HALA – Wallyhood

Wallingford targeted for more housing growth than most other urban villages under HALA

Post author:Susanna
Post published:January 28, 2018
Post category:HALA Neighborhood Planning PI Politics Wallingford, Seattle Zoning

As I reported in November, the City has released the "Preferred Alternative" maps for proposed zoning changes under HALA (if you don't know what HALA is, you can find out more here). What I did not have in my hands when writing about the Preferred Alternative maps the first time, was the figures for just how much new development Wallingford could expect under these proposed zoning changes. As you can see in the document linked below, Wallingford is targeted for a…

The life and death of our Neighborhood Plan

Post author:Susanna
Post published:October 23, 2017
Post category:HALA Neighborhood Planning PI Wallingford, Seattle Zoning

I’d like to tell you a story about the life and death of our Neighborhood Plan. The story starts back in the 1990’s. It was a time when Seattle was still a small big city before Amazon took over a whole neighborhood, when we were the center of a musical grunge scene and flannel was everywhere (well, maybe that last part hasn’t changed). If you are old enough, you may remember this version of Seattle. But while the cool kids…

Rob Johnson Q&A for April: Limiting Home Demolitions, why HALA Targets Wallingford, and More

Post author:Eric
Post published:April 18, 2017
Post category:HALA PI

Rob Johnson represents Wallingford on city council and is ushering HALA through the council as land use chair. This is a follow up to our January interview with him. Topics include Limiting Demolitions, Wallingford Neighborhood Planning, HALA Leaving Car Centric Communities Untouched, Transportation, Developer Impact Fees, The HALA Split on City Council, ADU / DADU Triplexes, and Meeting Rob in Wallingford. Q1- Limiting Home Demolitions: The main concern with HALA is that upzones will drive redevelopment that happens too quickly, destroying livability while…

Rob Johnson

Rob Johnson Q&A on the HALA “Grand Bargain” Upzone of Wallingford

Post author:Eric
Post published:January 26, 2017
Post category:HALA Neighborhood Planning Wallingford, Seattle

[Editor's Note: Thanks Eric, for this exclusive interview. For our readers, this post is longer than our usual format, but packed with a lot of good information.] Rob Johnson represents Wallingford on Seattle City Council and also leads land use issues for them, so nobody is more important in shaping how HALA ends up for Wallingford. The following Q&A is lightly edited for clarity. We very much appreciate Rob taking the time to address these questions with us, and look forward…

Draft Zoning Maps Released for Wallingford

Post author:Susanna
Post published:October 22, 2016
Post category:HALA Neighborhood Planning Wallingford, Seattle Zoning

The city has released Wallingford’s draft MHA zoning map. Click here to download the PDF. Under this draft proposal, there would be no single family zoning left inside the urban village boundaries. The website includes instructions on how to interpret the map, which I recommend you read. In general, when you look at each zone on the map, our current zone is on the left and the new proposed zone is on the right. The most dramatic changes, where the city wants to…

Another Look at the Proposed 2016 Housing Levy

Post author:Glenn
Post published:July 6, 2016
Post category:HALA Neighborhood Planning PI Wallingford, Seattle

On May 2, 2016, I posted an article on the proposed 2016 housing levy expressing my concerns about the rationale used to determine the amount of the levy, which was double the expiring levy passed in 2009. The mayor's proposal calls for $201 million vs. $104 million, which was the cost of the expiring 2009 levy. The proposed levy will only deliver 2,150 new units and 350 retrofitted units, which is less than the number of units delivered under the old levy (see…

Seattle 2035 Changes to the Comprehensive Plan

Post author:Eric
Post published:November 7, 2015
Post category:HALA PI

The election results from Tuesday mean HALA and Seattle 2035 now have a clear path to become law over the next couple years, including the upzoning of the Wallingford Urban Village. At Wednesday's WCC meeting architect and longtime WCC land use guru Greg Hill went through the 159 pages of Seattle 2035 and pulled out this sampling of developer goodies packed inside: Land Use Guideline from Current Comprehensive Plan Mayor’s Recommended Change Change LU1 LU1.1 Use the goals and policies included in this Plan to identify on…

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Editorial Board:

Larry Bush
Elizabeth Connolly
Jack McLaughlin
Megan Dulgar Okabayashi
Gary Shigenaka