Housing Levy Administrative and Finance Plan

The Office of Housing is seeking input as we develop the 2016 Seattle Housing Levy Administrative and Financial Plan. Distribution of Housing Levy funds is guided by an Administrative & Financial Plan, reviewed and revised every two years and adopted by City Council. Download the current A&F Plan.  The A&F Plan guides the use of Levy funds for the programs approved by Seattle voters this year. Read a Summary of Policy Changes  and read the detailed policy changes for each program.

My priorities for the 2017 Housing Levy are:

1. Implementation of the acquisition and preservation program. This new program is aimed at acquiring multi-family rental buildings at risk of sale and redevelopment using the Notice of Intent to Sell Ordinance in order to preserve these buildings for long-term affordable rental housing or converted to permanently affordable homeownership units. Here is my Real Change
2. Increasing support for land trust ownership models to increase affordability in condominiums, and single family dwellings, as well as tenant ownership models for rental property.
3. Increasing housing options for LGBTQ seniors. Across every Census division in the U.S. Seattle has the least developed services for LGBTQ older adults and their families. Unlike most large cities, we are also running behind on developing housing for LGBTQ seniors. The Council, in putting the housing levy on the ballot, named LGBTQ seniors as a priority population for levy housing production.

Mayor Murray will transmit legislation adopting the A&F Plan to the City Council in March 2017. Please submit comments to Maureen.Kostyack@seattle.gov by December 8^th.

MHA in District 1

On Tuesday, the Morgan Community Association (MoCA) hosted a District 1 event to inform residents about the City’s new Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program; and discuss how the City’s Urban Village Growth Strategy will be impacted by the new MHA program and the proposed zoning changes that will, in the future, trigger affordability requirements.

District 1 has five urban villages: the West Seattle Junction, Admiral Junction, Morgan Junction, Highland Park-Westwood and South Park. But, MHA will also apply to outside of urban villages where they are zoned commercial, multifamily, or mixed use such as Delridge, Alki, and Harbor Avenue.

The meeting focused on teaching residents how to read the draft zoning changes on the City maps; and identify associated neighborhood planning that needs to accompany the zoning changes. A goal of this meeting was to empower residents with knowledge about what exactly is proposed so they can provide relevant feedback on the City’s plans at the upcoming meeting on December 7^th, 5:30-7:30. Time is at 5:30 to accommodate the Southwest District Council Meeting which begins at 6:30pm. This meeting is sponsored by the Department of Neighborhoods; Office of Planning and Community Development; Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation; and the Seattle Department of Transportation. In response to concerns about not having enough room for the West Seattle Open House at Shelby’s (capacity is 80) Uptown Espresso graciously offered up additional space at their café, just across the street. City staff will be at both locations.

The MHA program purpose is to ensure that growth brings some affordability. MHA will require new development to include affordable housing on site or make a contribution to a City fund for affordable housing. To put MHA requirements into effect, zoning changes will allow additional development capacity everywhere MHA will apply: in urban villages, proposed urban village expansion areas, and all other multifamily and commercial zones. This web map shows draft zoning changes. Click on a shaded area for details about each change. Share your input about the draft maps at HALA.Consider.It.  Your feedback will help the Executive to propose final MHA zoning changes for the City Council in spring 2017. Visit seattle.gov/hala for more information or email HALAinfo@seattle.gov  with questions.

Pecos Pit

As many of you may be aware, Pecos Pit is a new BBQ restaurant at the corner of 35th and Fauntleroy. The revamp of the building began in December of 2015 and the doors opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 21st.  The land where the restaurant sits is owned by Seattle City Light (SCL).  It had previously been fenced off and is the former location of Beni Hoshi Teriyaki.

The Junction Neighborhood Organization (JuNO) has had several meetings with the owners as well as the City. These meetings have focused on safety and traffic issues associated with the restaurant. Pecos sits at the corner of two of the busiest streets in West Seattle and they have also installed a drive through which feeds onto the residential street of Genesee. Pecos has met several times with the community to hear their concerns.

Currently Pecos is seeking a temporary six month permit for a parking lot (with the potential for a six month extension) on a piece of property which is adjacent to the restaurant.  Because the land is zoned single-family they need a special temporary use permit to use it for parking.  Parking is not normally a permitted use on single-family zoned land.  If you would like to send a comment to the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection you can use this link. Additionally, JuNO will be meeting with SCL to discuss the long-term vision and potential uses for this lot on December 2nd from 4:00pm – 5:00pm at the West Seattle Senior Center (4217 SW Oregon St). Furthermore, if you would like to speak with Pecos directly, they will be meeting with JuNO again on December 6th from 5:30pm – 6:30pm again at the West Seattle Senior Center.  If you’re unable to attend the meeting on the 6th you are welcome to email Nick Nordby with Pecos to send them any comments you may have. Nick’s email is: nick@pecospit.com

Winter Weather Snow Routes

SDOT has released its 2016-2017 winter weather snow route map, showing the snow routes SDOT will prioritize for plowing and de-icing. SDOT’s objective is to to provide bare and wet pavement on all travel lanes for “Gold” snow route streets within 12 hours of a significant lull in a storm, and one lane in each direction for “Emerald” routes.

SDOT’s winter weather home page includes links to a brochure with winter response information, including the map, in English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Somali, Korean, Oromo, Tigrinya, and Amharic.

SDOT also has a live winter weather response map that shows plowing, de-icing, and road salting activity for the last hour, 3 hours, and 12 hours. It also includes links to road temperatures and live traffic cameras.

Posted: December 2nd, 2016 under Councilmember Herbold, Housing, LGBTQ, Parks and Recreation, Transportation
Tags: Housing, Mandatory Housing Affordability, Pecos Pit, SDOT, snow