information from JuNO

On June 8, the City released its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed citywide HALA upzones. It is 800 pages long, includes brand new maps that do not yet reflect community input, and negatively impacts our neighborhood in several significant ways. Most important, we only have until July 23 to comment despite it being the summer season.

There is more information about the DEIS below. But there are three things you can do today to make your voice heard:

1. Demand an Extension of the Comment Period. Email MHA.EIS.@seattle.gov and tell the City that, given the size of the document and the fact that it is summer and many people have prior commitments, there isn’t enough time to review review and comment on the DEIS.

2. Mark Your Calendar - JLUC Workshop on July 11, 2017 at 6:30 p.m, West Seattle Senior Center. The Junction Land Use Committee (JLUC) will present a summary of relevant portions of the DEIS and their impacts, detail further actions you can take, and have hosted tables to help you in identify areas on which you might wish to comment.

3. Comment Online. If you cannot attend the workshop or don’t feel you can adequately review the document without a JLUC workshop, comment using the City’s online form at http://bit.ly/2sBgzJe.

About The DEIS

The purpose of this DEIS is to analyze the impact of the proposed upzones on affected neighborhoods – and to propose actions to address any problems the upzoning would create. The City is seeking comments as to whether the DEIS does a good enough job analyzing the impacts of the upzones and/or addressing those impacts. Addressing the impacts is known as mitigation.

From an initial read, the JLUC has determined the DEIS is deficient in many ways, including failing to identify negative impacts to our neighborhood and failing to propose adequate, if any, mitigation of the negative impacts it does identify. We will be submitting a detailed list of those deficiencies in a formal response to the City.

Here is a link where you can find the DEIS:

https://www.seattle.gov/hala/about/mandatory-housing-affordability-(mha)/mha-citywide-eis