Ryan Packer
Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.
On Wednesday, Bremerton ditched parking mandates, letting builders choose housing over excessive parking. Following in the footsteps of cities like Spokane, Port Townsend, and Bellingham, the move sets Bremerton up to prioritize housing needs and improving multimodal travel options.
Rather than jumping through new hoops to submit permit applications, Sound Transit will instead simply need to submit a report laying out the public outreach it conducted. The change should allow the original intent of the bill to streamline permitting to be maintained.
The proposal for a 0.1% sale tax hike comes in response to structural issues with King County's budget, and would generate around $100 million annually. Half would fund maintenance on unincorporated roads, and the other half is likely to go to safety upgrades at Metro.
Sound Transit's newly announced "enterprise initiative" is needed to respond to financial pressures expected to impact system expansion plans. But the work is expected to be broader than past financial restructures, where project delay was the most noticeable outcome.
Councilmember Maritza Rivera's last-minute proposal would require additional public outreach and documentation for light rail permit applications. The underlying bill had been intended to cut red rape. After pushback from Councilmembers Rinck and Strauss, the vote was delayed a week.
The idea of building affordable housing at Magnolia's former Army base has been in the works for two decades. With a key comment deadline passing this month, it's finally set to advance, but several major hurdles loom over the coming months.
Quick decisions by a King County Superior Court ruled that two separate challenges to the One Seattle Plan's environmental review will have to wait until the Seattle City Council makes a final decision on the growth plan.
To meet a state deadline, the Seattle City Council legalized fourplexes or sixplexes across the entire city via the adoption of an interim code Tuesday. The move is just a prelude to a bigger fight over urban density, as Council advances Mayor Bruce Harrell's broader growth plan.