Multi-family, Commercial, and Urban Village Zoning (HALA/MHA)

The FCA is no stranger to zoning issues. Numerous elected officials spoke at the FCA General Membership Meeting in 1995 about Washington states Growth Management Act requiring cities to develop Comprehensive Plans addressing density. At that time four urban villages were proposed for West Seattle; Admiral, Westwood, Morgan Junction and the Alaska Junction and these communities were expected to draft plans for increasing housing stock particularly low income housing. Fauntleroy was not declared an urban village and was not targeted to receive city money for neighborhood planning although it was acknowledged Fauntleroy would be impacted by traffic and transportation decisions. Fauntleroy did not develop neighborhood housing plans although for example, the Alaska Junction did develop a plan.

In September 2014, the Mayor’s Office and the City Council gathered leaders to develop a Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) for increasing the affordability and availability of housing in Seattle. A report with 65 recommendations was eventually published one of which was Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA), a program that would provide more flexible zoning for development in exchange for developers either paying a fee or designating certain units for low income housing.

In July of 2015, the Seattle Times reported that HALA could include broad changes in single family zoning unleashing a firestorm of criticism and mobilizing neighborhood groups. In the final version, the most significant zoning changes were to be made in neighborhoods designated as Urban Villages wherein single family lots would be subdivided into two lots (residential small lots), apartment buildings could go as high as 80 feet and the presence of rapid transit would negate the requirement for off street parking. Even neighborhoods not declared an Urban Village would see other zoning changes around increased height, parking and fees and as such, in upper and lower Fauntleroy, the multifamily/commercial space along 45th between SW Henderson and SW Brace Point and adjacent buildings on Wildwood Ave. SW would be subject to the new rules as well as buildings on 35th SW between SW Henderson and SW 97th Street.

The City Council rezoned University, Downtown, South Lake Union and Chinatown as subject to MHA by July of 2017. The draft Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was also issued summer of 2017 and FCA submitted a letter to the City on August 7, 2017 objecting to the provisions that seemed incompatible with neighborhood character and put pressure on parking. Read the letter here. The final EIS was Publishedon November 9, 2017

The Seattle Coalition for Affordability, Livability, and Equity (SCALE) organized most of Seattles neighborhoods and appealed MHA citing among other arguments, the Environmental Impact Study was inadequate, treated the neighborhoods as homogenous as opposed to addressing their unique challenges and neighborhoods already had their Growth Plans stemming from the Growth Management Act. FCA donated $1,500 to the coalition. The Hearing Examiner ruled against SCALE in November of 2018 and by March of 2019, the City had implemented all of the Urban Villages including the ones in West Seattle as well as the peripheral zoning changes.

With respect to lower Fauntleroy, all of the commercial, apartment, condominium and multi-plex buildings on 45th SW and adjacent Wildwood SW were rezoned limiting height to 4 stories for commercial zoning and less for the lowrise buildings. For upper Fauntleroy along 35th SW, between SW Henderson and SW 97th , height is limited to 55 feet for certain commercial zoning. All of these parcels are subject to payment of fees or designation of certain space for low income housing. The City is no longer maintaining the maps used to explain MHA zoning. However, zoning maps may be found here where one may drill down to for parcel information as well as view zoning classifications by color.

Agenda: 2018-02-13 FCA Business Meeting

date posted: 11 Feb 2018

FCA Business Meeting
Feb 13, 2018
7:00-9:00 PM
Fauntleroy Schoolhouse

The purpose of the Fauntleroy Community Association is to consider and act on concerns affecting the quality of life and character of the Fauntleroy community in Seattle, Washington.

Topic	Who	Time
Welcome and Introductions	Mike	5 Minutes
Review and Approve Minutes	Mike/All	2 Minutes
What we know about current zoning	Mike/All	15 Minutes
How does HALA/MHA change the zoning	All	80 Minutes
What are the next steps	All	15 Minutes
Action Items	Frank	5 Minutes

Next Meeting - March 13, 2018 Fauntleroy Schoolhouse

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Proposed Rezoning, Upzoning Raise Significant Concerns

date posted: 15 Dec 2017 by: Mike Dey

On Oct. 30, the West Seattle Blog reported a proposed rezoning of the Joslin Building at 9250 45th SW in the heart of Fauntleroy’s retail area. On Nov. 8, representatives of the FCA Board met with the two owners to confirm the report and better understand their intentions so that FCA could begin an informed discussion with the community.

One of the owners lives in the Arroyos and the other is a former Seattle resident now living in Tacoma. At the meeting, they confirmed the Blog’s account and their desire to replace the existing structure with a 5-story mixed-use building with no on-site parking. It would have commercial on the bottom floor and 32 apartments above, each measuring 400 - 500 square feet.

Read More...

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