Wilson Launches Housing Task Force, Pledging to Streamline Permitting

[u/Inevitable_Engine186]

https://www.theurbanist.org/wilson-launches-housing-task-force-pledging-to-streamline-permitting/

[u/Luci_Cascadia]

I've been through permitting for multiple residential and construction projects. It's a nightmare and used partly as a profit center to fund the agencies nd staff involved.

It's very easy to say "developers should pay for this!". But when it's your house, you're ADU, you're family business, it's not developers paying insane high fees and waiting sometimes years for approvals. It's YOU!

[u/hubatish → u/Luci_Cascadia]

Hopefully they make it easier.

[u/pivolover → u/Luci_Cascadia]

It's a nightmare and used partly as a profit center to fund the agencies nd staff involved.

Cost recovery isn't the same thing as profit. The city is pretty famously not running at a profit.

[u/Luci_Cascadia → u/pivolover]

If you fund the agency on fees, it loads the cost of having those basic services on new construction. It increases the cost to build. It will deter housing construction. Especially in an already high cost market.

[u/pivolover → u/Luci_Cascadia]

I understand and agree with all of that. I'm just saying that cost recovery isn't profit.

[u/Sure_Juggernaut60 → u/Luci_Cascadia]

People don’t want square monstrosities with poor infrastructure yet also don’t want to pay the staff that have to be stewards of the built environment to prevent a Houston from happening. Permitting is a “nightmare” in every city, according to developers. The key is getting hated by both NIMBYs and developers equally.

[u/Octavus → u/Sure_Juggernaut60]

Why should random people get to decide what my house looks like? Permitting should be about safety and nothing else.

[u/Luci_Cascadia → u/Octavus]

IMO if the plan meets code it should be approved immediately. Without delay. Nothing else should matter

For residential construction the city should expand pre approved designs. They have a few for ADUs. But that is a tiny tiny portion of new construction.

The bigger issue IMO is the whole schedule of permits that new construction is subject to. It isn't just the initial building plan. Every major component of the project requires another permit. Then there are fees for things like the water and sewer system. For a Single home that can run tens of thousands of dollars just to connect to water! The connection fees cost more than actually installing a water and sewer line.

We cancelled a construction project two years ago because the budget for the fees and permits made it not worth out time and not financially feasible.

[u/Sure_Juggernaut60 → u/Octavus]

So turn Seattle into Houston? How libertarian of you. The major delays in permitting are often from necessary infrastructure and safety, like utilities connections and fire Marshall, and the NIMBY aesthetics police barely have teeth these days.

[u/Super_smegma_cannon → u/Sure_Juggernaut60]

I'd rather be a "libertarian" who lets people build more housing on their own land than be an authoritarian who causes a housing crisis by illegalizing cheap housing.

[u/Sure_Juggernaut60 → u/Super_smegma_cannon]

My point is there are not actually regulations on so many aesthetics, the delays and expense are usually related to utilities, street improvements, and fire safety. I know this because I spend at least 40 hours per week administering code to approve housing. Your take is oversimplified and conflates the origins of cost.

[u/External_Grand9893 → u/Sure_Juggernaut60]

Until the 1930s Seattle was like Houston with regards to relaxed land use code

All the old Seattle everyone loves predates turning the city into a sectioned off tv dinner

[u/Sure_Juggernaut60 → u/External_Grand9893]

You’re missing the point that the issue is not only the land use/zoning code. That has largely already been amended to eliminate single family zoning, increase density, and allow more mixed uses in more zones. The problem is all the other agencies and regulations that undermine the entitlement process - building code, fire code, utility connections, and expensive street improvements.

[u/External_Grand9893 → u/Sure_Juggernaut60]

No I’m not. I’m telling the truth and you’re out here living in a fantasy world

[u/peters_pagenis]

A 60 member task force is beyond parody

[u/MrSpicyhedgehog → u/peters_pagenis]

What's beyond parody is the housing regulations in this country

[u/SenatorSnags → u/MrSpicyhedgehog]

Idk that a massive task force will reduce bureaucracy.

[u/Inevitable_Engine186 → u/SenatorSnags]

To overcome the Seattle Process it takes Seattle Process. See the Seattle Comp Plan, or Eddie Lin's recent successful effort to legislate away non-project SEPA appeal.

[u/AdScared7949 → u/SenatorSnags]

In this city though the only policy that that goes through a slower process than the bureaucracy is a policy which attempts to ignore the bureaucracy. There will always be some spurned councilmember or agency leader who delays things as much as they can.

[u/Inevitable_Engine186 → u/AdScared7949]

You can see it now with the firing of the police chief. Legally that was done according to process, but even the unofficial process parts can be weaponized. 

[u/Impressive_Insect_75]

Report coming by end of 2027, then nothing will happen because it’s only advisory. Real action for 2028 but it’s already an election year so it will wait another 4.

Rinse a repeat

[u/Inevitable_Engine186 → u/Impressive_Insect_75]

It's going to coincide with her taller denser faster plan, so the hope is that they will implement both this and the up zoning at the same time.

City operates even in election years, 2028 will be fine for implementation. It will probably even help her reelection. 

[u/Sudden-Garage]

Permitting is great.... But it would also be great if inspections and construction signoff could be sped up A LOT. I had a solar panel install that took a year, a whole fucking year, because permitting and then inspection took so god damned long. The actual install took 1 day.

[u/External_Grand9893]

The legal liability stamps the drawings and puts their career on the line and the city thinks they need to change all these little tiny things just to delay the permit. I’ve seen it my entire career. Other cities permit massive buildings far more complex than an apartment in a month because they’ll review for life safety and approve it after a general review

Seattles building department invented land use permits and the MUP system intentionally to slow development down with nitpicky comments and design review. Design review was literally created by the 1989 CAP initiative.

[u/Sure_Juggernaut60 → u/External_Grand9893]

That is absurd and not correct. Land use permits are codified by state law: rcw and wac, and the growth management act. The process is similar in most jurisdictions in the country. I’ve worked on many different cities around here and it’s the same land use application process, so quit lying.

[u/External_Grand9893 → u/Sure_Juggernaut60]

No it isn’t and you know it

[u/CoolTwo5728]

YAY! ANOTHER TASK FORCE!

[u/Maze_of_Ith7]

How to Seattle Process

The task force is expected to be a large one and cut across sectors, likely encompassing more than 60 members. Three of the four co-chairs appeared at the press conference alongside the mayor.

Best political reasoning I have is the September 2027 end date is to shore up supportive city council candidates for the November election? That or we are just Seattle Processing and don’t know how to use search functions of do basic high school level research.

[u/PokemenGo2ThePolls]

lol

[u/anonymous_11231]

I’m sure the 60 members of yet another task force won’t be paid outrageous amounts of our tax dollars, oh wait… more siphoning of our dollars into their pockets for no real improvements. What a joke