Four months after first word that Harry’s Beach House was on its way to the ex-Tully’s at 2676 Alki SW, we spotted crews at work this afternoon, so we stopped in to ask for an update. Proprietor Julian Hagood – known for Harry’s Fine Foods on Capitol Hill – was there, with family members too. He’s currently hoping to be open “late July, early August” but says the biggest bottleneck is a challenge faced by so many projects: The slow-moving permit system.
Unknown to most, DCI is now taking 2 years for some SFR infill permits. A formerly simple, five business day turnaround, on Water Availability Certificates has SPU sending out emails, weeks after submissions, advising 45 business days. No explanation for such incredible delays adding to the costs of alleviating the housing shortage. These delays are unconscionable, and their associated costs can only lead to higher housing costs, with neither ‘greedy developers’ nor desperate homebuyers benefitting.
L John, we bought a home in need of renovation and been waiting for a permit for 2 years and have heard similar stories from multiple other parties. Some delays in this process have been on our side so we can’t blame them for all of the issues, but most are on theirs with zero transparency. When asked for ETAs on some department reviews we get no information on how many reviews are in the queue; we simply get “we’re behind” along with some boilerplate text on how they’ve been “dealing with unprecedented challenges”. Totally frustrating and completely unnecessary — there even have been some review cycles have taken months to even get looked at and come back as “not required”… that takes a month or more to determine? This is simply to renovate, it’s not to add sq footage or even change the footprint. This isn’t helping to solve the housing crisis – while we’re not renovating a multi-family home, we can’t move in nor even sell it unless we finish building and there is zero sense of urgency in helping us to get under way.
Is this the same from Harry’s Chicken that closed recently? is it relocating?
Really excited about this new addition to Alki. I hope they have a great wine list/bar!
L John. Have family members building in Island County. Their permiting system isn’t much better.
I hope he puts a seating area on the roof for an incredible place to eat and drink their food with an unmatched view.
To the first commenter attempting to do a remodel, that is unforgivable. Have you talked to our city council reps — or candidates — about this? I know they all want to be impact peoples’ lives in a positive way. Cutting down this red tape and lead times would be a huge gift to the people of Seattle (are you listening, Lisa, etc.).
Onion, we haven’t because it’s a SFH and we think we’d get ignored, to be honest. Unless you’re building density, this city doesn’t seem to care or notice. We do have room for an ADU but until we finish our actual primary residence, we can’t even think about that option and we’re so far behind we may not have any $ left to consider that add.
Sorry, comment time is over.
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