Notice of Appeal to MHA FEIS

A legal notice of appeal to the City of Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was filed on November 27, 2017.

Click these links for more detailed information:

• Full Legal Notice  
• Letter of explanation to the Madison-Miller Park Community

Mandatory Housing Affordable FEIS Now Available

Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) ensures that new commercial and multifamily residential development contributes to affordable housing. MHA will provide at least 6,000 new rent-restricted, income-restricted homes for low-income people. The MHA affordable housing requirements would take effect when the Seattle City Council adopts new zoning that adds development capacity.

We are pleased to release a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) on the proposal to implement MHA in urban villages and commercial and multifamily zoned areas throughout the city.  You are receiving this message because you commented on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). Read the FEIS notice of availability here.

As a next step in the process, the City’s Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) will forward legislation to the City Council for their review, which would enact MHA in the study area. After additional community engagement and public hearings, the City Council is expected to consider voting on the proposed legislation in the summer of 2018.

2017 Seattle Public Safety Survey

Seattle University is administering the 3rd annual citywide Seattle Public Safety Survey. 

The purpose of the survey is to solicit feedback on public safety and security concerns from those who live and/or work in Seattle. 

A report on the survey results will be provided to the Seattle Police Department to assist them with making your neighborhood safer and more secure.  

Please make sure your voice is heard by completing the public safety survey today. The survey is available in Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, English, Korean, Oromo, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Tigrinya and Vietnamese. TAKE THE SURVEY

SUBMIT Your Comments to the Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS)

As a community interested in Livability and Affordability, we have

• REVIEWED the City's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the proposed Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) program,
• GATHERED your input from the community meetings and emails that many of you have submitted, and
• PREPARED a MAP and RESPONSE to assist you in developing your own response to the City's DEIS.

We encourage you to make your voice heard by preparing and submitting your comments to the City by August 7, 2017.

• Click MAP and RESPONSE  to view and download these documents,
• Visit the Historic Seattle blog to view their comments,
• Either develop your own comments or use what the community group has prepared, and
• Submit your comments to the City by sending email to MHA.EIS@seattle.gov or by using the City's DEIS Comment Form on their MHA DEIS website. Note that your comments must be entered into the City's form online, so it may be helpful to type them out first and copy and paste them into the form.

Neighbors and friends,

The Madison-Miller Park Community group has been working hard over the past nine months to understand the City's proposed Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA), and to provide feedback on the proposed zoning changes for our neighborhood. 

We have one last call to action for you all -- and this one is important! The City's Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) came out in June, and the deadline to submit comments is this Monday, August 7. Our community group has drafted an official response to the DEIS, it is attached here as a resource.

New Miller Community Center coordinator reaching out

Capitol Hill Times has a a nice article on Delia Flores, the new Coordinator at Miller Community Center. She has many good ideas for the Center, and I encourage you to check-in with her to share your desires for the Center (and maybe to volunteer to serve on the Center's Advisory Council. Delia.Flores@seattle.gov ).

New Miller Community Center coordinator reaching out

MAYORAL CANDIDATE DEBATE - SEATTLE TIMES VIDEO OF THE DEBATE

Click HERE to watch the full debate that took place on Monday 7/17/2017.

CITY EXTENDS COMMENT PERIOD ON MANDATORY HOUSING AFFORDABILITY

Comments on the citywide draft Environmental Impact Statement will be accepted through August 7, 2017.

Department of Neighborhoods - HOUSING AFFORDABILITY AND LIVIBILITY AGENDA
http://dailyplanit.seattle.gov/city-extends-comment-period-on-evaluation-of-citywide-mandatory-housing-affordability/

Hear what your neighbors are thinking and participate in forming a positive response to help maintain the livability and responsible density in our neighborhood.

Next community meeting:
Wednesday July 12, 2017 6:30 PM at Holy Names Academy.

COMMUNITY MEETING 7/12/2017 - CANCELLED

When: Wednesday 7/12/2017 6:30 PM

Where: Holy Names Academy 21st Ave East Entrance

Join us to weigh in on the Madison-Miller Park Community response to the City's Draft EIS regarding the zoning changes proposed for our neighborhood.

On June 8, 2017 the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that studies three alternatives for zoning changes needed to implement Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) in Seattle’s urban villages and other commercial and multifamily residential zones across the city.  Comments due by 7/23/2017.

REMIND YOUR NEIGHBORS TO TAKE THE SURVEY

Survey Poster - Click to view more details regarding the survey.

Take the Survey - Click to take the survey.

Please make your voice heard. It’s crucial to clearly understand what our priorities for zoning are as a community. The more voices we have, the more powerful our message will be to the City: changes to our community need to be thoughtful and retain the livability, diversity, and affordability of our neighborhood!

Your opinion matters! Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Please do it today. 

Help us spread the word by forwarding this LINK to as many neighbors as you can.

Thank you,

Your neighbors from the Madison-Miller Park Community group

Madison-Miller Park Community Meeting

Wednesday June 21, 2017 6:30 PM Holy Names Academy

 AGENDA

1.      Introductions and Overview  (Elaine Nonneman, Co-Chair)  10 min

·         Sign-in sheet; intros all around

·         Comments from zone captains on flyer distribution effort

2.       Community RPZ and density survey  (Brian Murphy and Greg Walton)  20 min

·         Preliminary survey responses

·         Plans to process data and submit in response to EIS

3.       EIS Review and response  (Debrah Walker)   30 min

·         Presentation of her and Lauren Swift’s review of EIS

·         Discussion and vote on our official neighborhood response

4.       Lobbying effort with City Council  (Debrah Walker)  20 min

·         Our process leading up to the City Council’s 2018 vote on HALA upzones

·         Discussion of plans pre- and post-elections

5.      Tasks and Goals  (Elaine Nonneman, all)  20 min

·         Actions planned and needed

·         Set next meeting date

Madison-Miller Park Community Survey

Survey Poster - Click to view more details regarding the survey.

Take the Survey - Click to take the survey.

Neighbors and friends,

We are reaching out today to ask you to participate in a short online survey (less than 10 minutes!) related to BIG changes the City is planning for our neighborhood. 

As you may have heard, the City’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) calls for dramatically increasing the allowable building height in much of our Madison-Miller Park neighborhood: converting existing single-family areas to multifamily, four-story structures, with no requirements for green space, trees or front and back yards.  

More than 200 of your neighbors have joined together to respond to the City’s HALA plans. Our purpose is to support HALA’s goals for diversity, livability and affordability in a way that maintains the neighborhood’s traditional beauty and character. We recently sent a letter outlining our guiding principles to the City; you can read this letter along with our Guiding Principles and Map with our alternate zoning proposal on our blog at Principles & Alternate Proposal Map. We are also exploring the feasibility of establishing Residential Parking Zones (RPZs) in areas where parking for residents is especially difficult.

To get as broad a perspective as possible, we have constructed a short survey that you can complete on your computer or mobile device. The survey will take ten minutes or less to answer, and is anonymous. The survey has two objectives: 1. To better understand our community’s opinions on density and affordability; 2. Get direct feedback on parking issues on your street and those directly around you.

Please make your voice heard. It’s crucial to clearly understand what our priorities for zoning are as a community. The more voices we have, the more powerful our message will be to the City: changes to our community need to be thoughtful and retain the livability, diversity, and affordability of our neighborhood!

Your opinion matters! Please take a few minutes to complete the survey. Please do it today. 

Help us spread the word by forwarding this email to as many neighbors as you can.

Thank you,

Your neighbors from the Madison-Miller Park Community group

City of Seattle Draft Environmental Impact Statement Published

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Jason Kelly, OPCD, 206.615.0494  
City evaluates zoning changes for Mandatory Housing Affordability
Public comments on alternatives accepted until July 23

SEATTLE (June 8, 2017) –Today the Seattle Office of Planning and Community Development (OPCD) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that studies three alternatives for zoning changes needed to implement Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) in Seattle’s urban villages and other commercial and multifamily residential zones across the city.  

MHA helps ensure that as Seattle grows, development supports affordable housing for low-income families and individuals by either building rent-restricted homes on-site or making a payment to the Seattle Office of Housing. To implement MHA, the City would grant additional development capacity to allow for construction of more market-rate housing and commercial space. More...

Upcoming Events

Saturday June 10 and July 8, 2017 Mayoral Candidate Meetings

Seattle Fair Growth (SFG) and the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition (SNC) are pleased to have two programs dedicated to extended meetings with Seattle Mayoral Candidates.  At each of the June and July meetings we will have one hour individual sessions with 3 different candidates.  The candidates will make opening and closing statements, respond to a few fixed questions from SFG and SNC, then respond to audience questions.
June 10

• Jessyn Farrell   (1:30 - 2:25 pm)
• Jenny Durkan    (2:30 - 3:25 pm)
• Nikkita Oliver     (3:30 - 4:25 pm)

July 8

• Cary Moon
• Michael McGinn
• Bob Hasagawa

*** PLEASE NOTE that the June 10 meeting will start at 1 pm and be at the Black Zone (2301 S Jackson Street, which is at 23rd Ave S and South Jackson St where the Red Apple Market is located).  Black Zone is located in the building just to the west of the Red Apple.  There is plenty of free parking, and the site can be reached by the 8, 14 and 48 bus).  Rather than a breakfast meeting, there will be finger foods and beverages.  Admission will be $10, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

The July 8th meeting returns to our regular location at the The Central (Central Area Senior Center), but will have an 8:30 start time.

Join us at both Mayoral Candidate meetings for what should be informative and detailed conversation with our leading candidates

Wednesday June 21, 2017 6:30-8 PM Holy Names Academy 728 21st Ave E Seattle 98112

Madison-Miller Park Community meeting to discuss HALA Draft EIS and Other issues of neighborhood interest.

Vote June 3 – 30 for your favorite park and street improvements

Seattle residents over 11 years old (over 13 to vote online) can vote for their favorite street improvements:

http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/your-voice-your-choice/get-involved/vote

Background details: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/programs-and-services/your-voice-your-choice

You decide how to spend $2 million of the City’s budget

Ages 11 and up encouraged to vote

From June 3 – June 30, it’s your chance to vote for your favorite park and street improvement projects.

It’s all part of the City of Seattle’s Your Voice, Your Choice: Parks & Streets, a participatory budgeting initiative in which Seattle residents democratically decide how to spend a portion of the City’s budget on small-scale park and street improvements. A total of $285,000 is set aside in each City Council District, and residents can cast their ballots for their top three choices in the district where they live, work, go to school, receive services, or volunteer.

Each council district will have its own ballot with a set of 8-10 projects.  The projects were selected from nearly 900 ideas submitted in February by community members across Seattle. The projects, which can be viewed at www.seattle.gov/yvyc, range from improved intersection crossings to better park accessibility.

Community members ages 11 and up can vote online or at in-person polling stations between June 3-30. Paper ballots are also available at all community centers and libraries. The projects that receive the most votes will be funded by the City and implemented in 2018.

Ballots will be tallied after June 30, and winning projects will be announced by July 18. You can find information and voting instructions at www.seattle.gov/yvyc.

Miller Fountain is ON for the season

The Ron K. Bills Fountain at Miller Community Center awaits you from 11 AM till 8 PM daily till Labor Day.

This 40 minute video details the building of the fountain (and the neighborhood).

Dreaming in Stone: The Ron K. Bills Fountain at Miller Park from Andrew Taylor on Vimeo.

Alternate Proposal for Mandatory Housing Affordability in the Madison-Miller Residential Urban Village

May 10, 2017

TO: HALA Team: Jesseca Brand jesseca.brand@seattle.gov, Brennon Staley Brennon.Staley@seattle.gov, Nick Welch Nicolas.Welch@seattle.gov, Geoff Wentlandt Geoffrey.Wentlandt@seattle.gov

CC: Sam Assefa Samuel.Assefa@seattle.gov, Lisa Herbold Lisa.Herbold@seattle.gov, Rob Johnson Rob.Johnson@seattle.gov, Spencer Williams Spencer.Williams@seattle.gov

RE: Alternate Proposal for Mandatory Housing Affordability in the Madison-Miller Residential Urban Village

Dear HALA Team:

The Madison-Miller Community group acts on behalf of the Madison-Miller Residential Urban Village. As stewards, we have engaged with the HALA feedback process to date. We have also organized our own parallel process to collect feedback from our community (including a February 15 workshop attended by more than 200 community members) about the proposed rezoning.

We do not believe the city’s February 28 Madison-Miller Design Workshop was adequately publicized and that attendance did not accurately represent the diversity of opinions in our community on these issues. The post-meeting “Summary” and “Map” did not accurately reflect the discussions at our tables or the written input attendees provided to session facilitators.  

We recognize that there is a crisis of affordable housing and the need for new solutions. We embrace the move toward increased density, and strongly believe that we can achieve the proposed 2035 density goals in a way that retains the character and fabric of our neighborhood, while keeping affordable units – and our diversity – within our RUV boundaries.

We submit the following Guiding Principles and attached Alternate Proposal Rezoning Map. We prepared these based on the feedback received in the February 15 community workshop and since. They were approved at the Madison-Miller Community group meeting May 10, 2017.  We request that these Principles and Map be submitted to all applicable departments and to the Seattle City Council. We welcome the opportunity to discuss these further. 

Respectfully,

The Madison Miller Community

Attachments: (Download)

Madison-Miller Community – Guiding Principles for HALA Planning

The Madison Miller Residential Urban Village (RUV) supports housing affordability, increased density and livability. We are and always have been a working-middle-class community. Madison-Miller is more diverse in race, income and age than Seattle as a whole. Retired empty nesters are neighbors to families with school-age children; university students live next door to young professionals. We are also diverse in housing: a mix of owner-occupied homes, rental homes, townhouses, attached rental units, duplexes, triplexes, condominiums and apartment buildings. Design standards of these buildings blend to create the neighborhood’s valued, sustainable character. We reflect what an urban neighborhood near transit should be.

Miller Park Community Meeting Agenda - May 10, 2017

Miller Park Community Meeting

May 10, 2017. 6:30pm Holy Names

1.      Introductions and Overview (Dara Ayres, Co-Chair) 15 min

·         Intros all around, sign in sheet

·         Announcement re: leadership roles

·         Review of meeting agenda, goals and decision-making structure

2.      Guiding Principles (aka Talking Points) and Updated Map  (Paul Neal and Debrah Walker) 25 minutes

·         Review changes, questions, feedback

·         Vote on guiding principles and map, ask permission to send letter to City

3.      Community Survey (Brian Murphy and Greg Walton) 10 minutes

·         Share work to date, how data will be used, timeline, help needed

4.      Outreach and Collaboration (Dara Ayres and Jack Thompson) 15 min

·         Update on cross-neighborhood collaboration, including EIS process and Mayoral race

5.      Strategies and Next Steps (Dara Ayres, all) 20+ min

·         Actions needed…

·         HALA Open House next Tuesday, May 16, 6-8pm Washington Hall, 153 14th Ave, Seattle, WA 98122

·         Set next meeting date

Cayton Corner Park seeks your support

https://www.givebigseattle.org/CaytonCornerPark

Friends of Cayton Corner Park www.givebigseattle.org The Friends of Cayton Corner Park are working to transform an empty lot at the corner of Madison Street and 19th Avenue into a gathering place for a uniquely diverse neighborhood.

The GiveBig Campaign is occurring May 10, 2017 and we are currently looking for funds to support the Cayton Corner Park project.  We have been getting Dept of Neighborhood grants for the design process and we are still tweaking the design.  We hope to apply for a Department of Neighborhoods larger grant and would really appreciate people donating so we can show community support.  The Park is located at the corner of 19th Avenue and Madison and would help to bring more green space into the Miller Park Urban Center.  We need of more volunteers and meet monthly either at the Chop Shop at 20th and Union or Miller Park Community Center.  People can keep updated on the project on our Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/CaytonCornerPark/

Cayton Corner Park - Home | Facebook www.facebook.com Cayton Corner Park, Seattle, Washington. 177 likes. We are creating a park at 19th and Madison, but only with your help! Contact us on facebook or...

Points For discussion at Wednesday May 3 Meeting

Miller Park Livability – Guiding Principles for Planning v2

*DRAFT*

Miller Park Neighbors embraces the stated goals of HALA to create more affordable housing and meet the housing needs of our growing city. We support a plan for increased density that:

1)      Maintains or improves the affordability of our neighborhood and diversity of our housing stock while prioritizing family housing over luxury condominiums and micro-housing.

a.      Current housing stock consists of single-family homes, older affordable apartments and condos, new townhomes and apartments, Seattle Housing Authority properties, Capitol Hill Housing properties, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) – allowing for a wide variety of people to enjoy in-city living. This diversity of housing types scale to each other, maintaining the attractiveness and livability of the area.

b.      Providing development opportunities without guidelines for the type of housing needed for the long-term is short-sighted. We may lose the exact type of housing we will need when younger residents desire to have a family in a few years. We could be left with a glut of housing that isn’t conducive to these families because the City didn’t require construction of enough 3+ bedroom units with access to outdoor space. The result will be even higher prices for family housing and a flight of families to the suburbs, which will exacerbate our region’s transportation issues.

Miller Neighborhood Group Meeting: Wednesday May 3rd

(See http://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Council/Members/Johnson/CommunityDesignWorkshops/Maps/12-MadisonMiller_MHAFeedback_-2017-04-18.pdf
for a map summarizing the ideas generated at the HALA meeting at Miller)

Miller Park Neighbors Community Meeting

Wednesday May 3, 2017   6:30pm  Holy Names Academy

Chair; Elaine Nonneman 

I. Review of Agenda and Procedures. Sign Ins. Introduction of Steering Committee members. (General Introductions ?)

Co-Chair; Debrah Walker  General HALA Information Updates. 

II. Report back from subcommittees;

RPZ  - Tami Broadhead and others

OUTREACH;

Community Associations- Dara Ayres, Jack Thompson, Greg Walton

Historic Seattle- Paul Neal, Jeri Schneider

Allied Arts-Judith Bader, Jack Baker

Others?

III. Talking points: Erin Moyer, Brian Murphy, Barbara Dallman, Jason Barber

IV. Next Steps: Debrah Walker

Article on Status of Backyard Cottage (ADU, DADU) Regulations

NOT IN YOUR BACKYARD: COTTAGES, IN-LAW APARTMENTS, AND THE PREDATORY DELAY OF HALA’S ADU RULES

http://www.sightline.org/2017/04/20/not-in-your-backyard-cottages-in-law-apartments-and-the-predatory-delay-of-halas-adu-rules/

Madison-Miller City Workshop Report

Thank you for your attendance at the workshop held earlier this year in Madison-Miller! The notes and presentation from that workshop have been posted at http://www.seattle.gov/council/meet-the-council/rob-johnson/community-design-workshops.

I would appreciate if you took a moment to fill out a brief post-workshop survey by clicking here to give the city and the facilitation team feedback to evaluate, improve, and direct potential future outreach strategies.

As a reminder, there are a number of ways to stay engaged with this process including:

·         Going to HALA.Consider.It (a guide to provide comment on that form is attached)

·         Call the HALA Hotline: (206) 743-6612

·         Attend the upcoming open house for the Central Neighborhoods on May 16^th, 2017 from 6:00PM-8:00PM

o   At Washington Hall, 153 14^th Ave, SEATTLE, WA 98122

·         Stay up to date on upcoming meetings at http://www.seattle.gov/hala/calendar & http://www.seattle.gov/hala/whats-happening

·         Stay tuned for the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement, expected in May

·         You can also send comments or questions to HALAinfo@Seattle.Gov

All the best, 

Spencer Williams, AICP, Assoc. AIA

Legislative Assistant to Councilmember Johnson-District 4

E: Spencer.Williams@Seattle.Gov

O: (206) 684-8168

C: (206) 384-2709

Miller Neighborhood Group meeting: Weds April 19th.

Hello neighbors,

Wednesday April 19th will be our next meeting, 6:30 pm, in the library at Holy Names Academy. Ring the doorbell at the main Holy Names Academy entrance on 21st Ave. E.

Agenda;

I. Introductions all around and review of the meetings agenda and goals.  Debrah Walker 

II. Miller neighborhood Group.  Andrew Taylor (and Thomas Whittermore, Department of Neighborhoods) 

A. Chairperson: Elaine Nonneman  has volunteered to become Chairperson

B. Vice-Chair or Co-Chair:  TBD

C. Secretary (maybe treasurer?):  Gayle Thompson with Nancy Duck-Jefferson as a back up  

D. Webmaster: TBD

III. Residential Parking Zone: Tami Broadhead

Others who have expressed interest in this issue include; Janet Woodward, Anne-Marie Lowe, and Taylor Koch

IV. Outreach:

A. Historic Seattle: Paul Neal and Jeri Schneider

B. Allied Arts: Judith Bader and Jack Baker (they are out of town this week)

C. Meany School, Miller Park, Businesses  TBD

D. Ideas about other groups to align with?

V. Monitoring HALA web Site and EIS: Lauren Swift.

Others who have expressed interest in this issue include; Harwell LeMoyne

VI. Strategies. . 

A. Summary.  Debrah Walker 

a. HALA Process 

b. Livability; density, scale, parking

c. Affordability and Displacement

B. Open discussion. 

C. Action Items. Assignments

VII. Next meeting; Week of May 1st?

See you Wednesday night.

Debrah