REZONING: City Council votes against creating Alki ‘Neighborhood Center,’ for changing three other West Seattle ‘centers’

As noted, the City Council is voting today on dozens of amendments proposed as part of the every-decade process of updating the city’s long-term-growth plan, aka the Comprehensive Plan. Four of those amendments directly address specific West Seattle neighborhoods. Here’s how the votes went:

AMENDMENT 34: As its sponsor, citywide Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck, described it, this was the “spicy” amendment, generating a lot of discussion, because it would add eight areas as Neighborhood Centers, enabling denser housing among other things. One of those would be in Alki; the other seven were elsewhere in the city. The amendment was defeated, with everyone voting no except for Rinck. But she said it may be brought back again in the future, after additional study following the current process. For now, though, the Comprehensive Plan Update will NOT include an Alki Neighborhood Center. (We had details of the now-failed proposal in this September 2 report.)

AMENDMENT 35: This was one of three amendments from District 1 Councilmember Rob Saka, changing the Endolyne Neighborhood Center’s name to Fauntleroy, and reducing its size a bit. It passed.

AMENDMENT 36: This was Councilmember Saka’s second of three amendments, adding some area to the High Point Neighborhood Center including the HP Library’s site. It passed.

AMENDMENT 37: This was Saka’s third Neighborhood Center amendment, reducing the size of the Morgan Junction Urban Center. It passed.

Another Saka amendment requiring more pedestrian improvements in new Neighborhood Centers, Amendment 53, passed. And one other transportation amendment of note, Councilmember Rinck’s Amendment 7 to “end parking mandates” – did not pass; Council President Sara Nelson said it was worth more discussion than just an amendment to a larger plan would get.

The council is currently in recess, after finishing work on the first overall bill to which all these amendments and others were made, and will reconvene at 12:30, with a lunch break set at 1 pm and resumption of work at 2 pm.

Rhonda September 18, 2025 (12:45 pm)

Good news about Alki. Leave that gem alone.

Scarlett September 19, 2025 (10:56 am)

I thought Alki was Dante’s 9th circle of Hell with all the shootings, and gangbanger cruising, and those – why has thou forsaken me, lord!- truly diabolical food carts.
Derek September 23, 2025 (8:13 am)

So you’re all about equity when it comes to poor people from other parts of Seattle coming to enjoy Alki (your harping on parking spaces) but not when it comes to getting a chance to get an affordable place there? Gatekeeping it for the rich is not a good look.

Matthew September 18, 2025 (1:59 pm)

The shrinking of the neighborhood centers will only add development pressure to a smaller area and make it harder to retain the existing commercial buildings. In regarding to amendment 34, it’s a shame that the the more affluent neighborhoods don’t have to participate in our city’s growth.

Alex September 18, 2025 (3:14 pm)

A different perspective. The blocks taken out of the Fauntleroy NC were to be rezoned as 5 story apartment buildings with 5 foot setbacks. Density was on the backs of these homeowners. They will be participating in the city’s growth like everyone else now with the residential zoning allowing multiple ADUs passed by the Council earlier this year.
Marge September 18, 2025 (5:13 pm)

The the councils own report shows we are already meeting our affordable housing units which is only 120k in 20 years. The MHA has ballooned. Furthermore there is NO affordable housing requirements and all the apartments in our area have vacancies. The most affordable lenhntis are older apartments, adu, apartments in existing homes. We are still zone for multi-family and dadu’s which is working to absorb the density and keep the neighborhood feel. Big blocks of buildings overshadowing us and ruining the skyline doesn’t feel more walkable or neighborhood. There are also plenty of places to still grow within reciting upzone. 45th is only 15 minutes walk from this area and needs investment and is already a commercial core. I feel like the younger generation is contacting in inflation which is here to stay, property taxes driving up costs not lack of inventory, and building costs. And FYI Madrona is a rich neighborhood not Walllingford. I cannot afford Medina so I don’t get to live there, your comment about “rich” feels entitled. S. Wallingford was not even studied for this and did not have the transportation identified by the council or infrastructure like sewer. You need to upgrade infrastructure in a few area to be cost effective not pepper it all over the city. That’s bad planning and use of our budget. We need good urban planning to protect the joy of living here, to those it will be chaotic and ruin neighborhoods. This was haphazard, poor urban planning, rushed, and lacked any community engagement promised to us.
- Protect Seattle Neighborhoods September 23, 2025 (12:10 am)
  
  I absolutely agree. Friends that just moved from D.C. asked why isn’t Seattle protecting its historic charm & why so many storage looking building shadowing the sidewalks? Where are the places for children to play in their neighborhoods, in the street?
  - k September 23, 2025 (8:14 am)
    
    As someone who moved here from the DC area, one of my favorite things about Seattle is that it’s not DC. If they just moved from DC, they don’t know what Seattle’s historic charm is, they know what DC’s historic charm is. Seattle’s history is awash in brothels, miners, and the very famous Skid Row. If Alki were to mirror Seattle’s “historic” glory, it would be a red-light district. Don’t know about you, but I think the modern apartment buildings are preferable to that. And if you’re going to make an east coast vs. west coast comparison of housing and places for kids to play, check out how much land area in DC and other east coast cities are taken up by single-family homes with yards versus townhouses and apartments. They have more small neighborhood parks because folks there don’t feel like every individual home needs to have a yard big enough to be its own park. They’re fine living closer together and pooling community resources for kids’ play areas. Literally your best chance at having those opportunity for kids IS rezoning and increasing density.
- Derek September 23, 2025 (8:21 am)
  
  Marge, so you would support a Katie Wilson-proposed vacancy tax? Harrell is against it.
Marge September 18, 2025 (5:20 pm)

We don’t need this in addition to the 30 to meet our growth requirements. It’s was rushed, poorly planned, uncreative, didn’t meet infrastructure and transportation requirements, and there is a two commercial cores in Wallingford with 5-10 minutes walking of the proposed. The neighborhood centers do not require any affordable housing, so we would be running neighborhoods for developers and corporate conglomerates not people. 5-8 stories is not necessariy or conducive to our neighborhoods and the new zoning passed by the state is working to provide more affordable options on these neighborhoods already. ;It was completely unnecessary to raise the angst of neighbors and unprofessional by Finck to rush this in last minute.
- Protect Seattle's Neighborhoods September 23, 2025 (12:17 am)
  
  100% factual, accurate & the State and County are not protecting the neighborhoods or even utilizing our significant tax payouts to replace the infrastructure (sewer, roads, etc.) that is on its last leg. The rezones are ruining our neighborhoods and it’s become extremely unsafe, stripping our community ecosystems & becoming a concrete/toxic building materials polluted mess.
Frog September 18, 2025 (6:19 pm)

Alki has some rich people, and $multi-million houses, but those would have been nearly all protected from the upzone. The neighborhood center was targeted at the more modest single family houses, plus box townhouses (density 1.0) and a lot of older, low-rise rental housing that is both more spacious and less expensive than the new stuff in the junction. Alki upzoning would not be a great benefit for the non-rich. Also, when they take your property outright by eminent domain for some public purpose, you are compensated. But when they take a big chunk of your property value for the social purpose of increased density, you get nothing, except sneered at as a NIMBY. I will be able to sleep for the first time in a week. My sympathy to everyone elsewhere who will lose significant chunks of their life savings because of the comprehensive plan.
- Neighbor September 18, 2025 (8:30 pm)
  
  Can you explain how a neighborhood center takes “significant value” from property owners? Seems to me it would *increase* property values by making the area more appealing to developers.
  - Tiff September 18, 2025 (10:02 pm)
    
    Because you can plant a 5 or as proposed 8 story building right next to a small modest house. That would definitely ruin property values and be an unpleasant experience for the homeowners who was there first and it is their home too. And the rich never pay consequences, your squeezing out the middle. It also raises property taxes significantly which pushes people out at 10k a year already.
    
    I too couldn’t sleep for weeks. Everyone forgets the sacrifice and areas we have endured to own a modest home here.
    - Neighbor September 20, 2025 (6:13 pm)
      
      I don’t follow Tiff. My property taxes are based on the value of my property. If the taxes go up then the value of the property went up. Why would a house next to an apartment be worth less than one next to another house?
  - k September 18, 2025 (10:30 pm)
    
    It doesn’t. My property has been upzoned twice, both times the market value jumped. But it’s still a single-family home because I still live here and upzoning doesn’t REQUIRE anyone to build more, it’s just saying they can if they want. Fighting upzoning is just telling the government to restrict what you can build on your own property. Kinda weird people get so up in arms over having choices, but I guess it’s a way to control their neighbors’ choices (hence the NIMBY label). So congrats, rich folks, you have successfully stopped your neighbors from doing what you don’t want them to do on their own property.
  - Protect Seattle Neighborhoods September 23, 2025 (12:22 am)
    
    Are you saying yes please to higher taxes? Yes please, I will work even harder to pay for something that does nothing for the quality of the neighborhood- the beach is why people come to Alki, not buildings and right now a four story brand new school is being built with no parking for any parent & children events or places for buses to drop off / pick up children. Why would you trust or want your money going into another project that you know….it will run over budget with really challenged planning.

AK September 18, 2025 (2:56 pm)

Yes!

aRF September 18, 2025 (3:42 pm)

I was watching when Councilmember Rinck called her amendment “spicy.” Was her last minute addition of these neighborhoods merely a stunt? Or was it a stealth attempt to include neighborhoods without discussion, without the outreach that accompanied the other neighborhoods? I was impressed at how much other council members worked with their constituencies over the last year to hone the Comprehensive Plan. Whatever your position on increasing density, I don’t see how anyone can support passing legislation in the dark of night.

walkerws September 18, 2025 (4:33 pm)

Rob Saka putting a burden on his poorer constituents to help out his wealthy ones. It’s on brand.

Marge September 18, 2025 (7:02 pm)

Actually you are pushing out the middle income people, upzoning increases property taxes and pushes out folks barely making it. So we will have poor and very very rich?
- K September 18, 2025 (8:29 pm)
  
  Upzoning does not do that at all. I have no idea what you’re talking about and I suspect you don’t either.
  - Becky September 18, 2025 (10:09 pm)
    
    No K, I don’t think you know what you are talking about. Up zoning raises land prices and property taxes for families only hanging on to pay those which have increased by 50% in the last 10 years. In addition banks won’t give a SFH loan on upzoned land. If you look at the neighborhood centers there is not SFH shown in the boundary. So yes, it does push people out. Doesn’t grow with existing neighbors and prioritizes transient renters and destroy neighborhoods. A towering 5-8 story building is not fun to live next to when you have a small home, no sunshine or sky. Telling someone they don’t know what they are talking about is not a valid argument. Thanks for mansplaining though.
    - Foop September 19, 2025 (6:29 am)
      
      It’s absolutely wild to me that you folks are simultaneously declaring that up zoning will hurt your home values but also increase your property taxes through increased home value.
    - K September 19, 2025 (6:30 am)
      
      The state got rid of single-family zoning, Becky. If what you said was true, no one in the state of Washington would be able to buy a single-family home and we know that’s not true. Taxes are calculated based on the total amount of taxable property value in the tax district. The more taxable property value there is in your district, the smaller your slice of the pie will be. Read the assessor’s website if you don’t believe me. I’m telling you that you don’t know what you’re talking about because your posts are literally demonstrating that you don’t. I am begging you to read up on this. You are hurting yourself and your community by digging your heels in on modern-day redlining.
- Arch Stanton September 18, 2025 (8:44 pm)
  
  We already do. No young families will ever be able to afford property in north admiral unless it’s inherited. The businesses will continue to dwindle as the consumer base ages out
  - Becky September 18, 2025 (10:11 pm)
    
    They definitely won’t if everything is made into studio amd 1 bedroom apart a. The new upzoning by our legislature is working, it takes time. It cannot happen overnight and none of the data says we need this level of land upzoned. Not one study.
Derek September 23, 2025 (7:36 am)

Rob Saka is awful and WalkerWS is correct. What a joke He will be voted out. Hope they re-vote on this.

Jort September 18, 2025 (5:07 pm)

So, former Facebook corporate lawyer Rob Saka’s amendments reduced density requirements in rich neighborhoods (Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction) and expanded them in the poorer neighborhood (High Point), right? But isn’t Saka oh-so-concerned with “marginalized communities?” And “displacement?” Here he is, LITERALLY acquiescing to rich homeowners and making up for it by focusing on one of the most immigrant-heavy communities in West Seattle. Rob, don’t play dumb. EVERYONE can see exactly what you’re doing. Why a profoundly dishonest fraud and clown. Everything Saka does can be undone by a future council and I look forward to helping elect that council, starting this Fall.

Rhonda September 18, 2025 (6:51 pm)

Jort, High Point has uber-expensive homes that are less than 20 years old and extremely expensive. The homes across 35th are mostly 70+ years old and many are filled with owners and tenants struggling to make ends meet and pay their inflated property taxes. Same with the Fauntleroy area. Just because High Point has some SHA units doesn’t make it a “poorer neighborhood”. A quick drive through High Point reveals some very expensive late-model luxury SUVs and sports cars.
- Y September 19, 2025 (8:57 pm)
  
  Yes, won’t someone please think of the poor residents of…Gatewood.
Frog September 18, 2025 (9:46 pm)

I think you are reading it wrong. The section of High Point added to the neighborhood center looks highly resistant to redevelopment. It’s relatively new, higher quality middle housing on small lots — there is no plausible path for a developer to acquire enough land there in an economic way to build a six-story building. A commenter to an earlier article suggested that maybe it’s just a decoy, meant to balance out the reductions in the Fauntleroy neighborhood center, so the total acreage remains the same in West Seattle, but switching the designation to a block that is very unlikely to be affected at all. If being a neighborhood center brings any benefit from the city, the High Point block would get that benefit without having any physical change to the neighborhood.
- Jort September 19, 2025 (11:02 am)
  
  Oh I’m sure the addition of essentially already-built-out land in High Point was meant to ensure compliance with state law and balance out the removal from richer neighborhoods at the behest of wealthy homeowners. It doesn’t change the fact that Rob Saka bowed down to a small, wealthy constituency and – without a care in the world for the “marginalized” communities he so frequently uses as craven political pawns – shoved the density requirements into one of the poorest neighborhoods in West Seattle.
  - Big 5 Guy September 19, 2025 (7:15 pm)
    
    Jort, I thought you always said high density was a GOOD thing, not something to be “shoved”? Under your own logic, wouldn’t increased density be a huge asset to High Point?
- Stephen September 19, 2025 (1:09 pm)
  
  I think I’ve pondered on here before about whether the addition to the HP center was a cynical move to offset reductions elsewhere, but I don’t think it’s the only possible reason. It could be to regularize that already dense block with the rest of new neighborhood center, it could be to facilitate development of the parking lot behind the HP library (which has been a bit of a crime hotspot), or it could be for some other good faith reason… I don’t know.
  
  Overall I think the addition of a neighborhood center centered on the 35th and Morgan is quite positive. The area is a transit junction, and both sides of 35th from Graham to Morgan are low density light industrial that would probably better serve the immediate neighborhood if additional retail/mixed used were allowed to develop there.
  
  Even though I’m guilty of this here, I think spending too much time pondering the small addition in Amendment 36 just distracts from the larger cuts Saka has pushed to other WS neighborhood centers (BAD!) and the overall impact of increasing density in that area (GOOD!)
JP September 18, 2025 (10:52 pm)

How are you defining “rich neighborhoods”? Why do you believe expanding housing density in High Point is undesirable?
- Jort September 19, 2025 (10:57 am)
  
  ??? Do you think Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction are not rich neighborhoods? Or that High Point is a poorer neighborhood? Use whatever word you want from the Rob Saka Word Salad Bar: “disadvantaged,” “marginalized,” “minority-majority” –– whatever you want to call it. There are clear differences between Fauntleroy/Morgan and High Point and guess which ones were more influential to Rob Saka? Please. Let’s not be cute about this. And, feel free to cite where I said “expanding housing density in High Point is undesirable” anywhere in my comment. Because I didn’t.
  - JP September 21, 2025 (12:16 am)
    
    ??? Feel free to cite where I said “Fauntleroy and Morgan Junction are not rich neighborhoods”. Because I didn’t.If you are supportive of expanding housing density, why not acknowledge that at least some progress has been made? You seem more preoccupied with your dissatisfaction with Saka than you are truly concerned with the topic of housing affordability.
- k September 19, 2025 (2:03 pm)
  
  JP and Rhonda, Here’s a map from KC Public Health highlighting where poverty is concentrated in the city. Saka represents the parts of town with the most food deserts, and the least access to services, and yet continues to prioritize the needs of his wealthiest constituents over, well, everyone. While simultaneously using “marginalized communities” as a prop in the war he’s waging on a traffic safety curb. District 1 has extremely wealthy areas, and extremely poor ones, and the poor areas got all of the changes that supposedly “ruin the character” of wealthy areas. To say these neighborhoods are all equal or that socioeconomic factors weren’t a consideration is naive at best.
  - Rhonda September 19, 2025 (10:04 pm)
    
    K, that map is a joke. It shows blue and yellow poverty zones precisely where the Lincoln Park and Fauntleroy Ferry gazillion-dollar homes are.

Alki resident September 18, 2025 (5:11 pm)

This is great news!

AC September 18, 2025 (8:44 pm)

Am I missing something fundamental about upzoning and affordability? Why is upzoning and affordability any different than the effect increasing the number of lanes on a highway has on traffic congestion? Many people don’t live in Seattle because it is unaffordable, not undesirable. If there are more available housing units in Seattle, won’t they just fill up and the market settle back into the same cost barrier that exists now? New York isn’t affordable, Paris isn’t affordable, London isn’t affordable, Tokyo isn’t affordable. Why would we expect rent and ownership prices to drop? Tax revenue increases I guess, but only proportional to the number of residents.

Rhonda September 18, 2025 (10:05 pm)

Bingo, AC. Best answer, yet. Medina, Hunt’s Point and Clyde Hill wouldn’t be affordable with more units, either.
Tiff September 18, 2025 (10:13 pm)

There are vacancies in our subsidized housing. Seattle Times just did an article on it.
Brandon September 19, 2025 (12:52 am)

Ironically, Seattle is trying to institute a simple economic theory, supply and demand. Demand is high so the costs are high, increase the supply to satiate the demand and the costs could in theory drop. Ideally it would work, but under the conditions of Seattle leadership theres too many other factors at play they dont understand that will make it fail and return to the standard youre describing. To legitimately answer your question we’d have to look at Seattle’s other conflicting policies and other economic practices, but thatd take just about five or ten minutes to breakdown. So to save the education lesson that nobody here or in leadership honestly care about, we’ll just do this and expect it to work because it sounds good. Great question though.
- Jort September 19, 2025 (11:03 am)
  
  Yes, great question. I too am curious how the laws of supply and demand somehow do not apply to housing as they apply to just about every other economic situation in human history for all time. I’d love to know more about that because I’ve never heard a credible answer to that. Ever.
  - Brandon September 19, 2025 (11:22 am)
    
    Here’s the sparknotes.Step one. Use S&D to attempt to satiate the housing market. But not SFHs. Ignore those and make them more unaffordable by reducing their supply indirectly. Step two. Do nothing about else about affordability. In fact, do the opposite, raise taxes to subsidize more housing, or burn it on something else! Then raise minimum wage because why not! End result, cost of living rises.Step three. Stand back and marvel that you’ve created more housing, and its just as unaffordable as it was before. But hey, you have a larger tax base now to waste their money on something else. Thats progress.

PJ September 18, 2025 (10:09 pm)

Who the heck asked Rob Saka to change the name of Endolyne neighborhood Fauntleroy???? Does he want to erase the fact that electric trolley street cars turned around there? It was the end of the line Endolyne. Hello?? Wow! I can hear him now… Why don’t we change the name of the neighborhood, and erase any memory that the fact that an electric cable system ran street cars and trolleys?? The same wire system that runs the trolleys in the heart of downtown still. All electric trolleys, on a wire. Most people don’t realize the trolley system ran all over Seattle. Google it! Doesn’t require batteries. 🤔🧐

Susan F September 18, 2025 (11:05 pm)

I was in chambers at City Hall today when CM Saka tried to introduce an amendment that would require the city to give residents impacted by potential upzoning a heads up. He was voted down because CM Juarez noted that updates were provided via the Puget Sound Business Journal – which I hadn’t even heard of until today, and I grew up here. I also just learned that Alki is not off the docket for future potential upzoning – it’s still included in Amendment 1. https://www.seattle.gov/council/topics/2025-comprehensive-plan – see Page 7, Line 1. *CITY COUNCIL IS VOTING TOMORROW, SEPT 19, AT 2:00 ON THIS*. For residents who are concerned and would like to have their voices heard, I strongly recommend you send an email to council@seattle.gov before the vote. Subject Line: “Remove Alki from Amendment 1”, (or “Don’t upzone Alki”), and simply state you are a West Seattle resident and you do NOT support Alki being upzoned. Alki is already impacted by traffic, and does not have the infrastructure to support this effort. Nevermind the sewer mains are failing all over the city – it could be a potential nightmare for environmental impacts to Puget Sound alone.

22bkades September 19, 2025 (6:21 am)

There is no housing shortage. There’s a housing affordability shortage. These up-zoned multi-use structures don’t wind up affordable. They’re a developer welfare program that they cash in & leave with no meaningful attempt at building a community. In the meantime, they wreck the very reason people come & like about the city. They didn’t come here for a “reimagined” strip mall.

Jeff F. September 19, 2025 (2:01 pm)

{Citation needed}
- Brandon September 19, 2025 (2:15 pm)
  
  https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/why-thousands-of-seattles-affordable-housing-apartments-became-vacant/
  
  Not an exact article to the posters opinion. But to the shortage comment at least.

Stephen September 19, 2025 (12:26 pm)

I’ve asked this before, but what does 36 actually do?

That block currently has the library, a recently built apartment building w/ a retail space, and townhomes that are part of the High Point redevelopment, none of which seem to be likely targets for further development/densification in the next 50 years.

Does it make it easier to alter the parking lot next to the library? I know there have been complaints about crime in that lot.

Resident September 19, 2025 (1:06 pm)

I’m a third-generation Seattleite and 30-year West Seattle resident. I live up the hill from the site of the new neighborhood center. Fauntleroy is how the area is predominately referenced by residents and city documentation. Endolyne is that one block where Joes and the former trolly barn is. No one was trying to erase history. Calling it Fauntleroy better reflects the overall area. The name Fauntleroy comes from Lt. George Davidson of the U.S. Coast Survey. He named Fauntleroy Cove for cartography purposes in 1857 after his future father-in-law, Robert H. Fauntleroy. The trolly was constructed 50 years later.Most residents near the proposed center opposed the original design because it threatened the creek (one of only two salmon-bearing ones in West Seattle) and would add to the already heavy traffic from the ferry, which carries 1.7 million cars a year. It also included Fauntleroy Way and 47th SW which are narrow streets that dead end to Brace point, providing the only way in and out for over 1500 people. Almost every lot on those streets are 5000 sq ft or less, not suitable for stacked flats. The original footprint also included Seattle Public School property which wasn’t legally allowed for designation anyway. Considering that 45th Ave SW was already an Affordable Housing Zone, the revised footprint better aligned with the physical reality of the neighborhood and the desires to protect the watershed from over development. This allows for sensible growth, while considering the impacts to the ecosystem and current residents (which advocates seem to only want to demonize). CM Saka and his office worked very hard with those of us who were willing to spend our own time to get involved and provide feedback on the proposals. We decided to support a new proposal after it was suggested, we did not define it. I know his team spent a tremendous amount of time to hear from all neighborhoods in District 1, including the area of 35th and Barton which will be called Upper Fauntleroy. Suggesting ill intent is based on a lack of information and not participating in the process.CM Saka has indicated that he lives on Delridge near the scene of over 100 shots being fired indiscriminately on March 30th of this year. Suggesting he is someone who only works on behalf of “rich” people ignores reality and his life story. CM Saka and his team were guided in thoughtful decision making by considering all inputs, unlike some other council members who are guided by their ideologies. We are fortunate to have someone like him on the council. The previous 15 years demonstrated the alternative, and we have all witnessed the results.

walkerws September 23, 2025 (9:02 am)

Calling Saka “thoughtful” is the best laugh I’ve had all week.

wetone September 19, 2025 (2:46 pm)

There’s a large group of local people (builders/investors) in WS that are buying up a large percentage of houses here in WS and other Seattle areas that are around $million or less for redevelopment. They have been working with a local real estate company that helps tie properties up, then same company gets listings for new builds after redeveloped. If you spend the time to look up closing dates and when house went on market you will see paperwork was submitted to city on property for redevelopment before closing. Making it almost impossible for those looking to become home owners with the purchase of an older smaller home in this area. City government has had a big hand in all this with their push for the big changes with the up-zoning. Resulting with large tax base increase of money for city. This will impact all owners and renters with increased tax values as new sales of redeveloped properties (each unit) usually sell for more than original property was purchased for. All these promises from city with this being a problem solver at making affordable housing is just a bunch of poo poo. Crazy stuff going on and people need to pay attention. Impacts from city’s rezone will change every neighborhood except the ones these builders/investors and the mayor live in. You will soon have 4-6 units with 10’ setbacks from sidewalk and almost 40’ high on 5000+sqft lot next to your house. Think about that, if you have garden, solar or just enjoy having a yard in the city good luck.

k September 19, 2025 (3:28 pm)

Once again so those in the back can hear, the state got rid of single-family zoning. That was not a city government decision. The street adjacent to mine has been zoned for 4-story apartments for decades and is still mostly single-family homes, because zoning changes don’t require you to do anything. They just allow you to do more. Please read this helpful info from the County Assessor’s website about how property taxes are calculated. Adding a bunch of extra housing does not result in a giant check for the city, nor does it balloon your own tax bill: https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/assessor/buildings-and-property/property-taxes/residential-property-taxes
- wetone September 19, 2025 (5:22 pm)
  
  So your saying if I live on a 5+k sqft lot with 1200sqft 1940’s home and neighbor sells same house for $750k, buyer tears down, does subdivision of lot into 4, then builds 4 units (allowable per new zoning proposal) 800-1200sqft and homes sell for $900k – $1.5mil that won’t affect my property taxable value of $750k ?????

wetone September 19, 2025 (5:26 pm)

So your saying if I live on a 5+k sqft lot with 1200sqft 1940’s home and neighbor sells same house for $750k, buyer tears down, does subdivision of lot into 4, then builds 4 units (allowable per new zoning proposal) 800-1200sqft and homes sell for $900k – $1.5mil that won’t affect my property taxable value of $750k ?????

K September 19, 2025 (8:36 pm)

That is correct, because they’re not comps for your home. They would increase the total taxable property in your area, which could potentially reduce your tax bill, but the three extra homes alone would not likely make a huge difference.
Foop September 19, 2025 (9:45 pm)

If you want so badly to control what your neighbors do on their property, make them an offer to buy their lot.
- wetone September 20, 2025 (9:18 am)
  
  FOOP, that’s a great idea, but only works if there’s no realtor involved or an ethical one. Reason is because builder/investors offer the new listings of developed properties to the real estate companies that brought them original property in most all cases. Win win for the real estate company and realtor as their commission money is greatly increased ;)

Sorry, comment time is over.