With Sound Transit's failure to deliver light rail to Ballard by 2035 as originally promised, now is the moment for Sound Transit and Seattle to build a no-frills, quick-build station near the Ballard Locks to connect people to Sounder commuter rail service that’s already up and running.
While a tabled effort to reform Mandatory Housing Affordability fees has stolen the limelight lately, reforming utility fees to ease the burden on builders would have the larger stimulus on homebuilding. Parker Dawson lays out why.
Sound Transit's expected opening date for West Seattle light rail has slipped three years to 2035, agency top brass confirmed Thursday. The board is set to allocate $765 million later this month to advance property acquisitions along the route.
Just months after touting the idea of building 40 affordable units in downtown North Bend, City officials quietly pulled the plug. While a lack of financing is being blamed for the project's collapse, opposition to density and parking worries clearly played a major role as well.
After the state's Commerce Department signaled it won't give the city any more leeway, the Bainbridge Council voted 6-1 to advance interim development regulations that will modestly upzone Winslow with the aim of getting into compliance with the Growth Management Act.
The Seattle City Council has taken up a trailblazing ordinance aiming to encourage fair pricing for groceries by banning surveillance pricing. It’s another piece of Mayor Katie Wilson’s affordability agenda with strong support from Council’s progressive wing.
Get your ticket to our September 15th Town Hall Seattle talk featuring CityNerd's Ray Delahanty and The Urbanist’s Ryan Packer. Attendees will get a sneak peek at a CityNerd video before a deep dive into light rail plans.
Canvass on July 26th, volunteer for good local candidates, and support our election committee’s work at our Endorsement Party on Thursday.
Join The Urbanist for our July events, including a soccer social with Sounder at Heart on July 19 and our Endorsements Rollout Party on July 23.
Support The Urbanist, connect with endorsed candidates, and celebrate the hard work of the Endorsements Committee as we approach the primary.
Just months after touting the idea of building 40 affordable units in downtown North Bend, City officials quietly pulled the plug. While a lack of financing is being blamed for the project's collapse, opposition to density and parking worries clearly played a major role as well.
Getting to the point of construction on 154 units next door to Issaquah Transit Center involved numerous hurdles city officials had to surmount since 2016. But now the saga is seen as a wake-up call within Issaquah when it comes to barriers to actually building housing near transit.
Days before a July 31 deadline, Mercer Island City Council adopted a framework responding to a 2025 ruling declaring its housing plans out of line with state law. The City has faced pushback over new provisions that will lower barriers to emergency and supportive housing in Mercer Island.
On top of concerns about lack of city resources, officials in Lynnwood have cited a relatively low number of road fatalities compared to other cities and an inability to make a difference in impaired and distracted driving as reasons to shy away from a Vision Zero action plan.
King County Metro's new bus network in North Seattle and the North Shore communities is intended to improve access to light rail and bring increased frequencies throughout the day. But a plan to retire Route 372 between Lake Forest Park and UW has raised concerns among city officials.
In remarks to a transportation advisory committee, Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin painted a clear picture of the need to increase bus frequencies in the city as Sound Transit advances plans for light rail and the city accommodates significant population growth in the coming years.
Many years in the making, Pierce County’s coordinated approach to homelessness still faces challenges after being approved by county council in June. With King County partially dismantling its troubled regional authority, Pierce County hopes to avoid the same mistakes.
The 0.3% sales tax bump going onto the November ballot would increase service by around 40% by the mid-2030s, the biggest expansion of transit service in Pierce County in decades. Since May, the proposal has been tweaked to include free rides for seniors.
In the year since Tacoma adopted new zoning standards last February, the number of housing permits entering the pipeline jumped by 62% compared to the five-year average.
KUOW's Soundside recently did a special on Sound Transit system expansion deliberations that heavily featured Urbanist contributing editor Ryan Packer. It's a great primer on the debate about how to best close the agency's $34.5 billion budget gap. Give it a listen!
The Urbanist newsroom discusses April headlines, like Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson expanding Bicycle Weekends, 300 transit advocates marching to save Ballard light rail from the chopping block, and pushback against a Capitol Hill crisis case center.
The Urbanist newsroom discusses the big opening day for Sound Transit's crosslake 2 Line, how we got here, and what it means for the future of light rail expansion in the Seattle region.
