Reading the Multifamily zoning update - Growth projections, what about renters, and what could the DPD do to make themselves greener.

Okay, for those of you playing at home, each day I’m going to focus on one part of the Multifamily zoning/code update  being proposed by the DPD and the Mayor, and which will be brought to the Seattle City Council for approval this year.

Today the focus is on the MF update’s Introduction. This section sets the expectation for the report, along with the main reasons why the DPD feels this update is necessary. So, reading through it, I had a couple of questions.

• Are we really on track to add 100,000 residents over the next 20 years? Crosscut recently wrote that Puget Sound Regional Council’s Vision 2040 (which was overwhelmingly approved last night) is missing on the target on where this growth will occur.And after reading the MF Update’s Intro, I wish the DPD had also included the anticipated demographic breakdown of those new residents. Are we anticipating a huge influx of baristas moving into the city? Are we expecting a baby boom? Are we anticipating the growth to be largely among 25-35 yr old single professionals moving into the city? Anyway, shouldn’t we know who exactly the MF update is for - instead of just a randomly distributed group of people?
• It seems like the Intro focuses alot on affordable home ownership, I don’t really see anything here that addresses the 800-pound gorilla in the room that Seattle loves to ignore - affordable rentals. And is owning a home the right thing for everyone, it seems like that’s a pretty big assumption to make.
• In conjunction with reducing the city’s carbon footprint - nothing is mentioned in the update about what carbon footprint reducing efforts the DPD themselves could undertake. I’d love to require the DPD as part of this update to reduce their green footprint by requiring Multifamily developers to publish digital copies of their documents and enabling the DPD to stream its Multifamily Design Review meetings online.Oh yeah, and how about strengthening the DPDs ability to actually ensure that these updates are being followed by developers - is there anything worse than having green rules on the books but not having the resources to check up and enforce code? 

So…that’s my take on the Intro, please feel free to add your thoughts, questions, to the discussion, and for those of you who would like to read this part of the document, I’ve copied it for you below.

Introduction
The Department of Planning and Development is proposing to update multifamily zoning in the City’s Land Use Code, to advance the City’s growth management objectives and better achieve the City’s goals and policies for new development, and make the code easier to use and understand.

Over the next 20 years, Seattle expects to add 100,000 residents and 84,000 jobs. In 2006, as part of the citywide effort to streamline and update development regulations, new zoning was adopted for downtown and neighborhood commercial areas. Multifamily zones are next in line as they also play an important role in the
city’s ability to accommodate this expected growth. In addition to achieving the objectives outlined below, this code update also presents the opportunity to address the important issues of climate change and the growing need for housing affordable to working people.Climate disruption is an urgent threat to the environmental and economic health of the Seattle region. Many cities, in this country and abroad, already have strong
local policies and programs in place to reduce global warming pollution, but more action is needed, including at the local level, to meet the challenge. To help Seattle do its part, Mayor Nickels convened a Green Ribbon Commission on Climate Protection. The commission identified actions that could be taken including reducing energy use in homes, among other measures. This is often referred to as ‘reducing the carbon footprint.’ The Mayor responded to the climate protection commission’s recommendations in September 2006 with a Climate Action Plan.

The action plan has informed many of the draft recommendations in the MultifamilyCode Update including Action #5: Create compact, green urban neighborhoods — where multifamily housing is close to transit and commercial areas.

In addition, housing costs have continued upward, to the point that middle-income wage earners have found themselves increasingly priced out of the market. The median price of new condominiums now exceeds $350,000, requiring an income of more than $74,000. Median-priced single family homes exceed $500,000, requiring
an income of more than $100,000. Seattle has a long history of meeting the housing needs of the poor or low-income earners. During the past 20 years, through the Housing Levy and other programs, we have created nearly 10,000 homes for those earning between zero and $45,000 a year. A zoning incentive program, as part of the Multifamily Code Update, is proposed as a way to help provide for the middle-income wage earners. This program is consistent with City Council Resolution 30939, adopted by the Mayor and Council in December of 2006. This resolution expresses support for the use of zoning incentives for affordable housing and other public benefits. The incentive resolution was used in the formulation of the incentive program proposed as part of the Multifamily Code
Update.

Many of the proposed draft recommendations for new multifamily zoning are consistent with goals to reduce the city’s carbon footprint and provide zoning incentives for affordable housing. Proposed development standards would:

• Encourage growth where it is most appropriate and reduce development pressures on fragile natural environments and low-density, single-family areas;
• Promote housing affordability with zoning incentives;
• Incorporate green building practices;
• Emphasize the water-quality benefits of landscaping;
• Allow for more green roofs and wind and solar power generation on rooftops;
• Reduce automobile dependence by eliminating or reducing parking requirements based on local conditions.

As Mayor Nickels has recently said: “Every decision facing us today has a direct impact on climate change and our planet. As Seattle grows, we need to do it in a way that protects the environment and creates housing that working people can afford.”