The Urbanist » Page 3 of 250 » Examining urban policy to improve cities and quality of life.

Seattle’s Pedestrian Plan Should Put Our Best Foot Forward

by Gordon Padelford and Seattle Neighborhood Greenways @sngreenways on May 12, 2017

In Seattle, we love to walk. Every day, walking accounts for one quarter of our trips. But can Seattle step up to be “the most walkable city in the nation?”

Red are missing sidewalks. (City of Seattle)

Becoming the most walkable city in the nation is the stated vision of the latest draft of the Seattle Pedestrian Master Plan. To some, this vision seems more like a delusion, because 26% percent of our sidewalk network is missing, and every neighborhood has streets of fast-moving traffic that feel nearly impossible to cross. But we’re optimists at Seattle’s grassroots walking and biking advocacy organization, Seattle Neighborhood Greenways. We believe becoming the most walkable city in the nation is achievable.

Here’s how.

First, we have to acknowledge the magnitude of what we need to accomplish. Completing our missing sidewalk network will cost at least $2.04 billion, using Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) estimates. The cost of building all of the crosswalks, curb ramps, and signals that are needed to navigate our streets is harder to estimate, but it’s in the billions of dollars as well. On top of this, the Vision Zero safety program that focuses on fixing the most dangerous streets and making it safer for people to walk is significantly underfunded. At the current rate of funding, completing all this will take hundreds of years.

Land Use & Development/Link light rail/Transit

From Parking Crater To Urban Asset: Northgate TOD

by Doug Trumm @dmtrumm on May 12, 2017

Light rail arriving to new neighborhoods brings with it ample opportunity for transit-oriented development (TOD). Anticipation is particularly high ahead of Northgate Station, where King County has set aside two large lots comprising 5.7 acres for affordable housing. Seattle has designated Northgate an Urban Center and zoned the area for some high-rise development.

Just how ambitious the project is remains to be seen. But feedback from the public could push King County and the City in the right direction as they invest in affordable housing. As Stephen Fesler reported, “The City and County will both contribute $10 million to total $20 million for the publicly financed affordable housing. Funding for the units is coming from the City’s recently approved (and redoubled) 2016 Housing Levy and the County’s Transit-Oriented Development bond fund.”

Land Use & Development/Law/Public Health/Sustainability/Transportation

Governor Inslee Uses Veto To Encourage Urban Siting Of Schools

by Doug Trumm @dmtrumm on May 12, 2017

Governer Jay Inslee (D-Washington) has taken a stand on siting schools in rural areas. Two weeks ago the Governor issued a partial veto–a power he’s sparingly exercised–to send back legislation that would make it easier to construct schools outside of urban growth areas. It was the first instance this year that the Governor had used his line-item veto power to check the Legislature. The issue on school siting boils down to permitting extension of sewer lines outside of urban growth areas to serve schools located in rural areas.

Strong Towns has covered how the rush to site mega-campus school on the edges of cities and towns has weakened communities and exacerbated transportation problems. Neighborhood schools used to be centers of community easily accessible by walking or biking for many in town. This more and more no longer the case in more and more American cities.

Under the bill passed by the Legislature, a school district could be exempted from the Growth Management Act’s (GMA) prohibition on connecting to sewer systems in rural areas provided that certain conditions are met, such as the school serving students living in both urban and rural areas, the local county and affected cities concur that the selected rural site is a suitable location, the sewer connection costs are borne by the school district, and any impacts resulting from the school development are adequately mitigated under the State Environmental Policy Act. Another nugget in the bill would allow school districts to reduce a proportion of the cost in extending sewer systems to serve a rural school site by permitting sewer system hookups from other rural property owners along the sewer line if the local county and affected cities grant permission.

Land Use & Development

Notice Of Proposed Sign Use Action: Seattle Updating Design Of Land Use Signs

by Stephen Fesler @safesler on May 11, 2017

With a booming economy in Seattle, new development in the city is taking shape at a rapid pace. Scores of large scale development projects dot neighborhoods across the city. But before most major projects break ground, there is a public planning process that involves land use review and often environmental and design review. Locals tend to get wind of proposed projects by the large land use notice signs posted on streets fronting future development sites. For decades, the large white signs with black text and lines have seen little change–last getting an update in 2006. But that could all soon change.

On Monday, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) published a draft version of a Director’s Rule that could substantially alter the design of the large land use notice signs–which measure a whopping four feet by eight feet. Key project details would be emphasized with a new layout and color (Seattle blue) while maps of proposed site layouts would give way to a rendering of the proposed project and general locational map. In many ways, the proposed changes to the notice signs seek to retain features already readily available through the current design of the signs, but the reformatting attempts to daylight more meaningful information to the average reader.

Parks & Public Space/Transportation/Walking

Pike People Street Returns In 2017

by Ryan Packer @typewriteralley on May 11, 2017

For the past two years, the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) has attempted to try out an idea that works well in high-volume pedestrian-oriented nightlife districts: closing a central street to vehicles during the peak weekend hours. This gives pedestrians more space when more people are out, and more people have been drinking. E Pike St between Broadway and 12th Ave has particularly narrow sidewalks, with cafe tables and benches turning the sidewalk edge into a lively but crowded space.

It has been this stretch that SDOT has focused their pilots for a “people street”, with mixed success. The 2015 and 2016 test runs were sporadic: testing only occurred on three weekend nights in August of 2015 and in 2016 there was only one late-night test done in October and one weekend afternoon test, followed by a final test during the art walk in December. The configurations of the pilots all varied: on some nights, cross traffic was allowed through at 10th Ave and 11th Ave, requiring pedestrians to cross at the intersections and on other nights it wasn’t.

Housing/Land Use & Development/Preservation

18-Acre Laurelhurst Parcel Is Ripe For Midrise

by Doug Trumm @dmtrumm on May 10, 2017

Mike Rosenberg reported yesterday on the pending sale of the Talaris campus–18 acres of prime real estate adjacent to Seattle Children’s Hospital in Laurelhurst. While Rosenberg calculates the land could be worth more than $60 million dollars if developed as 80 to 90 detached single-family homes, the land is clearly well suited to urban mixed-use development rather than suburban-style McMansions. It’s right next to the University of Washington, after all. Here’s how Rosenberg described the plot:

In built-out Seattle, a huge pocket of undeveloped private land is going up for sale in a prime neighborhood, with the rare potential to build a big batch of single-family homes or a research center — but only if the buyer can overcome concerns from the city and neighbors.

The parklike Talaris campus in Laurelhurst spans 17.8 acres between the University of Washington and the hospital complex of Seattle Children’s. Originally built for Battelle Memorial Institute in the 1960s, it later became home to the Talaris Research Institute, an organization that was sold off in 2012.

Art/Events

Event: Not Even Barely Legal

by Laura Loe @yimbySEA on May 9, 2017

Local artist Myra Rara will showcase her thought-provoking work on contemporary urban issues facing Seattle this Thursday at the Capitol Hill Art Walk:

Hybrid_Space presents Myra Rara‘s Not Even Barely Legal: (Desperately) Creative Infill Development as a part of the Capitol Hill Art Walk. Stop by from 6-9pm to check out Myra’s prints & chat about Seattle’s constantly evolving built landscape.
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about the event:
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Not Even Barely Legal is a whimsical look at the potential of interstitial space in the face of a housing crisis. Part paper architecture, part comics, and part activism, NEBL tells a visual narrative of unconventionally shattering our classist, unsustainable zoning practices.
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about the artist:
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Myra Lara is an architectural designer, cartoonist, and activist. Through her experience, education, and engagement, she firmly believes that place matters and that spatial justice is imperative for our communities to thrive.
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LEARN MORE
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Myra Rara

www.myralara.com // @nullthread

HyBrid_space
Thursday, May 11
6 PM – 9 PM
HyBrid_space is located at 1205 E Pike St, # 2D, Seattle, Washington 98122

RSVP on Facebook.

What We're Reading

What We’re Reading: New Presidential Digs, Toronto Transit, And Expanded PPM

by Stephen Fesler @safesler on May 8, 2017

New presidential digs: President Obama has unveiled the concept design of his planned presidential library in Chicago and even suggested that nearby streets should be reduced in size for safety.

Raise the tax: The Trump administration is apparently open to raising the national gas tax to fund transportation investment.

Toronto transit: Greater Greater Washington profiles the good and bad aspects of Toronto’s expansive transit system–even giving streetcars high marks.

Labor rights: A Kittitas County judge throws out an appeal against the state’s recently passed minimum wage and paid sick leave initiative.

Demographics and zoning: Sightline highlights the correlation between Seattle neighborhoods losing population due to smaller family sizes and zoning limiting new capacity for housing.

American gap: The housing gap in America remains especially unequal in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Expanded PPM: Mark Hinshaw reflects upon the design of the Pike Place Market expansion.

Appeal to landscape: A community group is appealing the decision to permit expansion of the Asian Art Museum over historic preservation of Volunteer Park’s Olmsted-designed landscape.

Map of the Week: Maps that tell the story of transformation in New York City.