Seattle, WA

Sara Nelson Restarts the Debate About Allowing More Housing in SoDo – The Urbanist

Published

60 minutes ago

January 15, 2025

Sara Nelson Restarts the Debate About Allowing More Housing in SoDo – The Urbanist

The idea of encouraging more residential development around Seattle’s stadiums had been put on ice in 2023 with the adoption of a citywide maritime and industrial strategy. Nelson’s bill reignites that debate. (King County Metro)

A bill introduced by Seattle Council President Sara Nelson this week is set to reignite a debate over allowing housing on Seattle’s industrial lands and the future of the SoDo neighborhood. The industrial zone in question is immediately west and south of T-Mobile and Lumen stadiums, abutting the Port of Seattle. That debate had been seemingly put to rest with the adoption of a citywide maritime and industrial strategy in 2023 that didn’t add housing in industrial SoDo, following years of debate over the long-term future of Seattle’s industrial areas. This bill is likely going to divide advocates into familiar old camps during a critical year of much bigger citywide housing discussions.

The idea of allowing residential uses around the south downtown stadiums, creating a “Maker’s District” with capacity for around 1,000 new homes, was considered by the City in its original analysis of the environmental impact of changes to its industrial zones in 2022. But including zoning changes needed to permit residential uses within the “stadium transition overlay district,” centered around First Avenue S and Occidental Avenue S, was poised to disrupt the coalition of groups supporting the broader package.

Strongly opposed to the idea is the Port of Seattle, concerned about direct impacts of more development close to its container terminals, but also about encroachment of residential development onto industrial lands more broadly.

The makers district is envisioned as a neighborhood of small semi-industrial uses with residential development above, a type of land use that Seattle has envisioned on paper, but which hasn’t really materialized in reality. (*Collinswoerman)*

While the zoning change didn’t move forward then, the constituency in favor of it — advocates for the sport stadiums themselves, South Downtown neighborhood groups, and the building trades — haven’t given up on the idea, and seem to have found in Sara Nelson their champion, as the citywide councilmember heads toward a re-election fight.

“There’s an exciting opportunity to create a mixed-use district around the public stadiums, T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field, that prioritizes the development of light industrial “Makers’ Spaces” (think breweries and artisans), one that eases the transition between neighborhoods like Pioneer Square and the Chinatown-International District and the industrial areas to the south,” read a letter sent Monday signed by groups with ties to the Seattle Mariners and the Seattle Seahawks, labor unions including SEIU and IBEW, and housing providers including Plymouth Housing and the Chief Seattle Club. And while Nelson only announced that she was introducing this bill this week, a draft of that letter had been circulating for at least a month, according to meeting materials from T-Mobile Park’s public stadium district.

The area in question targeted by Nelson’s bill is largely focused around Occidental Avenue and First Avenue S, a major truck street. (City of Seattle)

Under city code, 50% of residential units built in Urban Industrial zones — which includes this stadium overlay — have to be maintained as affordable for households making a range of incomes from 60% to 90% of the city’s area median income (AMI) for a minimum of 75 years, depending on the number of bedrooms in each unit. And units are required to have additonal soundproofing and air filtration systems to deal with added noise and pollution of industrial areas.

But unlike in other Urban Industrial (UI) zones, under Nelson’s bill, housing within the stadium transition overlay won’t have to be at least 200 feet from a major truck street, which includes Alaskan Way S, First Avenue S, and Fourth Avenue S. Those streets are some of the most dangerous roadways in the city, and business and freight advocates have fought against redesigning them when the City has proposed doing so in the past.

The timing of the bill’s introduction now is notable, given the fact that the council’s Land Use Committee currently has no chair, after District 2 Councilmember Tammy Morales resigned earlier this month, and the council has just started to ramp up work on reviewing Mayor Bruce Harrell’s final growth strategy and housing plan. Nelson’s own Governance, Accountability, and Economic Development Committee is set to review the bill, giving her full control over her own bill’s trajectory, with Councilmembers Strauss and Rinck — the council’s left flank — left out of initial deliberations since they’re not on Nelson’s committee.

As Nelson brought up the bill in the last five minutes of Monday’s Council Briefing, D6 Councilmember Dan Strauss expressed surprise that this was being introduced and directed to Nelson’s own committee. Strauss, as previous chair of the Land Use Committee, shepherded a lot of the work around the maritime strategy forward, and seemed stunned that this was being proposed without a broader discussion.

“Did I hear you say that we’re going to be taking up the industrial and maritime lands discussion in your committee? There is a lot of work left to do around the stadium district, including the Coast Guard [base],” Strauss said. “I’m quite troubled to hear that we’re taking a one-off approach when there was a real comprehensive plan set up last year and to be kind of caught off guard here on the dais like this, without a desire to have additional discussion.”

On Tuesday, Strauss made a motion to instead send the bill to the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan, chaired by D3 Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth. After a long discussion of the merits of keeping the bill in Nelson’s committee, the motion was shot down 5-3, with Councilmembers Kettle and Rinck joining Strauss. During public comment, members of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters specifically asked for the bill to say in Nelson’s committee, a highly unusual move.

Nelson framed her bill Tuesday as being focused on economic development, intended to create more spaces that will allow small industrial-oriented businesses in the city. Nothing prevents those spaces being built now — commercial uses are allowed in the stadium overlay — but Nelson argued that they’ll only come to fruition if builders are allowed to construct housing above that ground-floor retail.

“What is motivating me is the fact that small light industrial businesses need more space in Seattle,” Nelson said. “Two to three makers businesses are leaving Seattle every month or so, simply because commercial spaces are very expensive, and there are some use restrictions for certain businesses. And when we talk about makers businesses, I’m talking about anything from a coffee roaster to a robot manufacturer, places where things are made and sold, and those spaces are hard to find. […] The construction of those businesses is really only feasible if there is something on top, because nobody is going to go out and build a small affordable commercial space for that kind of use”

Opposition from the Port of Seattle doesn’t seem to have let up since 2023.

“Weakening local zoning protections could not come at a worse time for maritime industrial businesses,” Port of Seattle CEO Steve Metruck wrote in a letter to the Seattle Council late last week. “Surrendering maritime industrial zoned land in favor of non-compatible uses like housing invokes a zero-sum game of displacing permanent job centers without creating new ones. Infringing non-compatible uses into maritime industrial lands pushes industry to sprawl outward, making our region more congested, less sustainable, and less globally competitive.”

SoDo is a liquefaction zone constructed on fill over former tideflats and is close to state highways and Port facilities, but not particularly close to amenities like grocery stores and parks. The issue of creating more housing in such a location will likely be a contentious one within Seattle’s housing advocacy world.

Nelson’s move may serve to draw focus away from the larger Comprehensive Plan discussion, a debate about the city’s long-term trajectory on housing. Whether this discussion does ultimately distract from and hinder the push to rezone Seattle’s amenity-rich neighborhoods — places like Montlake, Madrona, and Green Lake — to accommodate more housing remains to be seen.

Ryan Packer has been writing for The Urbanist since 2015, and currently reports full-time as Contributing Editor. Their beats are transportation, land use, public space, traffic safety, and obscure community meetings. Packer has also reported for other regional outlets including Capitol Hill Seattle, BikePortland, Seattle Met, and PubliCola. They live in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle.

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Seattle, WA

Critics say SPS capital levy will result in 'mega schools' and school closures

Published

9 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Critics say SPS capital levy will result in 'mega schools' and school closures

Meeting on Seattle Public Schools levies ahead of election

This February, when voters head to the polls, they’ll be deciding on replacing two Seattle Public Schools levies that are expiring this year.

SEATTLE – When voters send back their ballots in February, they’ll be deciding on replacing two Seattle Public Schools levies that are expiring in 2025.

The district relies on local voter-approved levies like those to help pay for operations and to fund building construction and repairs.

What they’re saying:

While the year’s operation’s levy hasn’t had much pushback, critics say the capital levy is causing controversy, including concerns it will lead to school closures.

Some of those affiliated with the Save our Schools group say the capital levy is also prompting concerns that it will lead to “mega schools.”

“Seattle Public Schools has 106 schools. We have facility needs we are going to place before the voters,” said Richard Best, Executive Director of Capital Projects, Planning and Facilities of Seattle Public Schools.

School officials say there could be serious consequences for students if two propositions fail to pass February 11.

“That would be, I won’t say catastrophic, but there will be declining systems that could have consequential implications in that, when we do implement that system repair, it costs more,” said Best.

The operations levy would provide schools with $747 million, replacing the last EP&O levy approved in 2022.

It wouldn’t reduce the deficit, but would continue a current funding source, for things like salaries, school security, special education and multilingual support staff.

This was a breakdown that SPS provided of the operations levy online:

Operations Levy Details 2026-2028

Proposed Levy Amount: $747 million
Levy Collected: 2026–2028
Replaces: Expiring EP&O Levy approved in 2022
Current tax rate is 63 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

The second proposition, the $1.8 billion Building Excellence Capital Levy, would provide money for building projects and technology.

This was a breakdown of that proposition by SPS:

Building Excellence VI Capital Levy Details

Proposed Amount: $1.8 billion
Capital Projects Funding: $1,385,022,403
Technology Funding: $$414,977,597
Estimated Levy Rates: 93 cents to 79 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value
Levy Collected: 2026-2031

A parent who didn’t want to share his name for privacy reasons told us he was concerned about the school closure plan that was scrapped last year, and wondered if the situation was “sustainable.”

Critic Chris Jackins belies the capital levy, as written, could result in the closure of schools.

“This is a continuation of an effort to close more schools,” said Jackins.

He wrote the statement in the voter pamphlet arguing against proposition 2. He says it would allow the construction of “mega schools,” which will in turn be used to then close more schools.

“On the capital levy, they have two projects which will create two more mega-sized schools, they are both scheduled at 650 students. They both cost more each, more than $148 million,” he said. “They are continuing their construction to add even more elementary school capacity when they say they have too much. It doesn’t make sense.”

The district’s website reads that major renovations and replacement projects would include replacement of at least one elementary school in northeast Seattle.

“The two schools they are talking about, one they didn’t name, so nobody knows, and one is Lowell, which is an existing school, but they are planning to destroy most of it and make it much larger,” Jackins said.

“I have worked designing schools since 1991 and since that period, I have never designed a school smaller than 500 students,” said Best. “We use a model for 500 students, which is three classrooms per grade level.”

Best explained further.

“The term is not ‘mega schools.’ We design schools to be schools within schools. You have a first-grade cohort, maybe 75 or 100 students. They stay together. Middle schools are 1,000 students. Those are very common throughout the state of Washington.”

Best says school closures aren’t on the table right now, but may be revisited at some point.

“We are going to engage in the conversation about schools, school capacity, looking at elementary schools, our focus right now is getting these two levies passed,” he said.

Meantime, Jackins is asking people to vote down the capital levy, and then to ask that it be resubmitted in a form that uses the funds to fix up existing schools in order to keep them open.

The ballots are expected to go out to voters around January 22. The election is set for February 11.

The Source: Information from this story is from Seattle Public Schools officials and the Save our Schools group.

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Seattle, WA

Lobbing Scorchers: Grading the Seattle Sounders’ Offseason

Published

18 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Lobbing Scorchers: Grading the Seattle Sounders’ Offseason

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We are back with another offseason episode as the beginning of the 2025 season draws nearer. With the Jesús Ferreira and Paul Arriola trades now official, we grade Seattle’s offseason thus far based on all their moves to date. We also have a handful of headlines from around the league, including more transfer movement, a couple of new coaching hires, and chaos and turmoil engulfing Austin FC.

Donate to LA Fire Relief: https://www.gofundme.com/f/lafc-podcast-raising-money-for-la-wildfire-victims

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Seattle, WA

Lauren Barnes returns to Seattle Reign for the 2025 season

Published

1 day ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Lauren Barnes returns to Seattle Reign for the 2025 season

Seattle Reign announced on Tuesday that the club has re-signed Lauren Barnes for the 2025 season. The 35-year-old defender and Reign original returns to Seattle for her 13th season with the club.

Barnes currently has the league record for the most appearances (232), starts (224), and minutes (19,795). She was the first player in league history to reach 200 games played. When the 2025 season kicks off, she’ll join Jess Fishlock as the only two players to feature for the same club since the league launched in 2013.

“I’m thrilled to sign a new contract with the Reign, a place that has been my home since I first joined the club in 2013,” said Barnes in a team release. “This club means so much to me – not just for what we’ve accomplished on the field but for the impact we’ve been able to make in the community. I’m proud to continue this journey with my teammates, our incredible fans and the city I love. Together, we’re building something special, and I’m excited for what’s ahead.”

The team’s long-time captain will continue to be a veteran presence in the locker room and on the soccer field, helping provide leadership to an increasingly young roster. Playing both centerback and left back over the years, Barnes has been a key figure on the Reign’s defense, which has been one of the stingiest in the league until last year. In 2016, Barnes was named NWSL Defender of the Year – helping the Reign earn eight clean sheets in their 20-game season and set a new NWSL record for consecutive shutouts (5).

She was named to the NWSL Best XI First Team in 2015 and 2016 and earned Best XI Second Team honors in 2014 and 2019. In three separate years (2019, 2022, and 2023), Barnes finished the NWSL season in the top 10 in the number of dribblers tackled. She also was in the top five in interceptions in 2023. As one of the core leaders on the team, Barnes has helped the Reign earn three NWSL Shields (2014, 2015, 2022), advance to three NWSL finals (2014, 2015, 2023), and play in seven NWSL semifinal matches.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Lu Barnes back to the Reign this season,” said Reign General Manager Lesle Gallimore. “From the very beginning, Lu has been the heart and soul of this club, and her legacy here is unparalleled. As a world-class defender and leader in the NWSL, her influence extends far beyond the field. We are excited to see the immense impact she will continue to have on our team and the Reign community this season.”

In addition to her strong defensive chops, Barnes has been important to how the Reign builds their attack from the backline. Last year, the Reign struggled to break down presses, which has been one of Barnes’ strengths in the NWSL. In 2023, for example, she completed the third-most passes into the final third and had the seventh-most touches. While it doesn’t always show up in stats this clearly, this is a truly underrated part of Barnes’ skillset.

While Barnes dealt with injuries and health challenges in 2024, she still played nearly 1,500 minutes and made 21 appearances. As June/Ash Eden highlighted in the 2024 Valkyratings, like many Reign players last season, Barnes had mixed performances throughout the year. She has great field vision and is often the one communicating with and leading the backline, but she was prone to a few costly mistakes. While Barnes might not be a regular starter in 2025, she should continue to provide veteran leadership and mentor young defenders like Jordyn Bugg.

The club veteran has also established important roots in the region. She’s been active in environmental efforts in the Pacific Northwest and other community outreach activities led by the Reign and Seattle Sounders. Last fall, she joined current and former Reign teammates Olivia Van der Jagt, Fishlock, and Sam Hiatt in becoming part of the ownership group of Salmon Bay FC, Ballard’s new pre-professional women’s soccer team that will compete in the USL W League this spring.

The Reign captain has been involved in several other community efforts. Barnes has pledged 1% of her salary toward Common Goal to fund the growth and development of Football For Her, a California-based nonprofit that provides safe spaces for youth who identify as female or nonbinary to play soccer. She also works with Players for the Planet, an organization of professional athletes who are striving to make a difference by eliminating plastic, creating recycling initiatives and prioritizing conservation efforts.

The California native attended UCLA (2007-10), where she started in 95 of 97 games played and led the Bruins in assists in back-to-back seasons as a junior and senior.

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