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Another Win for Seattle-Area Bus Riders: Paid Park-and-Rides
Chalk this one up for the public transit heroes. The King County Council voted 5-3 Wednesday to let riders of its Metro bus system pay for their parking with money, rather than time, if they want to. At 10 of the system’s most crowded park-and-ride lots, Metro will soon sell monthly permits to access up to half the parking spaces that adjoin major bus hubs. Carpoolers will still be able...Read more » -
Put a Friendly Face on Gentle Density
Most people believe in principle in expanding opportunity and affordability. This holds true for people we’ve talked to who live in Seattle’s neighborhoods of mostly single-detached housing. For example, respondents in our focus groups said they want to live in welcoming, affordable, and diverse communities, where people of all incomes can afford to live close to friends, family, transit, jobs, schools, and parks. But sometimes in practice, especially when local...Read more » -
How to Unclog Traffic and Improve Equity in Seattle
Critics of congestion pricing argue that the policy favors the rich and hurts the poor. A new proposal to break gridlock in downtown Seattle offers a progressive approach to get traffic moving. Few low-income households would pay the toll and the revenues from higher-income households could put free, multi-modal transit passes in the hands of low- and moderate-income people who travel to downtown. Workers in downtown Seattle—Cascadia’s biggest jobs hub—who...Read more » -
How Not to Be a Transit Supervillain
Let’s say you were the kind of kid who rooted for Darth Vader in Star Wars, for the Joker in Batman, for Magneto in the X-Men. You’re determined to be a villain—heck, a supervillain. But now, as an adult, you’re in charge not of a legion of stormtroopers or a criminal syndicate. Instead, you somehow ended up running a regional transit agency. (Hollywood, call me.) So here you are, aspiring...Read more » -
Seattle Says Yes to the Best Rules in America for Backyard Cottages
Seattle City Council took a big step Monday toward creating a more sustainable city, voting unanimously to enact legislation that will make it easier for homeowners to build in-law suites, garage apartments, and backyard cottages—modest homes the wonks call accessory dwelling units (ADUs). The vote caps an epic process during which obstructionists abused state environmental laws to drag things out for four years, as pro-housing affordability forces built up steam...Read more » -
What Kind of Homes Will Seattle Choose?
Next month, the Seattle City Council could lift regulatory barriers to small, flexible housing options in the city’s land use code. This would help neighborhoods across the city welcome more granny flats, mother-in-law apartments, and backyard cottages—rather than keeping current rules that exclude those cheaper options and instead invite more oversized, single-household “McMansions.” Making it easier and less costly to add attached (or detached) accessory dwelling units, or (D)ADUs, can...Read more » -
The End of Seattle’s Backyard Cottage Marathon
How long does it take for a major US city with home prices off the charts to fix ill-conceived rules that hold back the construction of granny flats and backyard cottages? In Seattle’s case, four long years. The good news, though, is that Seattle is poised to enact policy for these accessory dwellings that sets the gold standard for Cascadia and beyond. In 2015, Seattle unveiled a housing plan that...Read more » -
Washington Lawmakers Bust a Move on Housing Affordability
In February, I wrote that “Washington has a pioneering opportunity to enact a coordinated package of housing policies that calls on cities throughout the state to share the responsibility.” How’d that pan out? Though a mixed bag of wins and losses, Washington’s 2019 legislative session was a landmark for housing nonetheless. Not since the state enacted its Growth Management Act a quarter century ago have legislators tangled with such a...Read more » -
Washington’s Progressive ADU Bill Died This Week
The most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill ever introduced in a state legislature died this week. As originally proposed, Washington’s ADU bill—HB 1797 and SB 5812—removed all of the big policy barriers that make it hard for homeowners to add a backyard cottage, mother-in-law suite, or basement apartment to their property. The bill would have replicated and even improved on laws recently passed in California and Oregon that opened...Read more » -
LA ADU Story: How a State Law Sent Granny Flats off the Charts
How much can onerous city rules hold people back from adding in-law apartments to their homes? Based on what happened in California, a lot. At the start of 2017, a California state law went into effect that forced cities to relax their regulations on basement suites, garage apartments, and backyard cottages—known collectively as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Two years later, building permits for ADUs in Los Angeles have surged by...Read more »