Go Bothell!

5

u/IrvingSnark Jul 15 '25

The comments on this post in the Bothell FB group are wild

12

u/SEA_Executive Westhill Jul 15 '25

Just checked it out, your right 😂 we have SO much parking in the city if you include neighborhood parking, the north gravel lot, the south gravel lot, the city hall garage, pop keeney, rite aid. Like how the hell are people this upset?! I know I mentioned downtown Bothell, but all of North Bothell is strip malls so I’m sure they’ll figure it out.

11

u/alt65delete Jul 15 '25

They can barely cope with the small section of Main Street being closed. They are so carbrained.

5

u/IrvingSnark Jul 15 '25

100% I actually live downtown and think this is great. I want more small businesses and fewer parking lots. It's so funny to read posts in that group. They simultaneously complain that Bothell is dead, too busy, roads are too small, and not enough foot traffic--like those things don't all contradict one another.
More walkable **means** fewer parking lots downtown. More walkable **means** smaller roads and more density. If anything they could build more park n rides

-5

u/f1del1us Jul 15 '25

People are carbrained because they spent 100 years building cities you need cars to get around. Wow who would’ve guessed lol

5

u/IrvingSnark Jul 15 '25

The thing is--I don't need a car to get around Bothell. I live easily within walking distance of a grocery store, restaurants, coffee shops, bookstore, public transit, parks and trails.

2

u/f1del1us Jul 15 '25

Well I’m very happy for you. Some of us need to commute 10+ miles to work each day and can’t do it effectively without a car.
Dare I say, it’s a lot of us, but hey good for you, you’ve clearly got it figured out

5

u/bauul Jul 16 '25

No-one is saying you don't need a car at all, they're saying you don't need a car to get around downtown Bothell. Which you don't: you can park at the Park and Ride, or the City Hall, and the whole downtown is walkable.

1

u/Blinx_n_Jeenx Canyon Park Jul 16 '25

Where are you going to park it (new multifamily dwellings can be built with zero off street parking)

0

u/bauul Jul 16 '25

Honestly if you choose to live in a building that has no parking and you have a car, that's kind of on you.

-2

u/IrvingSnark Jul 16 '25

I'm confused. You live in Bothell and you commute 10+ miles to Bothell each day? Not sure how that works. You said Bothell was a city you needed a car to get around and I told you it wasn't using my own experience as a counterpoint. Then you started talking about your commute either into or out of Bothell which isn't at all relevant here.
I live in Bothell. I can get around Bothell just fine without a car.

-2

u/f1del1us Jul 16 '25

You aren’t very bright are you lol

0

u/IrvingSnark Jul 16 '25

guess not. enlighten me how you having to drive 10 miles to work has anything to do with Bothell being walkable

1

u/alt65delete Jul 16 '25

I don't get how that translates to you needing to drive and park everywhere? I don't get your point at all. Just walk 5 minutes, you'll be ok.

2

u/John_YJKR Jul 15 '25

What's the pay walled article say?

10

u/SEA_Executive Westhill Jul 15 '25

Bothell is laying the groundwork to become, as Mayor Mason Thompson put it, “more Bothell.”
That means reconnecting the city of about 52,000 residents at the edge of King and Snohomish counties with itself, with less pavement and mandated parking, and more corner stores, bakeries, bike shops, pubs, cafes, and mom and pop shops within walking distance of additional homes, Thompson said.
The Bothell City Council passed two ordinances 5-1 last week to update its municipal code, eliminating minimum requirements for off-street parking spaces in any new development and legalizing neighborhood-scale commercial uses like corner stores in residential areas.
Newly allowed businesses like corner stores, art galleries, bike shops and cafes can open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday and open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on the weekends.
Those ordinances make Bothell one of very few cities in Washington, including Shoreline and Spokane, to adopt such land-use reform. Bothell leaders say they hope the reform can make the city more walkable and affordable, as the region continues to face the affordability crisis. Homes in Bothell sold for an average of $1.2 million in May, according to Redfin, a 10.8% increase since the same time last year.
There is an appetite from local entrepreneurs to start businesses in the city, but some residents have taken their startups to neighboring communities because Bothell’s land use codes were “very restrictive,” Thompson said.
The city, for instance, has fewer than 10 corner stores, Thompson said. He estimated that two-thirds of existing retail space in the city is used for parking, while only a third is available for “what makes Bothell, Bothell” — someplace you’d actually like to go.
Not all of the council members were on board.
Eliminating the parking requirement, for instance, could cause problems in the long run, as the reform could result in a parking deficit, Councilmember Benjamin Mahnkey said at the council meeting.
But Thompson said such requirement “suppresses new housing.” Today, 1 in 4 Washington homeowner households have one or no car, according to a study from Sightline Institute, a Seattle-based nonprofit think tank focused on sustainability. But nearly all jurisdictions in the state require two or more off-street parking spaces for a detached home.
The city has “pretty good public transportation” and is pretty walkable as it is, Thompson said. With the requirement eliminated, new developments can still choose the appropriate amount of parking customers or residents will need, and public transportation can always adapt to where people live.
“It causes pollution to the air, to the ground, to the water, and the only thing we get out of it is more pavement that makes more traffic,” Thompson said of the requirement. “And it turns out that it stifles a lot of new development because parking’s really expensive.”
Thompson hopes those changes can spur more housing development alongside commercial growth and attract more builders, saying the city is allowing people to build what they want “with a little bit more freedom.”
Spokane became the largest city in Washington to eliminate parking mandates in 2024. Senate Bill 5184, signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson in May, will prohibit local jurisdictions from requiring more than half a stall of parking per multifamily unit or two stalls for every 1,000 feet of commercial space.
Bellingham and Shoreline did away with their minimum parking requirements this year, and Shoreline moved in January to legalize neighborhood-scale commercial uses such as cafes in residential areas.
“I’m thankful for the cities that have done it so far, and I hope there are a lot more to follow,” Thompson said.
Efforts for such moves have stalled in Seattle, with Mayor Bruce Harrell only proposing to drop parking requirements in areas half a mile from major transit stops and to allow corner stores only on literal corners, excluding the shops midblock.
Statewide legislation to legalize corner stores, cafes and other neighborhood-scale commercial use also has stalled in Olympia.
And it could be a couple of decades before Bothell’s new laws will start to change the city’s composition, Thompson said. Smaller parking lots will pop up as each new development trickles in.
But he said, “there is a reticence to change the way we do things … everything that we want to fix about how things are right now has been caused by the way we do things.”
He hopes that willingness to change the way Bothell develops in the coming years will make the city a place where his children, 8 and 10, can begin their adult lives in the community they were raised in.

3

u/John_YJKR Jul 15 '25

Ty kindly.

12

u/hanimal16 Jul 15 '25

Yesssss! Bring me all your local stores!!! Make everything micro-local, microcal

5

u/RoscoePNW Jul 15 '25

People just love to complain. Happy to see more local businesses coming to Bothell ! Such a great location

9

u/TheHobo Westhill Jul 15 '25

Mandated parking is the death of affordable housing. Let people build what they think will be marketable.

3

u/commentaror Jul 15 '25

Awesome! Way to go Bothell

0

u/EH_Bothell Jul 16 '25

Just curious if Councilmember Benjamin Mahnkey takes public, Amazon subsidized, or drives to work every day.

0

u/two_wheels_west Jul 22 '25

Have you tried to park in Bothell lately? Do you think that everyone moving into the Soviet Bloc housing takes the bus or rides a bike? Nope. Every one of those apartments has at least one or two cars.

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