Plans and Policy

The six appeals against the One Seattle housing plan had been headed toward a lengthy hearing later this spring. But a filing by the City seeks to dismiss the appeals much more quickly, allowing the plan to move forward.

An interim ordinance will allow Seattle to meet a state deadline, and decide how to allow four and six units on residential lots around the city. But exactly how to do that will likely be a hotly debated issue on the city council.

For the last 30 years, Seattle has adopted an urban village approach to growth that has reserved 75% of the city for single-family zoning while concentrating growth into walkable urban centers. This has created de-facto housing segregation, where many people with disabilities can reside only in the minority of neighborhoods classified as urban centers, which are made expensive by their rareness.

In choosing how to fill a $1 billion budget hole over the next two years, Washington State lawmakers are being forced to take a hard look at deferring or even cancelling some long-planned highway capacity projects.

Seattle and King County are reeling from both immediate and anticipated impacts from the second Trump administration. Seattle Councilmember Alexis Mercedes Rinck and King County Councilmember Claudia Balducci are leading efforts to prepare for the volatility and protect community members. 

Keeping all 30 proposed Neighborhood Centers is essential for a more affordable, sustainable, and thriving Seattle. If we chip away at Neighborhood Centers, we’ll be left with the same housing shortages, rising costs, and inequitable growth patterns we’ve seen for decades.

Newcastle Mayor Robert Clark pushed to remove references to promoting racial and social equity as "vague," "subjective," and "irrelevant," and called climate change "subjective." Many of his recommendations were adopted by the Newcastle Planning Commission.

After weathering a budget scare, Seattle’s Equitable Development Initiative is growing, with $22 million in new awards aimed at combating displacement and anchoring communities of color.