Latest news with #SightlineInstitute
Axios
21-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
New laws aim to boost housing across Washington state
A suite of new laws aim to make it easier to build more housing throughout Washington state, including in Seattle. Why it matters: The state Department of Commerce estimates that Washington must add more than 1 million homes by 2044 to keep up with population growth, with over 300,000 of those housing units needed in King County. What's happening: Several laws signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in recent weeks focus on removing barriers to housing construction. One measure makes it more difficult to designate a building as a historic landmark, a process that pro-housing groups say has sometimes been weaponized to delay or halt housing construction in Seattle. Other newly signed laws aim to increase density near transit stations, reduce permit timelines and cut parking requirements, among other changes. Zoom in: Right now, Seattle allows any person or group to nominate buildings as young as 25 years old as historic landmarks. Under the new landmarking reform law, House Bill 1576, most buildings under 125 years old will no longer be able to be designated as historic landmarks without the owners' consent if the designation would restrict development of the property. That will help prevent the landmarking process from being "co-opted to obstruct homebuilding," as it has in the past in Seattle, Dan Bertolet of the Sightline Institute told a panel of lawmakers in March. Yes, but: Eugenia Woo of Historic Seattle told lawmakers that the new landmarking policy will give developers too much control, "leaving communities little to no voice in terms of what happens to their historic places in their neighborhoods." The big picture: Another new statewide policy, House Bill 1491, will require cities and counties to allow denser housing near transit stations. To comply with the law, Seattle will likely need to change some of its zoning to allow denser housing near bus rapid transit stops and certain light rail stations, Callie Craighead, a spokesperson for Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, told Axios. Also now on the books is a new law to limit how many parking spots cities and counties can require as part of new housing developments, which Ferguson said will reduce the cost of building new units. "Each space can add up to $20,000 to the cost of developing a home," and much more if a parking garage is required, the governor said when signing Senate Bill 5184.
Yahoo
29-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
WA lawmakers want to limit parking requirements for new development
Sen. Jessica Bateman, chair of the Senate Housing Committee, leads a meeting Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025, at the Washington state Capitol in Olympia, Wash. (Photo by Ryan Berry/Washington State Standard) The amount of parking a city can require for new construction may soon be limited. Senate Bill 5184 would prevent cities and counties from mandating more than one spot for every two housing units. Developers could still add more spots if they choose, but that would not be required. The policy received a public hearing last week and is scheduled for a vote out of the Senate Housing Committee on Wednesday. It's another in a host of bills this year aimed at building more housing quickly in Washington. 'Our minimum parking requirements are outdated and archaic, and they're getting in the way of building the housing that our communities desperately need,' bill sponsor Sen. Jessica Bateman, D-Olympia, said. Most jurisdictions require new homes to be built with a certain number of parking spaces. Critics of these minimums say that they make it more expensive and complicated to build housing, while also taking up limited space in dense cities. Along with limiting parking requirements for dwellings, the bill would prohibit cities and counties from requiring more than one space for every 1,000 feet of a commercial building. It would also eliminate parking requirements altogether for certain types of buildings like residences under 1,200 square feet, commercial spaces under 5,000 feet, affordable housing, senior housing and child care facilities. Bateman said the state needs these types of facilities desperately right now, and limiting how much parking must accompany them could help them get built faster. Under the proposal, parking restrictions would not apply to accessible spaces in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Oregon and California rolled back some minimum parking requirements in recent years. Some local governments in Washington have limited parking requirements, too, but no statewide proposal has yet to make it across the finish line. This year, there may be more support — at least from the executive branch. Bateman's proposal was included as a priority in a housing report from Lt. Gov. Denny Heck and Gov. Bob Ferguson's transition team. Nicholas Carr, Ferguson's senior policy advisor on housing, said parking minimums in Washington are 'arbitrary and difficult to change.' 'Parking spots cost money, a lot of money,' Carr told the Senate Housing Committee. 'This is a real opportunity for savings. That's why Gov. Ferguson supports this bill.' Research from Sightline Institute found that parking can cost $5,000 to $20,000 per space in a surface-level lot and $60,000 per spot in a garage in Washington. Sightline's research also found that parking mandates vary significantly across Washington with no scientific backing for how they are set, researcher Catie Gould told the Senate Housing Committee. 'I regret to say that there's no magic parking ratio that will meet the needs of every family or every restaurant,' Gould said. At Friday's public hearing, many supporters of the proposal argued that it would still give developers the option to build more parking than the minimum required. 'Importantly, this bill does not ban parking nor does it restrict how much parking can be built,' said Riley Benge, commercial government affairs director at Washington Realtors. Still, some testifiers expressed concerns. Kelsey Hulse, who represented the Association of Washington Cities and the Washington State Association of Counties, said requiring less parking for new development could result in traffic hazards where people are searching for parking for long periods or parking in areas where it is not allowed, such as shoulders on narrow roads. Though Hulse said the associations support the bill's idea to build more housing, she urged lawmakers to limit its scope. Another big concern with the proposal was that it lacked an exemption for the city of SeaTac. With the state's largest airport, the city is home to many professional drivers for Uber, Lyft or taxi services who would suffer if parking spots are limited in nearby neighborhoods, said Amina Abdalla, a lobbyist for the city. 'Their car is their business and livelihood,' Abdalla said.
