Seattle
The City released a draft version of the new zoning maps that are part of the Comprehensive Plan, with some modest improvements to density. The new plan has added six Neighborhood Centers, where apartment buildings could be as tall as 6 stories. It no longer exempts areas from the State’s Middle Housing requirements. It also follows those requirements more closely, allowing up to 4 units in Neighborhood Residential, or six in areas with frequent transit, with density bonuses for stacked flats – but these changes only apply where lot sizes are >6000 sq feet, which is mostly in the north end. Housing advocates are pleased to see the changes, but point out the need for more, including:
- Neighborhood Residential: increase the development potential of 4- and 6-plexes to allow for up to 3-bedroom apartments for family housing.
- Transit-Oriented Development: Allow midrise housing within a 1/4 mile walkshed of frequent transit stops, not just along the arterial, so that renters may have the choice to live on quieter streets.
- Neighborhood Centers: Expand the size to maximize their potential (currently they are just a few blocks).
- Affordability: Make the density bonus big enough that public funds are not required to make affordable housing pencil out.
- Urban Centers: Increase the height limits in Capitol Hill, the U District, Ballard, and Northgate to 85 feet.
The link above has mechanisms for providing feedback online. In addition, city planners will host a series of engagement sessions where residents can learn more, ask questions, and provide feedback:
The City has been working on the 2025-26 budget. Here’s a timeline for the budget process:
- The Budget Committee is currently hearing presentations from Council staff on policy considerations.
- Oct 22: Updated revenue forecast. The budget must be balanced, and typically the draft budget is prepared with conservative estimates for revenue. If the forecasts come in above what was used in the draft, then there are extra funds that can be disbursed for Council priorities. If the forecasts come up short, that signals a need for cuts in the draft budget.
- Oct 30: Budget Chair’s Balancing Budget. The Chair of the Budget Committee presents a proposed balanced budget based on the updated revenue projections, and the priorities of the Council.
- Nov 1: Deadline for Councilmembers to submit budget amendments.
- Nov 5: Public hearing for the Council to hear feedback on the budget proposal
- Nov 13-15: Budget Committee votes on amendments
- Nov 21: Council approves final budget
- The Mayor then has the option to approve, veto, or let the budget pass without signing, usually by sometime in early Dec.
The proposed budget for the Office of Sustainability and Environment is a about $30M which is a 15% reduction over the previous budget. The Environmental Justice Fund would be cut in half, and the Indigenous Led Climate Initiative would also be significantly cut. The budget does include $30M from recently received grants, and increases FTEs by 1. The cost for implementation of Building Emissions Performance Standards is down by $500K due to savings identified by the City’s IT department for compliance software. The drayage electrification pilot for short-haul trucking to/from the Port that the City has been running is done, and that work is transitioning as Federal and State resources will be deployed at a regional level for drayage electrification. Workforce development spending and the Duwamish programs will be reduced.
The City Council approved new Energy Codes, as part of a set of building code changes. The new codes set energy efficiency standards in commercial buildings, and are slightly stricter than the State’s commercial energy code. There had been a push to delay the new codes, but now they are approved and will go into effect on Nov. 15.
The City Council passed a resolution in opposition to I-2117, the initiative to repeal the Climate Commitment Act. So, reversing the double negative, they expressed support for the CCA.
The Stranger endorsed Prop 1, the Transportation Levy ballot measure that normally provides about one third of the City’s transportation funding. The Seattle Times, on the contrary, favors a No vote (this is consistent with its endorsements in previous years). In addition, The Stranger endorsed Alexis Mercedes Rinck for City Council, and the the Seattle Times endorsed her opponent, Tanya Woo.
King County
King County Metro Faces Looming Budget Cliff, the Urbanist reported after a recent King County Budget hearing. Without action, Metro will run out of money in 2028, and will have to decide between service cutbacks, scaling back investments in electric buses, or raising additional revenue. In the meantime, there is some good news: ridership on the new RapidRide G line is about 250% more than ridership on the comparable Route 12. In general, although Metro is slowly increasing service back to pre-pandemic levels, ridership is lagging and weekday ridership is only about 65% of what it was in 2019.
The draft budget for the Office of Climate is $5.6M, which is a 69% increase over the previous budget, in spite of the fact that the County in general is having to make cuts this year. Here are some of the highlights:
- $800K for Resilient Communities, to improve resilience from climate events, especially for frontline communities.
- $600K for Decarbonization Planning and Implementation, including two FTE positions for building and transportation climate policies.
- $385K for a new Chief of Staff position and an assistant
- $300K for a Climate Performance Tracking Dashboard that will also include information about Grants.
The Office of Climate has $19.4M in grants that have either been awarded or are likely to be awarded and one of them is large enough for them to hire FTEs to work on building decarbonization initiatives.
Also, they reported that the County is falling short on its goal for vehicle electrification of the County’s fleet for 50% of the light duty vehicles to be electric by 2025. They will likely only achieve 250 of a total 856 in the goal, due to delays in getting recharging infrastructure installed.
As in the last budget cycle, they noted that the County is running a large maintenance deficit on county roads, and spending only a quarter of what is required to maintain them. As a result, expenses are going up for repaving and some bridges will need to be completely replaced. The funding outlook has changed as tax revenue is lower due to the fact that many areas have been incorporated into cities and no longer pay road taxes, but the amount of roads the County is responsible for has not changed much. A new model is needed before 2029.
State
The County Council voted through a resolution opposing I-2066, the initiative to protect natural gas investments. Bellingham, Olympia, Vancouver, Sammamish, and Kirkland have passed similar resolutions. And The Stranger endorsed a No vote. The Seattle Times endorsed a Yes vote.
And, that’s a wrap! I salute you for getting to the end of this (very long) climate update!
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