Stop city council from committing to new housing growth targets

By Chris Leman

Unless you contact the Seattle City Council today, it will pass Resolution 31211, committing Seattle to produce 86,000 net new units of housing by 2031—for a total Seattle housing supply of about one-third more than we have today.

Housing growth in Seattle, in a good year, is about 2,000 units. So, our housing growth rate each year would need to increase by about 50 percent.

Look around you and think about which residences will be demolished to make room for much larger and tackier ones.

This outrageous proposal, which originated with former Mayor Greg Nickels, can be found by clicking here.

It would never have gotten this far if it were not being handled with little public notice and no real explanation or discussion. The proposed resolution was first introduced just a week ago on May 3.

The city council has no business making such an unreasonable commitment at this time and should delay and revise it with better notice, outreach and discussion.

Also, any changes in Seattle’s housing growth targets should be a part of the Comprehensive Plan update and the neighborhood planning process.

At the very least, the city needs to study whether this huge increase in energy-intensive and waste-intensive construction will violate Seattle’s goals for zero carbon emissions and zero waste stream.

Also, shouldn’t we address first our enormous backlog of infrastructure projects, already problematic traffic congestion and budgetary problems in providing services to our existing population?

Incredibly, the fiscal note (attached to the legislation) that the city council staff prepared claims that it "does not have financial implications." Does anyone seriously believe that increasing Seattle housing units by one third will not require billions of dollars in new streets, sidewalks, sewers, electric lines, parks, etc?

Please act today. It’s always best to write each councilmember separately, not address all in one message. The city council fax number is 206.684.8587.