Good news for affordable housing! More land will soon be available in Seattle, so we don’t have to tear down our most affordable older, SF homes. The City determined last year that we have at least three times the zoned capacity to meet the 20-year growth goals. (They’re just not all in the locations the developers want to build in.) Building density (a.k.a. destroying the character) of SF neighborhoods is not politically viable.
Tom Rasmussen and Mike O’Brien, did you know the Legislature just authorized Sound Transit to provide free air rights and adjacent TOD parcels for housing? This should happen at Northgate! The city can develop the air rights of community centers and other buildings. The city is evaluating all unused Seattle City Light land, and churches and the Church Council of Greater Seattle are evaluating their unused land and air rights for housing. The state is thinking about developing student housing with community colleges. Once all these resources have been evaluated and maximized, we might densify SF zones. Meanwhile, we need to think about how to renew SF zones without displacing our most vulnerable citizens.