By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Whether you agree with their view of upcoming city upzoning or not, residents of one West Seattle neighborhood have advice for you: Find out what’s planned for where you live – don’t assume someone would have contacted you directly to let you know about changes.

The next round of upzoning involves what’s called the Centers and Corridors legislation, which the City Council will consider when it resumes meeting as the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan – next meeting 2 pm Thursday, March 19, with its first of two standalone public hearings set for 9:30 am April 6. The focuses include the areas that will become housing/business hubs known as Neighborhood Centers and areas that are considered “transit corridors”; the city says the legislation is meant to:

… implement the vision in the One Seattle Plan by increasing our capacity to build apartments and condos more widely in areas with access to transit, shops, and services. This legislation would rezone land in newly designated Neighborhood Centers, in new and expanded Urban Centers, and along frequent transit corridors.

That’s the map included in a city report on the proposals, which we wrote about after the city released them in January. That story led residents of 39th SW north of Morgan in upper Morgan Junction [map] to look into what was planned for their street – using the city’s interactive map.

They discovered, Scott Roberts told us, a dramatic contrast between their side of 39th remaining Neighborhood Residential, and what the other side of their street would be zoned for, Lowrise 2. He provided these before and (potentially) after views to demonstrate what he called an “abrupt zoning edge”:

We talked with him and neighbors along their street recently, after one of those neighbors contacted WSB. Their blocks of 39th have many long-time residents; Roberts and his wife have been there 26 years; another neighbor who joined the conversation has been there 29 years; yet another has lived there more than 80 years. (Some newcomers too; yet another told us they’ve lived there three years.) The neighbors have dinners and take trips together and consider each other family. “We’ve put our hearts and souls into this neighborhood,” Roberts says, expecting to live in their 1912-built home for the rest of their lives.

They also expected it would remain a quiet, not-so-dense neighborhood. And they think the proposed zoning change on the west side of the street is based on a mistaken view of how the area fits into the future vision.

They say their street, a long stretch of 39th SW between Holly and Juneau, doesn’t qualify as a “corridor”; it’s just east of Fauntleroy, but buses don’t run there. The closest bus route is the 128 on the SW Morgan hill at the south end of their street. Roberts has done copious research; he and neighbors commented when the proposal was reviewed by the city Planning Commission last month. He’s contacted multiple city offices; so far, he’s heard back from Brennon Staley with the Office of Planning and Community Development, plus an offer to chat with District 1 City Councilmember Rob Saka during his in-district “office hours.”

In correspondence with Staley, Roberts noted it’s not just about height but also about other factors including a 50 percent reduction in required setback in Lowrise 2 – five feet, compared to ten feet for NR – compared to Neighborhood Residential, plus what he describes as “predatory developer pressure,” with property owners already being besieged by builders wanting to buy their homes, even before the rezoning is approved.

Staley’s replies included that the zoning difference was “fairly minor,” with four-story “stacked flats” actually allowable in both zones, plus the observation that the street is 60 feet wide, which he suggested provides “significant separation.”

If the zoning difference is “fairly minor,” Roberts countered to Staley via email, then why rezone at all?” What was “single-family” has already been upzoned, on this block and throughout the city, to at least four units on most if not all parcels, and some neighbors already have added “backyard cottages” (detached accessory dwelling units aka DADUs). Jeff, the 29-year resident, says he’s always been “excited about growth” and even recalled voting for the monorail expansion that once was planned to end at a station half a mile away.

Roberts and his neighbors also say they’re aghast that this change was proposed for their neighborhood – and other changes in other neighborhoods – without direct notification. They’ve been making flyers to circulate. And they’re hoping to convince city leaders to change the plan for their block, as they did with boundaries for some Neighborhood Centers, such as Endolyne before the proposed Centers and Corridors legislation came out.

The ultimate decision is up to the City Council, which starts the review next week and is expected to finalize the Centers and Corridors legislation in July. If you have anything to say about the plan, Roberts and his neighbors note, “Time is of the essence.”

HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Basic info on the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan, and its baseline meeting schedule, can be found here. When individual meeting agendas are set – usually a few days in advice – you’ll find them here. Don’t know how to contact councilmembers? Go here.

(WSB photo: Matt Hutchins and Kevin Broveleit at West Seattle Realty event)

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

One of the most pointed audience questions during last night’s discussion of “Zoning Changes in Seattle” was whether everyone whose property has been, or will be, upzoned by those changes is aware of it.

All the discussion leader, local architect Matt Hutchins, could say was, in essence, if not, they should – this all has been years in the making, and it’s not over yet.”You can not like the outcome, but you can’t say this was done hastily,” he contended. (He’s had something of an inside view, as co-chair of the city-convened Planning Commission.)

More than two dozen people filled the seats at West Seattle Realty (WSB sponsor), whose proprietor Kevin Broveleit both hosted and participated. Here’s our full video of the event:

Though it was a full house at WSR, those were just two dozen out of hundreds of thousands – Hutchins’ slide deck included the projection that by mid-century, the city of Seattle’s population could hit 1 million. That’s why city, county, and state leaders have been changing zoning to accommodate more housing. And the city has just launched its next round.

Hutchins touched on many points in his presentation – including how replacement of older residential units with newer, denser buildings increases housing affordability, even if it’s the classic case of one older $750,000 house getting replaced with three smaller new homes selling for that or more. (His term for what happens: “Vacancy chains.”) He showed a multitude of examples of types of housing now allowed on some if not all single-family sites, including a phrase you might have heard, “stacked flats.” (Those buildings could hold up to 11 units and four stories, in certain cases, Hutchins said, or even 16 one-bedroom “deed-restricted, for-sale” units.)

He also explained why rezoning only means what can be done on a site, not what will, and discussed reasons why redevelopment hasn’t happened as quickly as it could have. According to Hutchins, one factor in Seattle is the Mandatory Housing Affordability component, requiring a builder either to include “affordable” housing in their project, or pay a fee that the city would apply toward funding it somewhere else. That fee currently must be paid before construction, Hutchins says, and that’s a dealbreaker for some builders who would be better able to afford the fee if it was collected afterward, when the units are sold.

In the meantime, a lot of building is being done with homeowners in the role of “developer” – Hutchins and Broveleit said “backyard cottages” are a surprisingly sizable percentage of home sales right now. With most lots now able to be developed into at least four units, Hutchins said this will “open the door to a new kind of competition among architects – who’s going to design the best backyard duplex.” He showed an example of a duplex that could be home to multiple generations of the same family.

And it’s not only about housing; he noted that corner stores and child-care businesses. Overall, “you’re going to see all kinds of variants” of projects because of the way the code (zoning) was written.

Bottom line, toward the end of the hour-and-a-half event, was a declaration that “density and affordability doesn’t have to be scary – (you have to) get people talking to each other.”

WHAT’S NEXT: This was a community-led event, not official, but plenty of official proceedings are coming up. Most importantly: The dates are set for consideration of the next phase of city rezoning, the Centers and Corridors proposals, as the council meets as the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan:

March 19 – 2:00 PM meeting
April 6 – Public Hearing 9:30 AM
May 29 – Public Hearing 9:30 AM
June 4 – 1:00 PM
June 18 – 1:00 PM

The Centers and Corridors proposal was unveiled a month ago.

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Demolition is under way at 5435-5437 California SW [map], where 12 townhouses will replace a business building. Former tenants in the teardown building included Canna West Culture Shop (which closed after two crash-and-grabs), whose parent store Canna West Seattle (WSB sponsor) is still very much open across the street, and the Filigree & Shadow fragrance studio that closed last fall.

The site sold to a builder for $1.7 million three months ago, according to County Assessor records. The site plan shows the 12 townhouses will be built in two rows of six stretching west-east between California and the alley, where there will be six offstreet parking spots. Demolition work when we stopped for photos this afternoon was focused on the back of the site.

Six months after our most recent update on a townhouse/live-work project planned for 5617 California SW [map], the site’s just been cleared. Going by today, we stopped after noting the 113-year-old house that’s held small businesses on the site had been demolished. City records say nine units – with the three live-works facing California – and four offstreet-parking spaces are planned – here’s a rendering:

If you’re interested in full design details, see the design packet here. Side note from city files: Under the Mandatory Housing Affordability policy, the developer will have to pay a quarter-million dollar fee since none of the units will be officially “affordable.”

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

The online public meeting for a development proposal at 2345 Hobart Avenue SW (backstory here) was meant for comments on the latest proposal for the site.

But the proposal was so new, city reps weren’t fully acquainted with it, admitted planner Joe Hurley, presiding over the meeting. A project manager for the proposal surfaced during the meeting, as a commenter, to talk about it. When the public meeting was scheduled, the plan had a duplex and a stand-alone house. Now the latter has been removed, and only the duplex remains.

All the same, neighbors are concerned that any development on the site, much of which is in an Environmentally Critical Area, will threaten the stability in the area. They requested a meeting to get their concerns more conspicuously onto the record as the Department of Construction and Inspections reviews the proposal to decide whether to allow part of the project to get an Environmentally Critical Area exemption.

Hurley said the public meeting was the result of nine comments calling for one, mainly concerns about slide risks and inadequate analysis of the site.

The project manager promised a “detailed stormwater analysis” was planned, and that the project would include repairs of the “Hobart washout.” She said the duplex that’s now the only building planned on the site is similar to what’s been approved for a neighboring site; both are owned by the same family, which she notes lives in the area. She suggested the site’s zoning meant they could build more than they’re seeking to. She also said the site holds some “unhealthy” trees but that rather than being removed, they’ll be “snagged” so their roots remain to aid with soil stability. Finally, she said the plan would have two offstreet-parking spaces for each unit (that too had been a concern, more cars than spaces could lead to onstreet parking in an area where the road is already narrow).

One commenter wanted clarity on the percentage of the site’s ECA that could potentially be built over; the meeting’s purpose was to record comments, not answer questions, so that went unanswered.

Others who spoke included a lawyer for some of the property owners, who said they understood that the city couldn’t place an “undue burden” on a property owner by ordering that an entire site be left undeveloped, but, they asked, would allowing one unit instead of two be enough to relieve that burden?

A nearby resident also cited a policy saying that granting an ECA exemption shouldn’t be “injurious” to those nearby, and she thinks this would be – putting her and neighbors at risk. That was echoed by another neighbor, who said the project could be at best an inconvenience but at worst do harm.

The concerned neighbors also got some support from regional tree advocate Sandi Shettler, who called out a deficiency in the site report, saying it didn’t list the existing trees’ species.

Though they didn’t all speak, the meeting drew more than 20 attendees, according to the counter on the video software.

Next step, the city will continue reviewing the project and will make a decision on the exemption request, with the decision open to appeal.

The only West Seattle project to have had a Southwest Design Review Board meeting this year, ~86 apartments at 3010 SW Avalon Way [map], now has its official design decision. The official report was released by the city today; see it here. This opens a two-week period for appeals, as explained in this notice. As we reported when the project went before the board in March, the project is proposed as an eight-story building with no offstreet parking. As for whether it’s on track to be built any time soon – since the development market has been fairly slow around here – that’s hard to tell from the document files, and of course the West Seattle light-rail project likely looms large in that area’s future.

(Google Street View image of 2345 Hobart SW, from this past August)

City-convened public meetings about development sites are few and far between these days; not only has development slowed down, but design review has largely became a staff function, and that program had been the major reason for community meetings. Next week, though, a West Seattle development proposal is the subject of an online community meeting, and a neighborhood group is explaining why.

The site is at 2345 Hobart Avenue SW in Upper Alki [map], and the proposal is for one three-story house and one three-story triplex, plus six offstreet-parking spaces. The community meeting, online at 5 pm Wednesday, October 15th – requested by neighbors, per the comment file – is to address the project’s request for a variance because of the Environmentally Critical Area that’s part of the site.

Neighbors have formed a group called the Friends of Bonair Place, and a spokesperson told us, “The site proposed for development has a history of landslides, sinkholes and infrastructure issues going back to 1934 – 1935.” They note a WSB story covered a utility problem there in early 2009. “We are doing what we can to ensure that there is broader awareness of this public meeting for several reasons: 1) due to the unique conditions of this steep slope wooded site and the wider impact it could have beyond Hobart Ave, 2) because many neighbors near us were not sent the attached notice, and 3) because last year SDCI granted an ECA variance for a project adjacent to the proposed site. The variance was granted without a public meeting and is managed by a different Land Use Planner, David Sachs. (2349 Hobart Ave SW)” (Joe Hurley is the planner listed as working on the subject of next week’s meeting.)

The city’s file says the site originally went into the system in 2020 with a proposal for five townhouses. That followed various other proposals in previous years, according to city files, including one for eight units. The current proposal includes this site plan showing the developer’s calculations of how much of the Environmentally Critical Area the project would encroach on; it says the site totals 11,532 square feet, that 8,971 sf of that are ECA, and that they believe 1,315 sf of their buildings’ footprint would cut into that.

To participate in (or just watch) the 5 pm October 15 meeting, here’s the link; you can sign up here to comment during the meeting. The meeting notice also has a phone number and access code for participation.

Thanks for the tip! Two weeks after the demolition permit was issued for small residential buildings at 1790 and 1794 Alki Avenue SW [map], circa 1910 and 1938, a backhoe has turned them into debris.

We last reported on the project proposed for this site in May 2024; it was going through the system at the time as a four-story, 12-unit building. County records show the parcels were sold four years ago for $2.3 million. City files, however, show the building permit hasn’t yet been issued.

If you were around for the West Seattle development boom in the late ’00s and early-to-mid 2010s, you probably remember the role Design Review played – a city-appointed review board met as often as twice a month, with up to two projects per meeting, and the calendar was often full. It was the main opportunity for community members to have input into notable projects, for better or for worse. And it changed the plan for some sites – one notable example is at California/Charlestown, where dozens of residences share the corner with lively small businesses largely because the Southwest Design Review Board gave relentless pushback to a previous plan to replace the beloved Charlestown Café with a one-story Petco store and parking lot. Since then, though, the Design Review rules have changed and the board meetings have grown fewer and fewer. The Southwest board had a one-project meeting in March – its first in 15 months. Last November, the city asked for your thoughts on what remained of the process. And now, changes are unveiled. In an announcement today about his proposals for further limiting design review, Mayor Harrell is proposing abolishing the neighborhood boards and replacing them with one citywide board. The summary in his announcement also includes:

–Extend successful exemption for affordable housing. The interim ordinance would extend by six months a Design Review exemption set to expire in August 2025 for projects that meet Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements through onsite affordable units. During the two-year exemption pilot, proposed onsite housing units more than doubled compared to all prior years of the MHA program. Building on this success, the legislative proposal coming later this summer would make this exemption permanent.

–Only large projects would be subject to design review. The review threshold would increase to buildings with 150+ housing units or 20,000+ square feet of commercial space. Smaller projects would be exempt, as well as projects located outside Urban Centers or Regional Growth Centers, and projects subject to other review boards, such as the Landmark Preservation Board.

–Clear guidelines and less meetings. Permanent Design Review guidelines would be easier to understand and focus exclusively on elements of the building’s exterior. The permanent ordinance would also limit Design Review to one public meeting that must take place early in the permitting process to help increase predictability, reduce delays, and provide an avenue for public comment when it’s most impactful.

–One citywide board. The eight geographically focused boards would be replaced by one citywide board of 14 members who have expertise in design, development, and equity. Projects planned within established equity areas would use board members from the local community within the pool of 14. This change aims to simplify the program, make it more consistent, and improve representation for historically underserved communities.

–Flexibility in design standards in exchange for public benefits. Departures from design standards, such as increased height or floor area, may be allowed for projects that add public benefits like meeting equity goals or enhancing street-level design. Projects exempt from Design Review would also benefit from similar flexibility through an administrative process.

You can read the full announcement here. It also notes the legislation will be sent to City Council after the environmental-review process that continues through June 26 (various documents, and info on commenting, are here).

It’s not a big project, but 5617 California SW (across from C & P Coffee [WSB sponsor]) will redevelop the last site of its kind on its block, so it’s worth noting. We last reported a year ago about the nine units planned to replace that 113-year-old bungalow, most recently used by a counseling service – six townhouses, three live-works, four stories, four off-street parking spaces. The city has announced a key approval for the project, which opens an appeal window through May 1; here’s how to file one. County records show the 7,500-square-foot site sold earlier this year for just under $1.2 million.

New hope that redevelopment might finally happen at the long-vacant strip-mall/restaurant sites in the 5200 block of California SW. The demolition permit was renewed back in February; now two expired construction permits are being reviewed for renewal, and the city permit system has the explanatory notation “Ownership is working to obtain funds to move forward with the project.” The project as first proposed back in 2017 was for 18 rowhouse-style townhouses. Then in 2023, a senior-living complex was proposed instead, but that was scrapped. It’s been almost nine years since the strip mall’s previous major tenant moved further north into The Junction; as for the two ex-restaurants, the former Papa John’s closed in 2017, and Thaitan (on the corner) closed in 2019. Records indicate the combined redevelopment site hasn’t changed ownership since around the time of most of the closures.