Plans and Policy

Seattle City Light Plans More Surface EV Charging Lots in Dense Neighborhoods

Last year, The Urbanist reported on Seattle City Light's plans to create a surface parking lot to charge electric vehicles (EVs) on the 9,000+...
Mayor Durkan with Ferris wheel and Seattle waterfront in background

Mayor’s Budget Proposes Adding 35 Cops, Skimps Elsewhere

Mayor Jenny Durkan released her budget today and sent Deputy Mayor Shefali Ranganathan to deliver brief remarks on the proposal to the Seattle City...

Is Washington Addicted to Authorities?

This article is adapted from testimony for HB 2882 prepared by the author and presented to the Washington House of Representatives Committee on Housing,...

Four Key Takeaways on the Draft HALA Recommendations

I think it's a good thing that within hours of Danny Westneat leaking the Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) Committee draft recommendations, it...
A photo pf the Washington State Court interior chamber.

Washington Redistricting Commission Fails to Approve Maps In Time, Still Wants Court to Accept...

Late Monday night, the Washington State Redistricting Commission failed to approve new maps for Congressional and legislative districts before the constitutional deadline, while holding...
An aerial photo of a boulevard with port cranes and Elliott Bay in the distance.

Planners Proposed Bigger Upzones Before Harrell’s Team Intervened, Records Show

A paper trail from fall 2023 shows that Mayor Harrell's office overruled his planning department and cut transit corridor upzones and halved the number of proposed "neighborhood centers" before release of the growth strategy.

Linkage Fees are a supply-side solution: Or, how land owners end up paying for...

Linkage Fees, proposed fees on new development to pay for affordable housing, have a lot of critics. And the critics' arguments are probably all...

Op-Ed: Building the Seattle We Want with the Growth We’ll Have

Seattle's proposed 20-year growth strategy could certainly use improvement. Here are suggestions to promote housing abundance, fight exclusion, and curb climate pollution.