Concerns and Solutions heard at the June 4 joint Southwest and Delridge District Council meeting with Councilmember Mike O’Brien

Concerns TallyTransit to/from West Seattle is terrible, need better transit options, more transit, higher frequency, etc. – the current system is not working for our area and we need to improve it (combined two very similar concerns and the tallies

29

Developers are taking advantage of the MFTE, FAR and other loopholes to build microhousing—meaning, they are not contributing to the community in any way, like paying property taxes or impact fees, and only burdening our communities

12

Big concern over the lack of parking requirements in urban villages or near transit stops, it is just not working in West Seattle

11

Seattle is allowing too much growth and development that is well beyond our growth targets in many neighborhoods like West Seattle

9

DPD is a dysfunctional department and needs to get off its pro-density kick 9

Pedestrian safety and walkability are big concerns in the areas of the triangle and junction, need better lights and crosswalks that actually protect peds

8

Urban Design Frameworks (and similar planning processes) are not enforceable in any way, they become merely recommendations that DPD can (and does) ignore

8

West Seattle is turning out like Ballard, we are developing way too fast here 8

Seattle leadership is not working to preserve neighborhood character and there is too much out-of-scale development in our neighborhoods

7

The urban village concept us outdated, we need to update it 7

DPD planning does not pull the neighborhoods into the planning process and design review should do more to pull in neighborhood voices and concerns, possibly by using the Dept. of Neighborhoods

6

The design review process is broken and generates significant animosity in the neighborhoods, it puts the burden on the neighborhoods to get heard and make a difference – even resulting in lawsuits that we have to bring

6

The EIS/SEPA processes need to include neighborhood impacts 4

Concerns (continued) TallyWe need better protections for single family homeowners and their quality of life 4

Concerned about splitting lots and having 2 homes where there was 1 before 2

A few years ago the Delridge community came together to request and secure funding for projects with both DPD & SDOT in the area, but now neither of the depts. are working with or listening to the community

1

We cannot just bring in new bars and restaurants as part of the new commercial development, we need better jobs and career opportunities to be in our neighborhood

1

There is no excess parking on 41st where new microhousing is coming in -

There is no major hospital in West Seattle (there is a small urgent care clinic) -

Change is coming, but how can we mitigate it and make sure it is improving our community not taking away from quality of life

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The new small lot regulations are too limiting and restricting potential buildable lots, which seems counter to the City’s goals for more infill and ADUs

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Possible Solutions TallyNeed developer impact fees 17

Moratorium on microhousing until new regulations are complete 12

If an area is beyond its projected growth target, we should change the incentives for development in that area and shift incentives to other parts of the city where we want to see more development

6

DPD & SDOT should contract out their outreach and engagement—including their work to provide notice and conduct neighborhood planning—to the Department of Neighborhoods (who used to have a bigger role and did better at that work than these depts. do now)

5

DPD should be required to honor neighborhood requests 5

Need a transit center station in West Seattle (note: it should include parking too) 5

Need a study of the appropriate level of parking requirements that is based on real data like walk scores and transit scores

5

Possible Solutions (continued) TallyWhen a neighborhood is past its growth targets, we need to require SEPA/EIS on microhousing and new multi-family developments

5

We need to strike a better balance between neighborhood character and density because growth is happening and it can help enrich community if done well – plus, limiting growth leads to higher housing costs and we don’t want to become San Francisco

2

Start counting microhousing accurately so that the real impacts on density are captured 2

Impose an impact fee/tax per car on car owners to help raise money for transit needs in our area

2

Need to implement high growth areas where it makes sense (good transit, jobs, etc), because development now is too “wild west”

1

Major employers who want this growth should kick in extra money to support the new development for things like more parks, sidewalks, transit

1

We should look into applying a similar model to the historic preservation review boards to the review process for development in urban villages to ensure better size/scale development

1

Rent control or similar approach to keeping costs down for existing residents -

Change the code to say that if you are replacing a home on a lot, the replacement home should be of similar size/scale

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Shorten the time from the planning process to the development so that neighbors can focus their energies and don’t have to spend years tracking and engaging, we get worn down with the lag that now exists

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