UPDATE: West Seattle’s info session about proposed rezoning

| Development | West Seattle news

6 PM: Got questions about how the city is proposing to rezone your property – or your neighborhood? Wondering about what “neighborhood centers” – of which (updated) District 1 would have 8, if the rezoning plans announced three weeks ago are approved – really would be like?

Until 7:30 pm, in the gym at Madison Middle School (3429 45th SW), this is your chance to peruse large versions of the rezoning maps, and/or ask questions. Right now this is mostly circulating between easels and one-on-one conversations, but we’re told they’re expecting a brief presentation at some point.

6:16 PM: Office of Planning and Community Development director Rico Quirindongo spoke shortly after our first update, mostly just explaining the setup of the meeting – and the purpose of the process. Also speaking, City Councilmember Rob Saka, veering onto the topic of the presidential election, promising that the city would continue to fight to be safe and welcoming, where everyone can “thrive and be safe … we’re going to continue to do the people’s work.” That, in this case, will eventually involve legislation to change the zoning, Some of what’s proposed is to get city code in line with the “four units per lot” mandate from the state; but the overarching goal is to add more housing capacity. The “neighborhood centers” are also meant to bring mini-hubs of business and housing together. Get here during the meeting and you can look at the maps for the ones nearest you. OPCD tells us they want to hear what you think about the borders and density – before the final version of the rezoning plan goes to the council. There’s a chance to comment here, and you also can do it via the rezoning-proposal website.

8:15 PM: Keep in mind that the neighborhood-center names don’t necessarily dovetail with neighborhood names. “Upper Fauntleroy,” for example, is mapped to stretch southeast to 29th/Roxbury. The neighborhood center known as Holden spans part of Sunrise Heights and Gatewood. But the “centers” – including the renaming of “urban villages” like The Junction, Morgan Junction, and Admiral to “urban centers” – aren’t all that the plan will change. Look closely at the upzoning proposals – some of which are relatively subtle, 55′ become 65′, for example.

WHAT’S NEXT: Comment deadline is December 20.

Neighbor November 7, 2024 (12:40 am)

I’m confused. What does NR mean? I see definitions for NR1, NR2, and NR3 but some areas are marked just NR with no explanation of what is actually allowed to be built there. There’s a link to a document that doesn’t explain the meaning.

DB November 7, 2024 (7:24 am)

NR means neighborhood residential. All NR zones generally allow the same things, up to four units per lot (with height restrictions and setbacks). NR 1-3 have different lot size requirements, so NR1 has the lowest density, requiring 9,600 sq ft lots and NR 3 has the highest, requiring 5,000 sq ft lots.
- Conan November 7, 2024 (10:48 am)
  
  If my neighborhood’s current zoning is NR-3, and the proposed zoning is to change to NR, what does that mean? More or less density? (I’m assuming what I read on the map is not a typo).
  - WSB November 7, 2024 (11:12 am)
    
    Basically there’s only one NR classification now – that’s what that change is about.
KayK November 7, 2024 (8:14 am)

This talks about what’s now proposed to be allowed in NR zones.

22blades November 7, 2024 (5:01 am)

More developer / contractor welfare. The chicanery of names don’t fool anyone: Urban, Village, Urban Center, Neighborhood Center… Hardly Urban Planning.

Foop November 7, 2024 (9:07 am)

What scenario invites more housing that you would *not* consider developer welfare?
- WS Troll November 7, 2024 (12:47 pm)
  
  I think a scenario where somebody who develops property is then required to live there for a minimum of five years (350 nights a year seems like a good starting play) Instead today we have developers build monstrosities, sell them, and move on to build more. all while living in their mansion someplace else. Make the developer be a part of the community, make them face their new neighbors every day. If they build a lot with four or six dwellings on it, they have to live in one of them for five years. the money form the sale of the remaining lots goes into escrow. the developer can collect it when he/she moves out five years later.
  - Johnny Stulic November 7, 2024 (5:04 pm)
    
    This brilliant idea doesn’t go far enough. Every business should operate on the same principle. If you own a pizzeria, for example, you have to eat pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for five years. The money from the sale of the remaining pizzas goes into escrow and the pizzeria owner can collect it once the mandatory pizza eating period of five years is over.
    - K November 7, 2024 (6:46 pm)
      
      Those poor owners of Nurturing Expressions… :'(
    - JustSarah November 7, 2024 (7:14 pm)
      
      Ok Johnny, but why are we allowing the owner to profit at all from pizza sales? I like the basics of your plan, but also want to add a purity test before collecting any of that money. At the end of the five years, the pizzeria owner must be interviewed by a panel to ensure his intentions in selling pizza were purely for the betterment of the community, not at all for personal enrichment. *If* he passes panel approval, he may collect the operating costs, including interest, from the escrow account. Any remaining amount goes to the local birds as remuneration for pain and suffering endured from the concept of pickleball courts in Lincoln Park.
Bbron November 7, 2024 (9:21 am)

you’re right! urban planning was much better when we were zoning acres and acres of single family homes with no concern for sustainability, gutting city coffers, and then bulldozing Black and Brown communities so we could build highways for these suburbanites. truly the peak.
- CarDriver November 7, 2024 (10:15 am)
  
  And clearly you’re happy to live in one of those houses and drive on those roads so your point is????
  - Bbron November 7, 2024 (9:47 pm)
    
    Are you a corn field? cause you’re always riddled with strawmen. I rent a apartment and don’t drive using exclusively public transit. my life would be much better without my built environment being car centric.
    - KW November 8, 2024 (11:39 am)
      
      Posting dumb pizza humor, being sarcastic and using catchphrases (carcentric) just wastes time. Nobody is going to resolve anything in this comments section anyway. Go to Madison and make comments there. This is a bunch of windy bickering. As usual.

Just me November 7, 2024 (7:14 am)

I was still reviewing all of the information presented on easels when the staff started tearing down for the evening. Well before 7:30. Much to read.

max34 November 8, 2024 (12:11 pm)

if only there was a place where you could look up information at your leisure… i’m actually stunned (and like that) they still do these meetings with giant print outs business-clipped to boards. was worried the spider-leg board holder manufacturers were going to go out of business.

Brian November 7, 2024 (7:47 am)

I’m confused as to why the expanded zone in Morgan Junction does a dance around Cal-Mor Circle and excludes it entirely? Why would the city not include their own housing development?

E: nvm i misread the map!

HS November 7, 2024 (8:01 am)

Thank you for covering this.

GatewoodResident November 7, 2024 (8:13 am)

Is it just me or do none of the links to the city site work?

WSB November 7, 2024 (8:23 am)

I just checked again and the links in the story work …
BlairJ November 7, 2024 (11:13 am)

To view the maps, click on the link in the story, then scroll down within the “Share your thoughts on our proposed Zoning Update” window to the blue “Explore the Map” button.I was confused by this at first also.

Alex November 7, 2024 (10:47 am)

I attended the meeting and there was plenty of staff around to discuss this proposal. Washington State has directed large cities to rezone every “single family ” lot to allow for 4 to 6 units but with height limits comparable to what we have to today. So unless there is an initiative process, that piece of zoning is a given. However Seattle is going further than this with its Neighborhood Center concept. Using Endolyne Fauntleroy as an example, wholesale blocks will be zoned to replace homes with 5 story apartment buildings: Fauntleroy from the ferry dock to California; Barton from California up to 35th, the blocks north of the little business area and all the blocks west of the business area. If you don’t want to live next door to a 5 story apartment building built on a standard 5,000 sqf lot, then take the opportunity to write the mayor, the entire City Council as well as the City Planners.I believe we have to accept more density and have to compromise with the City in some fashion. I would be willing to accept townhomes on a standard lot as long as they do not tower over the neighborhood. Say three floors max.

Jen November 8, 2024 (12:33 am)

How about 2 stories instead of 3. That third level is a killer of anyone next to it who wants a garden of any kind.
K November 8, 2024 (7:21 am)

Re-zoning doesn’t mean the whole neighborhood gets ripped down and re-built overnight (unfortunately). Take a look at 15th Ave SW in South Delridge. That street has been zoned for multi-family forever and it’s still mostly single-family homes. It’s only in the last couple years they have even started splitting the lots into three homes. Like two apartment buildings went in ages ago, and none since. Zoning is about possibility, not required development.

cwit November 7, 2024 (10:53 am)

Hah – Rob Saka’s going to fight to keep Seattle safe. The same guy that wants to get rid of a median on Delridge that physically prevents cars from taking a left turn in a section where it was already illegal to do so before the median was there. So it’s less of an inconvenience for him to drop his kids off at the preschool there. And it looks like there’s a $2 million price tag involved.If that happens – I’m not sure how that’s going to keep all you pedestrians, metro passengers, and cyclists safer by that preschool. But hey, as long as the folks using that preschool can shave some time off their commute – it’s a fair trade off!”Proviso $2 million in SDOT for transit and roadway improvements on Delridge Ave SW This Council Budget Action (CBA) would impose a proviso on $2 million of appropriations in the Seattle Department of Transportation’s (SDOT’s) budget to make improvements to Delridge Way SW near the SW Holly St right-of-way to allow for left-turn ingress and egress from adjoining properties, including the Refugee and Immigrant Family Center Bilingual Preschool. These improvements would resolve access conflicts with the operation of the Delridge RapidRide service.”

Alex November 7, 2024 (10:57 am)

And an additional note – I asked at the meeting last night why those people with homes subject to the City’s plan hadn’t received any postcards or other communication from the City that for example, their block’s zoning would be changed to allow for a 5 story apartment building. The answer was that they are not required to do so. The Seattle Times ran an article once and the WS Blog has diligently covered this (Thank You Tracy), so talk to your neighbors.

wetone November 7, 2024 (11:57 am)

One thing nobody talks about (especially Seattle government) is the infrastructure. Current infrastructure (roadways/utilities) are outdated and in need of updating for planned zoning changes. The usual City Of Seattle planning with Cart in front of horse. Harrel is more concerned with pleasing building groups and increasing tax base. While roadways will be over capacity in many neighborhoods making it much more dangerous for all walkers, bikers and vehicles. City’s “common answer” new builds will be populated by non-vehicle owners hah hah…

DC November 7, 2024 (2:33 pm)

Expanding the tax base is a great way to pay for updated utilities! And lets hope the city converts more travel lanes to bus only so we can easily and cheaply deal with the roadway capacity issue!
K November 7, 2024 (3:31 pm)

You can go back decades and see that every major infrastructure project that has been proposed is met with a TON of resistance because “we don’t have enough people to warrant that so it’s a waste of tax money.” Every. One. There’s even a small but loud group of people doing that to this day with light rail (jump in any time, Scarlett). According to Seattle voters, new infrastructure should only be discussed and created when there is a crisis-level overload of what exists, and not a second before. It’s not the city’s fault. They’re trying. It’s your neighbors holding them back. Also, please look up how property taxes are calculated before commenting on them. The city can’t just raise them infinitely like you’re suggesting.

Concerned Neighbour November 7, 2024 (2:40 pm)

I am in full support of making our neighbourhood more accessible to more folks. However, where I get confused is at the “affordability” of these projects. The lot is purchased for $700K and then one unit with no parking is sold for more…

K November 7, 2024 (4:15 pm)

Right now, the person who has $1 million to spend on a house will end up buying the $700,000 house if the $1 million house is not available. I was in the market not too long ago, and it was SO frustrating trying to get an entry-level home because they were all being sold to people who didn’t even really want a fixer (like I was looking for, to save money) but were buying them up because they needed something, and had the money to outbid me. Housing prices are supply and demand. Right now the demand FAR outstrips supply so the prices are super high, and anyone on a budget is going to be begging for scraps. When there is more supply of the nice, new houses, the existing, okay-but-not-perfect houses will be more available to people with budgets. Which, in turn, will make condos, smaller homes, and true fixer-uppers available to the people who are looking for that type of housing. It will gradually correct to the way it used to be, decades ago. But we need to build a LOT of housing to balance the demand and the supply and make that happen.

Deb Barker November 8, 2024 (12:59 pm)

The Morgan Junction map was missing street labels for California Ave SW and Fauntleroy Way SW. That omission made it incredible difficult to figure out what exactly was proposed where. I was very disappointed with the sloppy visual product that OPCD displayed. They should have delivered an accurate map in my opinion.

Junction November 8, 2024 (6:57 pm)

They need to require somewhere to put all of these multi unit townhouses/condos trash cans. Because the city doesn’t require space in the plans for 2-3 trash cans per unit. That’s 9-12 trash cans in the new world! So now they are forced to literally overflow them onto neighboring properties all because the developer didn’t have to reserve space for them. I don’t want other people’s trash on my property or in front of my property. Do you? Be wary of these changes because until you live next to one you don’t actually realize how it will fully affect you…

1994 November 8, 2024 (11:40 pm)

I am with you on the utter lack of space when it is honestly needed. Near my office over in the Rainier Valley area is a new townhome development with about 15 or 18 townhomes all in a row. There are narrow walkways between some of the structures but where are all those garbage cans? Parked out front between the front doors and the curb! The whole front of the townhomes is lined with black, blue and green garbage cans and it really looks awful. Visually unappealing, looks messy, blocking the sidewalk, and the bunch of garbage cans looks like someone forgot to move them where they belong except there is no other place for them due to lack of space…. On another note, those corner stores are not going to make a come back no matter how much the city wishes for that. Corner stores are a thing of the past.
- Junction November 9, 2024 (11:09 am)
  
  Hope everyone leaves a long comment because it’s going to get worse. It’s density without planning. And we’re getting the short end of the stick. Plus an excuse for higher taxes due to neighboring improvements.
  - Faundly November 9, 2024 (12:24 pm)
    
    Density without planning? That is exactly what this meeting was about.If you attended, it was an opportunity to ask about and comment on the zoning plans to increase density.Much of the changes are required by a new state law.One can argue that we’ve been getting the long end of the stick so long that it has created an insurmountable housing crisis. The juggernaught of Seattle’s single family neighborhood groups legacy of NIMBYism is finally waning.We can’t stay the same. We can’t go back. Change is here.We can make the future more equitable.

Alex November 9, 2024 (12:01 pm)

At the Madison meeting I asked about the garbage (My block and all the blocks around me are proposed for 5 story apartment buildings on 5,000 sqf lots). There was an admission that this is an issue but that the staffer said they were hoping that Utilities would address this. Apparently Utilities has some new thing they are rolling out. The staffer said traditionally there would be an alley behind the building for the truck to pick up the dumpster. Guess the dumpsters will be going in front streetside if there isn’t an alley.

Sorry, comment time is over.