Example of a Seattle area developer building far less density than allowed on a prime lot so they can build townhomes Shows the importance of allowing townhomes everywhere so demand for them doesn't get shoved to prime lots like this

Except if you are a renter, in which case you deserve no benefit. Huge homestead exemptions are one of the most regressive taxes out there, anything is better than this

In Tacoma you can apparently build a FAR exempt 900sqft garage in a DADU vs just 250ft in Seattle lol

Toshiko Hasegawa's very first line on her website's 'vision' for County Council's 2nd seat is NIMBYism, don't see that much nowadays.

WA bill HB 2228 to allow scissor stairs passed the House today, 95 - 0! Thank you Rep. Zahn! app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary/...

Seattle has 3 low-rise zones, LR1-3. LR1 & 2 are now mostly identical to NR, so neither should exist But LR1 *really* shouldn't exist, these are all the LR1 areas added in the most recent upzoning proposal vs all the upzoned blocks. OPCD knows it's a useless zone and isn't bothering implementing it

Doesn’t Seattle already require relocation assistance in a bunch of situations? The city already has the most tenant protections in the PNW. What it doesn’t have is a robust market-rate construction pipeline. She should be cutting MHA, fixing MFTE, and boosting anemic zoning. Not adding new regs.

Sounds like Wilson is going to do backdoor rent control. Not great for encouraging investment in housing in Seattle

Instead of mandating retail, Seattle should fine developers who don’t build it like ~$50,000, to see how much of a tax it is on development

Because of the phased nature of Seattle's rezoning process, for the next few years, this middle area will be LR3, allowing for 5 story apartment buildings. While the areas south *and* north of it, both closer to the light rail stations and in Urban/Regional Centers, will be zoned LR1/2.

What's the purpose of creating a neighborhood center, to not rezone it? Is this because they're planning on studying a different Magnolia Neighborhood Center?

It's insane that we accept these kinds of timelines. Other cities in Washington don't do this level of staggering, no one is making us take a decade to go through a zoning cycle. This is just for the Regional Centers, Urban Centers won't be upzoned until Katie Wilson's term is over

Good to see there's been no bills looking to strengthen rent control/landlord-tenant regs this year in WA. Shows good legislative discipline and gives more regulatory certainty.

Interesting the lengths developers are going to preserve the existing home. This home is a teardown if I've ever seen one, and yet the proposal is to retain it and build 5 sfhs around it. Why? some regulatory advantage? or maybe they've already remodeled it?

Haven't seen too many middle housing proposals in Seattle that absolutely maxing out density & FAR, this one gets the closest 6 unit proposal using the 3ft setbacks for small lots near transit at ~1.45 FAR.

Proposal for 2 1,200 sqft DADUs, legal thanks to AMR’s ADU amendments

The SSHD has been a disaster because McCoy pushed for an ungovernable board structure, a shame to see her elevated despite the failures so far

To celebrate the possibility that SB 6026 will end mandates for apartment buildings to have commercial uses on their ground floors, here's a bunch of pics of empty retail spaces in Seattle's Capitol Hill, the most densely populated neighborhood in WA. app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/...

I think Redmond is the only puget sound city that ended up putting IZ on one unit developments in the new middle housing updates. Building 2 1,000sqft ADUs costs $60,000 in Redmond. Will be interested to see if this policy basically ends up meaning Redmond opted out of HB1110/1337

New council predictions for the YIMBY-NIMBY spectrum Mega-YIMBY: AMR YIMBY: Lin Likely YIMBY: Foster, Strauss Swing votes: Kettle, Juarez Likely NIMBY: Hollingsworth, Saka NIMBY: Rivera

Does Seattle have any zones where commercial is allowed but residential isn't? Based on the zoning map I can't find any So the only affect of the 'residential in commercial areas' bill would be to eliminate Seattle's retail requirements seattlecitygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappv...

Unlike Houston's minimum lot size system, Seattle has a parent lot minimum lot size of 5,000sqft and a Unit Lot Subdivision minimum lot size of 1,250. So a homeowner can't, for example, sell their backyard as a separate 2,500sqft lot and be done with it.

First stacked flats proposal under the new code? Taking advantage of the 3ft side setbacks on lots less than 5,000sqft near transit. Extremely tight fit

I don't believe parking minimums are binding on any kind of development in Seattle, so removing them is a question of a. if the city council realizes this b. do they or don't they want the official elimination of them on their record I'm not sure which is more the case

NEW POST While cities across North America struggle with housing shortages, Edmonton is proving that zoning reform works. In 2025, for the first time in history, the number of homes permitted in 5-8 unit rowhomes surpassed detached homes. 🧵 #yeg #yegcc #yimby www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2026/zb...

MFTE is literally a transfer from every taxing authority outside the city of Seattle to Seattle. If it isn’t being used for every project you’re leaving money on the table for generations

Seattle has a uniparty consensus that we should bankrupt non-profit housing providers to maintain an arbitrary set of landlord-tenant laws. Also a uniparty consensus that we need MHA to fund non-profit developers because there’s so politically powerful

Bad pre-filed bill. It would give cities more zoning control over unincorporated areas near them Since Snohomish and King counties are both more YIMBY than the cities in each, this would kill a lot of housing

One thing rarely brought up about MHA is that it’s like a reverse impact fee program We tax housing the most in the parts of the city where housing is the most fiscally sustainable and tax it the least where car usage is higher, fewer sidewalks, longer commutes, etc

The greater the car dependency, the greater the benefits of congestion pricing! This got lost bc NYC did it first, but metros like Houston, Dallas and Orlando only function with their level of car dependence bc of pricing roads

MHA is just a really small part of office of housing funds. It wouldn’t be a big deal to get rid of it entirely.

Great news. Scissor stairs is useful for both high-rise and mid-rise buildings. Tons of small lots zoned for 5+ stories could use this

One fix to the comp plan that would actually generate more housing (i.e. not stacked flat related) would be to uncap number of ADUs per lot, or allow 3 ADUs per lot. ADUs have a bunch of regulatory and financial advantages in both NR and low-rise zones, so allowing more per lot would be helpful

With the end of the interim code here's a map of most middle housing projects, including SFHs, ADUs, DADUs, since May will be interesting to see if the makeup of the types changes with the permanent code aidanthornsberry.github.io/seattle-hous...

Project proposal using the 3ft setback on lots less than 5,000sqft near frequent transit amendment from AMR

Middle housing project proposal that’s just slightly over the mayor’s proposal at ~1.25 FAR vs mayors 1.2, 6,000 sqft lot

HB 1337 double for sale DADUs already delivering results. 3bd homes for less than 300k to build each in South Tacoma

3 examples on the front page of the PSBJ of the trend of the move of companies from suburban office campuses to downtown Seattle/Bellevue, and the redevelopment of those suburban office campuses to housing

Hollingsworth amendment regarding the donut hole passes. Sounds like she's now changed her mind and wants it to still be upzoned, but as a part of the Central District Urban Center (which she thinks is currently a Neighborhood Center), instead of the Capitol Hill/First Hill Regional Center

There's been some student housing townhomes, which confuse me as a typology. How are apartments in LR zones so not worth it, to the point of building student housing townhomes where apartments are allowed? Ravenna Gardens

What's binding for some middle housing projects isn't setbacks, lot coverage, parking... it's the 5,000sqft impervious surface area limit requiring additional stormwater protection

Bellevue getting a number of big """cottage""" proposals, show me the incentive and i'll show you the outcome!

This is good news. Scissor stairs allow for a much more efficient floor plate in high rise construction. See attached image for comparison (credit letsgola.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/h...)

Be there! Tonight

This didn't happen, to a surprising degree in Seattle. It's common and easy for homeowners to buy and build an ADU with less than 150k of capital, with a number of different financing sources easily available. Once they became legal, the market instantly provided tons of information on how to do it

Identical middle housing projects being built next to each other at the same, but built as separate projects each with their own driveways, because separately they're under 5,000sqft of impervious surfaces, but together they'd be over, triggering stormwater regs

Proposal up for a Roosevelt "Up" house, rip

Meanwhile Seattle has a light rail station that should've opened already, with a freeway lid, and hasn't bothered to upzone it! With no upzoning date set!

I agree with this, isn't the Wall Washington Fund a big tilt towards Seattle? If Washington and Seattle both want payroll taxes, the Seattle one should go on top of the state one, not be a substitute of the state one

The old raincitymaps.github.io map of Seattle land values is old, so I vibecoded a new map. Quite similar, can still see the 85th sidewalk line and sharp zoning lines. Bellevue's downtown zoning falloff is a chokehold