Seattle/King County Climate News
Robin Briggs
Seattle
The City Council has moved onto Phase 2 of the Comprehensive Plan, and is considering new zoning for Urban Centers and Corridors. They were briefed on this by OPCD on Thursday (presentation, video starting at 39 min). There will be a larger public hearing on Monday, April 6, with remote testimony starting at 9:30, and in person testimony from 2pm. The Connected Communities Coalition has put together an info sheet, and is advocating for:
a courtyard bonus to concentrate open space and allow room for larger shade trees
a green building height bonus for PassivHaus and mass timber
more multifamily housing on the side streets near frequent bus stops
To testify remotely, sign up here starting at 8:30am. If you are attending in person, sign in with the clerk at the start of the meeting. Connected Communities is holding a rally before the in person meeting at noon in front of City Hall.
SDOT has announced the first three low pollution neighborhoods: South Park / Georgetown, Lake City, and Capitol Hill. It has been more than 3 years (!) since this initiative was announced by Mayor Herrell. SDOT presented the program to the Transportation Committee as part of the levy update. They will do research and outreach from 2026-2027, and starting in 2027 will make actual changes. Example strategies they will consider include:
People-first street designs that make neighborhood streets safer and more comfortable for walking, rolling, and gathering
On-street electric vehicle charging to expand access for residents without off-street parking and to reduce pollution from personal vehicles
Support for low-emission deliveries, including e-cargo bikes and other cleaner freight options
Seattle City Light is proposing a $4B plan as part of the recertification process for the Skagit River hydroelectric dams. City Light has been negotiating with the tribes over fish passage, and the capital plan includes about $1B for improvements to salmon passage and habitat restoration. There was a hearing on this in the Parks and City Light Committee (presentation).
King County
Sen Rebecca Saldaña is running for the County Council seat vacated by Girmay Zahillay when he became Executive.
The Executive Office of Climate has been disbanded, and its responsibilities have been migrated to other departments, with coordination coming from the Office of the Executive. From the Executive's Office: "A total of 27 climate positions that had been part of the Executive Climate Office are now based in three Cabinet agencies – the Department of Natural Resources and Parks, the Department of Executive Services, and King County Metro – a structure that improves coordination and increases efficiency. " The Executive plans to recruit a "Climate & Sustainability Policy Lead who will be based in the Executive Office’s new Policy and Innovation team to help ensure we’re achieving our goals." As of writing, there is no open position listed for this on the County job postings site.
Sound Transit
Sound Transit Reveals New Cost-Saving Measures for West Seattle Link (The Urbanist). The costs had become very inflated, which was endangering the project. Sound Transit thinks it can bring the costs down to close to what was originally budgeted by making a number of design changes, including cancelling the proposed station at Avalon. The Sound Transit board also got a look at three potential plans for the Ballard link, where the cost estimates are far above the revenue that has been set aside. Possible approaches include deferring the West Seattle link, which has already been approved by the Federal government, or deferring the line from Kirkland to Issaquah, where planning hasn't started yet. The Ballard Link is likely to cost at least $17B, far more than any other ST project, but it also would have the highest ridership gains as well. The Board seems to be at an early stage of figuring out what to do.
State
WA and Oregon scale back I-5 bridge ambitions (Washington State Standard). Cost estimates for the replacement bridge for the I-5 crossing over the Columbia from Vancouver to Portland have doubled to $14B. Gov Ferguson held a press conference to announce that the bridge replacement would be going forward, but that some of the ancillary projects (i.e., highway widening around the bridge) would be put on hold. Just a bridge replacement with a light rail connection would cost $7.6B, and a replacement that allows for light rail but doesn't build it would be $5.9B. Replacing the bridge is important because the current bridge is old, and is likely to fail in a major earthquake, making it difficult or impossible to get emergency supplies in.
Legislative Session Wrapup. Here a (very quick and incomplete) summary of some of the climate-related bills that passed the Legislature this year.
Strip malls to housing requires cities to allow redevelopment of commercial areas for housing. This will reportedly open up 3000+ parcels just in Seattle.
Establish a new electrical transmission planning authority to insure that we have capacity to grow the electrical grid to meet new demand.
Landlords must allow use of portable air conditioners to protect people from extreme heat.
Allow the Weatherization Program to do community scaled projects
A number of bills to streamline home construction: allow smaller elevators, allow scissor stairs for multiple exit paths, limit liability for condos in small buildings, streamline permitting for STEP housing to allow more emergency housing shelters and homelessness aid
Allow Rivian & Lucid to do test drives and direct sales in state as Tesla (which was grandfathered in) can already do.
And on the budget: the Legislature directed $540 million in CCA to fill budget holes, with a vague promise to pay it back later. The Transportation Budget included $1.3B funds borrowed in order to pay for highway maintenance. This means going forward we will have more of our money going to repay loans, but at least the roads will be in better shape. The State has been implicitly borrowing money for years simply by skimping on maintenance, and this is a bill that is coming due now. All of the highway expansion projects approved in the last major transportation budget are coming in over budget, and the Legislature has worked on continuing to fund them rather than scaling back or cancelling them.