Seattle’s plan to stop environmental appeals from stalling housing legislation

Seattle’s efforts to streamline its land use process will include a proposal aimed at cutting more bureaucratic red tape and preventing environmental appeals from stalling affordable housing.

Introduced by the Seattle City Council’s land use committee chair Eddie Lin, newly proposed legislation would amend the Municipal Code to alter how the city’s legislative actions including major rezones and amendments are handled.

The proposed bill would reforms the State Environmental Policy Act workflow by eliminating the option for the public to appeal environmental threshold determinations and Environmental Impact Statements to the Seattle Hearing Examiner. Instead, future environmental challenges would be directed to the Growth Management Hearings Board — or sent to court.

The proposed ordinance would also remove redundant cross-references and exempts council-generated decisions from requiring a mandatory Director’s Report from the city planning department.

Lin’s proposed bill aligns municipal regulations with Washington state law intended to accelerate urban infill and housing capacity.

While the changes will draw some criticism from advocates concerned about diminished local oversight, The Urbanist reports a council analyst told the committee in a recent session that Hearing Examiner appeals rarely succeed but routinely delay housing initiatives by months.

The committee will take up debate on the proposal in its Wednesday morning session (PDF).

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