SEATTLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL
FEDERATION
October 27, 2012
Minutes
Meeting called to order at 7:05pm; introductions. Minutes
from October were held for completion of motion; to be approved at January
meeting.
President’s report: Jeannie Hale asked attendees to forward
any suggestions for future meetings. She directed attention to a website:
onehouseperlot.com
Speaker: Bill Mills, Senior Land Use Planner for DPD for 22
years. Bill said there were no regulations to speak of prior to the 50's. At
that time, 5000 square foot lots were considered single-family home lots. There
were some platted lots smaller than 5000 ft.; these exceptions were
grandfathered in. In the early 80's, the current code was adopted and other
exceptions were added. The City Council's policy at that time was to allow
in-fill housing. More restrictions were added in 1988: cannot demolish a house
and build two in its place.
There was an increase in researching these platted tax lots
to legalize smaller lots. There was not much guidance under the regulations to
determine what was a segregated tax lot. A standard front yard was 20 ft and a
standard backyard should be 20 ft.
(See attachments of Land Use Code and Summary of
exceptions to the land use code.)
Jeannie Hale asked why not have a registry for lots that
could be developed? Right now, it is not transparent. She said that Hearing
Examiners assume validity on the part of DPD.
Bill answered that there is no presumption of validity in a
variance case and mentioned the criteria for variance, including steep slopes,
neighborhood and character.
Chris Leman said that meeting family neighborhood needs
should involve infill that doesn't clash. Seattle has been known for successful
single-family neighborhoods and now developers are working against that. Twice
in the last 25 years, there have been attempts to wipe out zoning regulations.
Concerns expressed about height, bulk and scale of new
developments in single-family home neighborhoods.
Another concern brought up was that the Parks Opportunity
Fund ratings were released with the highest rating for the Aquarium; this fund
is supposed to be for neighborhoods.
No motion was made regarding the development concerns as
Jeannie asked that we each take the issue back to our community councils and defer
any action to January.
