(This is an opinion piece by a Wallyhood writer. Wallyhood welcomes everyone in our community to contribute their perspectives on the issues that impact our community. Please contact us at [email protected] if you would like to add your voice.)

The City is just days away from passing sweeping zoning changes across Seattle. Led by City Councilmember Rob Johnson, Seattle City Council is pushing through zoning changes for 27 urban villages throughout Seattle, including Wallingford, with a final vote scheduled for March 18. The upzone legislation is unfortunately expected to pass.

These zoning changes are part of the Housing Affordability and …

A few weeks ago, I reported on amendments our own Councilmember Rob Johnson was bringing forth to soften upzones around the edges of the Wallingford urban village. On limited blocks, amendments 4-14, 4-15 and 4-17 would have limited the upzone to Residential Small Lot (RSL) zoning, creating a step down effect between the higher density areas inside the urban village and lower density areas outside of the urban village.

Personally, I was surprised that density-loving Johnson was even considering this, and I was just about to write an email to thank him for bringing forward these amendments. Unfortunately, that smidge …

The City Council is currently reviewing the upzones being proposed under HALA/MHA. For more background on this discussion, please click on my author name and that will link you to more articles on housing than you will probably care to read.

Important dates:

February 21st: public hearing on MHA (zoning changes)
5:30 pm at the City Council Chambers, City Hall, 600 4th Avenue
Definitely arrive early if you can to sign up to speak.February 25th: MHA Committee will vote on amendments and will vote the bill out of committee. But an important note: the “committee” is made up of…

Have you voted yet? With the abominable snow storm dominating everyone’s thoughts, don’t forget to turn in your ballots! This election is an easy but important one, there are only two questions on the ballot, and they both relate to school funding. My children and I think you should vote “yes” on both levies to help fund the schools.

Seattle schools have been chronically underfunded for years, and with our explosive population growth, the schools are virtually bursting at the seams. There is a significant need for more funding. The money would go towards replacing or modernizing eight schools, among …

The upzones are coming! The upzones are coming! (Can you picture me riding my horse through Wallingford and sounding the alarm just like Paul Revere?) But seriously, the City Council is moving forward.

On January 7, the City had the first of five special committee meetings to discuss the HALA MHA upzones. A public hearing has been scheduled for February 21 and a final City Council vote is set for March 18. Yikes.

There’s currently a glut of empty luxury apartments and increased density is driving gentrification in historically minority neighborhoods like the Central District, but the City moves forward …

Micro apartment buildings throughout the Wallingford Urban Village? It’s possible under new zoning recommendations recently released by the City. Even though Mayor Ed Murray has left office, his Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda or HALA lives on. The HALA upzones (known as Mandatory Housing Affordability or MHA) are being championed by our own District four City Council member Rob Johnson, who is chair of the City Council’s Planning, Land Use and Zoning committee. 

A key part of this housing agenda is zoning changes to allow for larger, denser developments throughout the City. In exchange for allowing developers to build more …