably great access to the outdoors. Seattle is renowned for both. Let’s keep it that way.

Good for people in the city, is not encroaching into or limiting access to the exquisite emerald forests that are so essential to Seattle.

Good for the people is having the myriad of opportunities provided by the city’s density; arts, entertainment and dining as well as our fierce support of protecting the glorious wilderness that surrounds us.

Hilde Nichols March 10, 2016 (4:46 pm)

No matter who is leading “The Office” – we urgently need a better tree ordinance, before they all get cut down, supposedly to the benefit of the environment. An example for a better tree ordinance would be that of Fairfield in California. You can look at it under the link I added.

Trees are not exclusionary, they provide healthy air and a pleasant microclimate to everybody in the city, while cleaning the runoff that goes into Puget Sound.

This is not one city like all the others, this is the Emerald City! Built around the trees, be innovative, put people and planet before profit!