Council puts public participation in limbo in favor of expediency

Three weeks of public outcry couldn’t overcome developer lobbying last Monday as the Seattle City Council blinked, deciding 7-2 to use emergency legislation CB119769 to eliminate Design Review and other public meetings for six months as a way to expedite affordable housing.

The bill failed its first vote after DRA and other citizen groups protested the gross overreach.  After a week of developer pressure, the Council regrouped, even rejecting a 2-month timeline to organize virtual Design and Historic Review meetings saying it was too “complex.”  As a result, City administrative review could prevail for most the rest of the year.

Council Member Herbold, who along with Council Member Pedersen were the Council’s dissenting votes, confirmed with SDCI’s director that affordable housing is already the department’s top priority and this legislation wouldn’t change that.

But CB119769 also exempts large market rate projects from public review. These are the bill’s real targets.

Under the terms of the City’s 2016 Grand Bargain, fees from market rate projects go to the City’s affordable housing fund. As the means to fund its plans, the City is under pressure to see big developments streamlined. Community feedback adds uncertainty and potential delays to the process.

At Monday’s Council meeting several public commenters from the design and development community said the administrative review policy should be made permanent, an idea repeated by Council Member Mosqueda.

With the bill’s passage, the Council’s true intent will be determined by how fast it moves to see public participation restored.  Like the rest of us, the Council and other City departments have turned to online meetings to keep our government, business and personal connections strong.

Even an imperfect online meeting is better than none at all.  And, under COVID-19 public gatherings face an uncertain future.

The Seattle City Council members, our elected officials, know better. Public participation is a right not to be traded for expediency, even in an emergency.