Seattle
The Mayor released the draft Comprehensive Plan. Most commentators seem to agree that the plan tilts towards more townhomes, but this may not be enough to accomodate much additional growth. The Urbanist quotes Julia Reed “The largest city in the state should be maximizing the use of the tools [the Washington State Legislature] is providing them, not doing the minimum.” The Office of Community Development and Planning is doing a series of six open houses around the city to talk to residents, see below for details. For some coverage, see KUOW, the Urbanist, Hacks & Wonks (21:38). OPCD will present the plan to Council later today @ 2:25 pm.
- Loyal Heights Community Center, March 14 @ 6pm
- Cleveland High School, March 19 @ 6pm
- Nathan Hale High School, March 26 @ 6pm
- Chief Sealth International High School, April 3 @ 6pm
- Garfield Community Center, April 16 @ 6pm
- Eckstein Middle School, April 25 @ 6pm
- City Hall, April 30 @ 6pm
- Virtual, May 2 @ 6pm
State
The Legislative Session is now over. All the bills which were awaiting reconciliation got it. But there is a fair amount of controversy over what happened with HB 1589, the PSE Decarbonization bill, and now there is an action from the Sierra Club: No PSE handout at ratepayers’ expense! to ask the Governor to make a selective veto.
The Dept of Commerce just released a study on residential building decarbonization. The Executive Summary is here, the complete report is here. This was a study that some Seattle building decarbonization advocates had argued for and got in the budget in 2021.
Elsewhere
The Legislature just voted to allow networked geo-thermal heating pilots in Washington. In Massachusetts, a pilot project is currently in progress, and expects to go online later this spring. A gas company there is trying out the idea of replacing gas lines in a neighborhood with ground source heat pumps powered by electricity. The utility will still supply heating, just using electricity.
And, informally, this headline recently caught my eye: UN Climate Chief’s Blunt Message: Fewer Loopholes, Way More Cash to Really Halt Climate Change. He was talking about the developed countries passing stronger rules and paying for decarbonization elsewhere, but it applies equally well at home.
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