HALA UPZONING: City Council consideration starts new phase Monday

Still trying to grasp what the Housing Affordability and Livability Act (HALA)-related upzoning proposal is about? The slide deck above (also viewable here) might help – it is from the agenda for Monday morning’s meeting of the City Council “select committee” that is starting its official work on the citywide upzoning proposal for HALA’s Mandatory Housing Affordability. The proposal includes upzoning in “urban villages” (West Seattle has four – Junction, Admiral, Morgan, and Westwood-Highland Park) as well as all commercial/multifamily property. The document’s title dubs it the “megabriefing.” All councilmembers are on the “select committee,” which meets at 10:30 am Monday at City Hall, with a public-comment period scheduled as part of the meeting. They’re expected to work on the plan at least into late summer before a vote.

P.S. If you’re a big fan of the small print, the full ordinance, as first proposed, is among the links you’ll find here.

1994 January 26, 2018 (7:55 pm)

How about the city try to do something to slow the rapid increase in property taxes so those of us earning under $60,000 can afford to remain in our houses? My 2017 taxes were $5004, my net income was something like $43,000. The increase in property taxes is making it really hard on low income home owners.

Scott A January 27, 2018 (5:41 am)

I saw the example MHA math on what I think is page 10 of the presentation and I’ve tracked the HALA process fairly closely but are the payment or performance (actual units) only required if the developer takes advantage of the new zoning? Basically, is this optional?

WS Guy January 27, 2018 (5:35 pm)

No, the MHA tax applies even if the owner does not use the “incentive” bonus. Thus it is not an incentive, it’s a non-uniform tax, and probably illegal/unconstitutional. The game plan is to wait until the upzones go into effect and then sue the MHA tax away. It will be like free money for developers.

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