Belman is out as SDCI director and returning to Sound Transit.
Sam Steele will be the new interim head of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI), Mayor Katie Wilson revealed in an email Monday to department employees. The 26-year veteran of City of Seattle government most recently served as SDCI’s director of inspections. Steele will start as interim director on February 11.
“I’m looking forward to working with Sam and the whole SDCI team as we deliver on an affordable and vibrant Seattle that works for everyone,” Wilson said in the email.
Steele worked his way up after Seattle Parks and Recreation hired him as a carpenter in 2000, Wilson noted, pointing to his long history with the City of Seattle that included several roles at SDCI and its predecessor, DPD, as well as at Seattle Center.
“I’m honored to step into the role of interim director of SDCI,” Steele said in a statement. “This department is home to some of the most innovative and dedicated employees in the city, and it’s a privilege to support the work they do every day, from permitting safe emergency shelter to upholding minimum housing standards, streamlining permitting and construction for future light rail and assisting small businesses as they activate streets across our community. I look forward to partnering with Mayor Wilson and colleagues across the city to strengthen communication, reduce barriers, and continue improving customer satisfaction and access to our services.”
In an email to staff, Steele emphasized the department’s long history solving problems and innovating.
“This is a unique moment — one that gives us the chance to transform how we interact with customers and strengthen the relationships across divisions and the city,” Steele wrote. “Our department has a proud history of solving problems. We are one of the oldest in the city, beginning as Wharves and Bridges — hard to imagine now! Even 40 years ago, before computers were fully integrated, we managed the evolving codes and regulations that often created bottlenecks and confusion.”
Sounds like Belman is heading back to Sound Transit to become a Deputy CEO to Dow Constantine. She'd been with ST a long time and had previously filled in as acting CEO after Peter Rogoff's departure.
— Ryan Packer (@typewriteralley.bsky.social) January 29, 2026 at 4:43 PM
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SDCI Interim Director Brooke Belman announced her departure last week, but will remain on until February 10. Belman is returning to Sound Transit, where she will again serve as a Deputy CEO, this time under CEO Dow Constantine. She served as acting Sound Transit CEO in the gap between the firing of Peter Rogoff and the hiring of Julie Timm. She served as Deputy CEO before leaving to take the SDCI post.
Before Belman, SDCI had long been helmed by Nathan Torgelson, a 35-year veteran at the City of Seattle. Last March, former Mayor Bruce Harrell announced the two had mutually agreed to part ways — although Torgelson remained on though the summer.
The reasons for the leadership change were not entirely clear, but some within Harrell’s cabinet did appear to grow frustrated with perceived resistance within the department to efforts to streamline design review and the broader permitting process. Seattle has longer permit review times than many peers locally, including Tacoma: An ECONorthwest analysis found Seattle’s permit times exceeded 18 months on average for projects undergoing full design review from 2010 to 2020.
State legislation ended up forcing the department’s hand in some areas, as the SDCI effort to reform itself became bogged down in a contentious stakeholder process and ended up proposing minor tweaks rather than a wholehearted overhaul. Starting in June 2025, HB 1293 required that all design standards are “clear and objective” and sets a maximum of one public meeting per project. Previously, Seattle had often required three or more meetings, particularly in wealthy neighborhood with organized resistance to new housing.
Even then, the City had to rely on an interim ordinance to meet the state deadline, with permanent legislation still pending.
Each year, SDCI reviews and approves more than 55,000 land use and construction permits and conducts approximately 240,000 on-site and 10,000 virtual inspections, according to the Harrell administration. However, permit applications are trending downward sharply, which will be a challenge for Steele to tackle as the department’s new leader.
Averting a housing slowdown appears to be a priority for Wilson, but the task may not be easy. For his part, Steele has pledged to shift paradigms and indicated a willingness to jettison old practices that are no longer serving the city well.
“Today, I challenge each of you to break stride with past practices and help write the next chapter of the building department,” Steele wrote to employees. “Let’s leave a legacy of how we turned the corner and solved our own problems.”
Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrian streets, bus lanes, and a mass-timber building spree to end our housing crisis. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood and loves to explore the city by foot and by bike.
