Seattle, WA

City of Seattle Seeks to Increase Affordable Housing with Fort Lawton Redevelopment Plan – The Registry

Published

2 years ago

January 8, 2024

City of Seattle Seeks to Increase Affordable Housing with Fort Lawton Redevelopment Plan – The Registry

The City of Seattle is moving forward to update a 2019 plan to expand the number of housing units, offset infrastructure costs, and preserve 22 acres of open space in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood.

Seattle – Today, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced that the City of Seattle is advancing efforts to develop an improved redevelopment plan for increased affordable housing at Fort Lawton, a former military installation currently owned by the U.S Army and available at a significantly discounted land cost for dedicated use as affordable housing or parks. The proposed plan will include rental units, workforce housing, and homeownership opportunities, as well as permanent supportive housing for veterans and seniors who have experienced homelessness. The City will be working with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Army as it seeks to move forward on this proposed revision.

Building on an earlier redevelopment plan that was approved by City Council in 2019 and then delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, an improved plan would build as many as 500 units of affordable housing, optimizing the number of affordable homes to address Seattle’s housing crisis, while significantly lowering per-unit costs. These additional units offset some of the considerable infrastructure costs required for the project while maintaining 22 acres for open space, parkland, and wildlife conservation adjacent to Seattle’s majestic Discovery Park.

“The scale of our affordability and homelessness crises requires us to make the wisest possible use of our limited housing dollars in order to achieve the largest possible impact,” said Mayor Bruce Harrell. “In a city of 84 square miles, the Fort Lawton Redevelopment Plan is a unique opportunity to transform 34 into a new community that will last for generations – we must make the most of it. This is our One Seattle vision in action – a city with affordable homes and communities where every Seattle neighbor can access the good jobs, schools, and supports needed to grow and succeed.”

Catholic Housing Services and Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King and Kittitas Counties are the developers for the plan, and United Indians of All Tribes will be the service provider for the permanent supportive housing at Fort Lawton. The plan would use previously approved zoning capacity to bring affordable housing to the Magnolia area, providing access to housing, education, retail, and employment opportunities not typically available in this neighborhood to lower income families and individuals.

Mayor Harrell began working with City departments and outside consultants after taking office in 2022 to analyze infrastructure needs and costs for the 2019 Fort Lawton Redevelopment Plan. The property requires major infrastructure construction, demolition of unsafe buildings, and upgrades to roads, power, water, and sewers – challenges that have been a leading cause of planning and project delays over the years. The additional analysis conducted by the City since 2022 revealed opportunities to reduce per-unit infrastructure costs not only by increasing the number of units but by altering the approach to street and other infrastructure improvements.

Approval is required by City Council for the new plan, as well as from the federal government for the land transfer to the City. A new Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement process will be conducted, with opportunity for public comment, followed by the Office of Housing submitting the amended redevelopment plan to City Council and to HUD. The City expects to begin infrastructure design and construction in the second half of 2025, after completion of the processes outlined above and a request for proposals for infrastructure work in the second quarter of 2025.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

U.S. Senator Patty Murray

“Ensuring that everyone in Washington state can keep a roof over their head has been, and continues to be, one of my top priorities. We have a real housing crisis on our hands, and I am laser focused on boosting our affordable housing supply across the state. The Fort Lawton project is a promising one and could make the world of a difference to hundreds of Seattle families. I look forward to reviewing the city’s plan and continuing to work with HUD as they review this application.”

U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal (WA-07)

“Our community is facing a major housing shortage amid devastating housing price hikes – in fact, it’s estimated that King County will need 17,000 new homes built annually to meet demand. I applaud this federal and local partnership that is working to bring much needed homes to our community. We must use all resources possible to ensure that every person has a roof over their head.”

U.S. Representative Adam Smith (WA-09)

“It’s crucial that we increase the supply of housing to tackle the housing affordability crisis in the Puget Sound Region. The newly proposed plan by the City of Seattle would create affordable housing, permanent supportive housing, and homeownership opportunities for hundreds of individuals and families and preserve green spaces for community members to enjoy. Building more housing is essential to solving the homelessness and housing crisis across the country, and I am a strong supporter of those efforts in our state.”

WA Representative Frank Chopp (District 43, Position 2)

“Similar to the successful housing developed at the former Naval Air Station at Sand Point in northeast Seattle, the redevelopment of a portion of Fort Lawton presents an important opportunity to create affordable non-profit housing that will help address the housing crisis in Seattle. Working with housing partners, the city, and community, I support the effort to expand housing options at Fort Lawton, including homeownership opportunities utilizing the state’s new Covenant Homeownership Account program to provide down payment and closing cost assistance to people historically barred from homeownership because of past racist real estate covenants. The redevelopment of Fort Lawton is a potential win/win opportunity to tackle one of the city’s most pressing issues and simultaneously protect open space.”

Seattle Councilmember Cathy Moore (District 5)

“As the incoming Chair of the Housing and Human Services Committee, I applaud Mayor Harrell’s proactive approach to increasing desperately needed affordable housing as well as permanent supportive housing in our city. I look forward to Council’s review of the amended redevelopment plan and working with all stakeholders to bring this project to fruition.”

Seattle Councilmember Dan Strauss (District 6)

“This plan to redevelop Fort Lawton will help ensure that families like the one I grew up in can afford to live in the Seattle of today and the Seattle of tomorrow. Every iteration of this project has increased the amount of open space, wildlife habitat, and housing opportunities for everyday Seattleites. This is a generational investment that will pay dividends for decades to come.”

Brett D’Antonio, Chief Executive Officer, Habitat for Humanity Seattle-King and Kittitas Counties

“Habitat for Humanity Seattle King County remains fully committed to providing affordable homeownership opportunities at the Fort Lawton development site. We look forward to continuing our partnership with the Seattle Office of Housing to bring this project to fruition.”

Patience Malaba, Executive Director, Housing Development Consortium

“We are thrilled to see progress on the Fort Lawton redevelopment, after nearly two decades of planning. The Mayor’s plan to add more affordable homes on the site helps make the project more cost-effective, as well as better addressing our community’s critical need for affordable housing. This development fulfills long-standing promises by adding hundreds of new affordable homes next to Discovery Park. The housing will support those across the income spectrum, from low-income homebuyers to individuals exiting homelessness.

But the Fort Lawton redevelopment is about more than just buildings – it’s an opportunity to ensure all neighborhoods of Seattle are truly inclusive communities where people of all backgrounds can thrive. Together we can journey towards a future where no family is left without a safe, affordable place to call home.”

Micheal Tulee, Chief Executive Director, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation

“United Indians of All Tribes Foundation is excited to launch this long-awaited housing need!”

Kenneth Pittman, Associate Director of Operations, Catholic Community Services of Western WA

“We are grateful for the city’s continued exploration to provide affordable housing opportunities and look forward to working with the city, state, and federal partners to address this important need.”

A.P. Diaz, Director of Seattle Parks and Recreation

“Equitable access to nature is critical to our society’s health and well-being, both physically and mentally. The Fort Lawton affordable housing and nature project supports a vibrant community by increasing access to affordable housing and parks for families while maintaining 22 acres of open space, ecosystem regeneration and the sustainability of our tree canopy next to Seattle’s spectacular Discovery Park.”

Source link

Seattle, WA

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

Published

9 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Op-Ed: Seattle Monorail Should Honor Transfers, Be Treated Like Real Transit » The Urbanist

The Seattle Monorail has connected the Westlake Center and Seattle Center since 1962, but rising fares could sap local ridership. (Doug Trumm)

Seattle landmarks are woven into the city’s identity: the Space Needle, Gas Works Park, Pike Place Market, Humpy the Salmon. They’re playful, iconic, and accessible to locals and visitors alike. The monorail should belong in that same category. It is a piece of transportation infrastructure history that helps residents move through the city and remark on times gone by. Instead, it is becoming a premium attraction aimed at visitors, rather than a practical option for everyday riders.

Fresh off hiking fares on the nearly-one-mile-long monorail to $4.00, Seattle Monorail Services is getting rid of transfer credits to other transit services in a blow to riders. In early December, ORCA informed riders that starting January 1, 2026, monorail fares paid with ORCA E-purse will no longer receive the two-hour transfer credit. Every ride will require full payment, even if the rider tapped onto another service minutes earlier.

For transit users who rely on transfers to move through the city, this is a step backward. It is also a policy decision that treats the monorail as an exception to regional transit norms — or perhaps not a service intended for use by locals, at all.

Taking the 1 Line from Lynnwood and transferring to the monorail to attend Pride, Seattle Eats, or any number of other events in Seattle Center just jumped from $4 per person to $7 per person. Fortunately, many Climate Pledge Arena events come with monorail cost bundled in the ticket cost.

History of the Seattle Monorail

Seattle’s monorail began as a showpiece, built in 1962 for the Century 21 World’s Fair. The idea wasn’t to serve commuters, but rather to dazzle visitors and move crowds between downtown and the fairgrounds. For more dazzling during the World’s Fair, Seattle Center had rollercoasters, which I, for one, am in favor of bringing back.

The monorail system worked as millions rode it in its first year, and the sleek elevated trains helped cement the city’s Jet Age identity. But the system was never expanded, and the short two-stop alignment was left behind as a novelty once the fair ended.

Seattle actually tried to scale that vision into real transit. In 1968 and 1970, voters were asked to approve the Forward Thrust plan, a regional rapid transit system combining tunnels, elevated lines, and stations across the city. Both measures earned a majority, but Washington law required 60% voter approval to issue bonds. The transit proposals failed, and the federal funds earmarked for Seattle were redirected to Atlanta (where only a simple 50% majority vote was required), funds that ultimately seeded MARTA.

Meanwhile, Seattle spent decades without rapid transit, and the monorail became a relic of a future that never materialized. Fortunately, Seattle eventually invested in light rail and continues to do so despite financial hurdles.

But before light rail buildout, Seattle made one more attempt to turn the monorail into a network. From the late 1990s through the mid-2000s, voters backed the Seattle Popular Monorail Authority, which pursued the elevated “Green Line” from Ballard through Downtown to West Seattle. The citizen-led program struggled with escalating costs, uncertain financing models, and political backlash.

After five public votes, the project was dissolved in 2005 without breaking ground. What remained was the original 0.9-mile segment. Still iconic, still beloved by tourists, but functionally unchanged since the Eisenhower era.

Recent fare hike

In 2024, the City and the contracted operator of the monorail announced another round of fare increases. Adult fares rose from $3.50 to $4.00, a 14% jump in a single adjustment.

The monorail fare hike was much steeper than those on other transit services in the region. King County Metro buses moved from $2.75 to $3.00, a 9% increase. Sound Transit’s Link light rail standardized fares at $3.00 regardless of trip distance, in a win for long-distance commuters. Even in larger cities with higher living costs, like New York and San Francisco, transit fares remain lower at around $2.85–$2.90 for metro service. The monorail is now one of the most expensive local transit rides per mile in the country.

For many riders, fare increases alone would be frustrating but manageable. Seattle transit often requires combining services: a bus from a neighborhood, a train downtown, then the monorail to a shift at Seattle Center or an event at Climate Pledge Arena. The regional ORCA card system has long made this a possibility. Riders are given a two-hour transfer window so multiple trips are counted as part of the same journey rather than priced separately.

That saving grace is about to end with the end of monorail transfer credits in 2026.

The monorail has always been an unusual piece of infrastructure. The city owns the physical system, but operations are handled by a private contractor. That arrangement gives the operator strong incentives to raise revenue, while riders are left without the protections and policies that apply to publicly-run transit service.

The argument for ending transfer credits is that monorail operating costs have risen, and maintenance is essential to preserving a historic system. That is a reasonable concern. Transit infrastructure requires investment, but charging riders twice within two hours, once for a bus or train and again for the monorail, does not preserve the system; it discourages the very people who use it most consistently. The monorail should not be the transfer exception.

Ridership rebound

“But Sam hardly anyone takes the monorail anyway. Why does it matter?” I hear you say. Despite its short route and just two stops, the monorail sees real usage. The Seattle Times reported that the monorail hit its highest ridership in over a decade in early 2023. Buoyed by Seattle Kraken hockey fans, the monorail recorded 533,000 rides in the first quarter of 2023, 150,000 more than during the same period in 2022, and over 100,000 more than in the same four months of 2019. That’s about 4,000 rides per day.

In 2023, the monorail carried nearly 2.1 million passengers and in 2024 approached 2.2 million trips, offering a strong indication that, given the right circumstances, the monorail serves a concrete transit need, not just occasional tourists.

Admittedly, other transit lines get far more ridership. In 2024, the region’s six ORCA transit agencies delivered about 151 million trips, up from roughly 134 million in 2023, a 12% increase. Within that total, Sound Transit alone logged 41.5 million trips in 2024, up by more than 4 million from 2023 (about an 11% year-over-year increase).

The Link light rail system operated by Sound Transit carried 30.8 million passengers in 2024 and averaged about 90,050 weekday riders system-wide. Recent months have seen ridership climb even higher: as of May 2025, Link weekday boardings exceeded 112,000, a 23% increase over May 2024.

For the monorail, much of that boost came from event traffic. With the arrival of the Seattle Kraken hockey franchise and the rebound in concert and arena events at Climate Pledge Arena after the 2020 pandemic, a notable portion of fans used the monorail (or other transit) to avoid heavy traffic and gridlock around Seattle Center. Now, with a new Professional Women’s Hockey League hockey team and the FIFA World Cup on the horizon the entire city’s infrastructure needs to be ready, with transit running at peak efficiency to handle the load. Mega events act as a canary in a coal mine, stress testing our transportation network.

But the monorail’s renewed popularity and potential to help shoulder the load during World Cup games doesn’t mean its pricing should shift even further toward tourists. If anything, high ridership underscores its value as part of a functioning public-transport network.

Possible solutions

Unlike most transit systems in Washington, the Seattle Center Monorail is not a drain on the public purse. The monorail’s operations are uniquely funded through fare revenue rather than taxpayer subsidies, and even returns money to the City of Seattle annually under a concessions agreement. That revenue covers day-to-day operations, and equipment upgrades, an almost unheard-of arrangement in U.S. transit.

But the monorail’s success doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Its elevated track and supporting pylons occupy the public right-of-way along 5th Avenue and Belltown corridors, forming a permanent footprint above some of the city’s most heavily used streets. Riders may not feel it, but the system relies on the city’s public infrastructure and airspace to operate.

Seattle’s broader goals like reducing car dependency, cutting emissions, and encouraging public transit depend on regional coordination. Breaking fare integration works in the opposite direction. If the monorail is truly a civic asset, it should align with the rest of the city’s transportation policies.

There are realistic solutions. The City of Seattle can require that the monorail restore ORCA transfer credit as a condition of its operating agreement. The City can tie future fare increases to best practices other agencies typically follow, such as conducting public outreach, publishing a cost-benefit analysis noting ridership impacts, and providing a public forum to debate the tradeoffs.

Most importantly, Seattle leaders can treat the monorail as part of the transit network rather than an isolated, revenue-dependent attraction. None of these changes require a huge funding infusion or an expansion of the system (even if I think it would be cool if they expanded the monorail). They simply require prioritizing residents over ticket revenue.

I ride the monorail more than most living in Lower Queen Anne/Uptown. It avoids traffic, provides a distinct view of the city, and remains one of Seattle’s most recognizable transit experiences. It should not be reserved for tourists or special occasions. Public transportation should be priced to serve the public. If it brings joy while doing so, that is even better.

Samuel Ross

Samuel Ross is a Seattle based public servant, returned Peace Corps volunteer, and self-described nerd. He works to promote sustainable development backed by mixed-method research. All opinions expressed are his alone and do not reflect attitudes of any organizations he is affiliated with.

Source link

Seattle, WA

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

Published

21 hours ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

WA river levels remain high through Thursday, scattered showers remain

SEATTLE – A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions. Winds continue through this evening, but will ease into Thursday morning. Landslide risks remain high through the end of the week with very saturated soil.

A strong atmospheric river remains over the Pacific Northwest, bringing heavy rain, record level flooding and dangerous conditions.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure. Heavy rain is creating extreme flooding forecasts, which could break the current levee or dike structure below Sedro-Woolley. This could cause inundation in areas like Burlington and Mount Vernon, then along to Skagit Bay. This is an alert to “Get Ready,” because if the levees break, they will release a sudden torrent of water.

A rare Flash Flood Watch is in effect for parts of western Skagit and northwestern Snohomish County through Friday night due to a possible threat of levee or dike failure.

Rain totals reached one to over two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Rain totals reached one to two inches for parts of Western Washington as steady rain fell through this evening.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day. Showers will still be around Thursday, but will not be as heavy as the past several days. We could also see snowfall at the higher mountain passes and peaks, mainly above Stevens Pass.

Heavy rain will fall through early Thursday, but the atmospheric river will slowly sag southward throughout the day.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely. Linger showers continue Friday with drier skies by Saturday. A few showers are possible Sunday, with another round of showers into next week.

Major river flooding is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, and we will continue to watch the latest conditions very closely.

MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE

New WA laws in 2026 include higher wages, luxury car tax, plastic bag fee hike

Charter bus breaks down in Leavenworth, leaving dozens stranded

75-year-old woman attacked in Downtown Seattle, suspect arrested

Washington State Ferries seeks new owners for aging fleet castoffs

26 years later, family of abducted Tacoma toddler holds toy drive in her honor

Everett police chief retires, replacement to be appointed

To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter.

Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news.

The Source: Information in this story came from FOX 13 Seattle Meteorologists Claire Anderson and Ilona McCauley, and the National Weather Service.

WeatherWeather Forecast

Source link

Seattle, WA

UPDATE: Crash on westbound West Seattle Bridge

Published

2 days ago

December 10, 2025

Press Room

UPDATE: Crash on westbound West Seattle Bridge

11:23 PM: Beware if you’ll be heading westbound on the West Seattle Bridge any time soon – that two-car crash is right in the middle of the westbound lanes near midspan. No serious injuries reported.

11:56 PM: Not cleared yet; SDOT crews are in place east of the collision scene, to warn traffic to go around it by using the outside westbound lane.

12:35 AM: They’ve just reopened all westbound lanes.

Source link