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House Bill 1110 and Seattle

Checking up first on Seattle here with respect to HB1110 and the City’s plan for compliance with the middle housing legislation as discussed last month. One Seattle is the name of their plan documents, you can read more about it here. The timeline for things being updated is out quite a way as suspected, so here’s a rough breakdown of what appears to be the current trajectory:

• Draft One Seattle Plan (OSP) due fall 2024, then get more public comment.
• Spring 2025 – possible issuance of Final OSP + associated EIS
• Possibly a minimum of 12+ months from final OSP to approval / EIS completion + proposed zoning
• Winter / Spring 2026+ – Seattle zoning codes updated / new projects eligible

That seems a good way out, but this is indeed a process. In the meantime, let’s talk Neighborhood Residential. The prior single family (SF) code designation was updated recently to Neighborhood Residential to likely “soften” the impacts of these future changes by changing aspects of a currently named code instead BOTH the name and the details of the code at the same time. Here’s an overview summary from the draft One Seattle Plan docs of where they currently think the revised Neighborhood Residential code will be going:

From the looks of it, while some density provisions and FAR (floor area ratio) will increase, open space is now a requirement where previously lots didn’t require that, including RSL zones. RSL is an interesting zone as you can already do similar density to the forthcoming NR zone changes described above, but there are catches for sure. We typically do a comparison of both zoning codes (current and future) when reviewing project site feasibility to make sure we’re not missing an opportunity. At the very least, we want our clients to know if they can basically do the same type of development now vs waiting for the new codes to be implemented – and also get stuck in the significant backlog of permit applications that will undoubtedly roll in along with the new zoning. Be ahead of the curve and study up now!

We’ll continue watching Seattle to see how they progress with the One Seattle Plan and let you know when there are new developments.