-Ballard Commons Park.
It was shut down in December of 2021
after a major homeless encampment
essentially took it over.
Here in the first quarter of 2023,
the city of Seattle is set to reopen it.
So, what took so long?
And what measures are being put in place to ensure
this doesn't become a homeless encampment again?
I'm Brian Callanan.
I'm talking with council member Dan Strauss,
whose district includes this area here in northwest Seattle.
He'll be answering those questions and more
coming up on "Council Edition."
-The design review is broken.
It doesn't give the community the opportunity
to have meaningful input, and it takes too long.
All that and more coming up next
on "City Inside Out: Council Edition."
♪♪
And here I am with council member Dan Strauss.
We are hanging out in District Six.
And I appreciate it.
We're at Hattie's Hat.
We were at one of the street cafes here on Ballard Ave.
And I wanted to talk to you here
because you've been doing a lot of work on these street cafes.
I think you've turned this into a pretty unique place --
at least the council has, and the work it's done
with street cafes.
But let me know about this.
This is something that has really changed.
It used to be a temporary type of thing.
The city actually gave out permits for free
to restaurants and stores that wanted to do this.
Now, it's a permanent thing.
They're paying for these permits, et cetera.
Can you let me know about this whole process
of making this into a permanent addition to Seattle,
these street cafes?
-Yeah, so we have finally gotten to the last step
in the pathway to permanency for outdoor dining here in Seattle.
So, outdoor dining in Seattle is here to stay.
It is gonna be a permanent thread in our city's fabric.
And we have opportunities all over the city
for outdoor dining.
What's interesting here on Ballard Avenue
is we're using Ballard Avenue
as a pilot for a commercial street.
-Okay. -Right?
So, we're using the outdoor dining,
but there's also outdoor retail.
-Right. I've seen that, too.
-And how do we attract people into this space
to promote economic activity?
-Because it sounds like there's a lot more foot traffic here,
in talking with some business owners here.
It's a one-way street, now.
I know Escott made the changes there
in the Department of Transportation.
But this street has really been reborn in a lot of ways.
And I think there's a lot more people walking here.
Pedestrians feel safer.
And it's it just attracts more people to businesses.
-Yes.
And the success here is because of business owners'
entrepreneurial spirit. -Right.
-So, I worked with Escott
to make sure that they helped be flexible
and make these changes for the one-way.
But as we sit in this street cafe,
you can see that it's so unique.
I mean, Hattie's Hat has --
they've been an icon... -It's an icon for many years.
-...so many years.
And they've taken the extra step
to make these windows open or close.
We've got these special propane hits.
You can see these are unique benches.
We've got other cafes on this street, as well.
Skal Beer hall, Cafe Oaxaca,
so many others that are using their entrepreneurial spirit
to make this a unique space.
I guess I'm trying to figure out --
the devil is always in the details,
because you have to have certain design specifications for these.
And how do you do that?
It looks like that's part of the work that's happening
in early 2023, here,
figuring out those design standards,
so that you have a safe space here.
You have a place that, hopefully,
doesn't get tagged with graffiti, et cetera.
You have a place that people can walk by, can get by,
people who might have disabilities
can make sure they get by.
I know you have a few people who are saying,
"Where's my parking out there?"
That's a whole nother crowd.
-Fewer than we expected. -Is that right? Okay.
-Because we are able to still maintain some parking
and maintain the space for outdoor dining.
-Okay.
-Ballard is also so different than it was 10 years ago.
We've got thousands of units of housing coming online
within a half mile of here just in the next few years.
And so, with more people living nearby --
this is the benefit of density.
I'll tell you, when I was younger, growing up,
I had trouble with density in Ballard,
because it was tearing down the neighborhood that I grew up in.
And today, we are experiencing the benefit of having
so many new neighbors.
Ballard Avenue is alive because we have so many people
living nearby.
And we're using Ballard Avenue as this pilot
for these commercial economic activity streets --
cafes, you know --
[ Indistinct talking ]
because -- and those are two separate things.
So, the outdoor dining pathway to permanency,
that is done, complete.
All the mayor has to do is sign the bill, and we're good to go.
I'm expecting him to do so because we're friends.
-Yeah. Right.
-And the second avenue of this is, how do we use Ballard Avenue
as a pilot for citywide?
You were saying before we got started,
California Avenue in West Seattle
isn't gonna be able to do what Ballard Avenue's done.
-They have some outdoor cafes, but it's different.
It's a two way street. It's an arterial.
-That's right.
And so, the benefit of Ballard Avenue
is it is cut off at the Ballard Bridge
and it's cut off at Market Street.
And so, it really allows us
to play with some of these details
in a way that we can't in other places.
So, the street that --
the outdoor dining pergolas here on Ballard Avenue
are allowed to be wider than in other places.
And there's still more work to do
because we're in a historic district.
-Yeah. Right.
-So we need to be able to meet historic district guidelines.
-Okay.
-And that's the steps that we'll be taking in early 2023.
-Okay, great.
And I heard you talk about density,
but I want to put a pin in that for a second,
because there's some other big news going on here,
not too far from where we are, up in Ballard Commons.
I'm talking about that area that was shut down
in December of 2021.
A lot of concerns over a homeless encampment
that had grown there, and a lot of neighbors
were concerned about that.
I want to ask the two questions
that I think a lot of people are asking.
It looks like it's gonna be opening in the first quarter
of this year, so why did it take so long?
And how do you create a situation such that
it does not become a homeless encampment again?
-Absolutely.
So, sometimes it takes a long time to make improvements.
I mean, the Parks Department is working hard,
working their hardest that they can,
and they've got parks. all across our city
that they have to attend to.
So, we're still waiting on two things --
some new benches in the park,
and they just finished
installing the lighting in December,
and we're gonna add a little bit more.
-As part of the renovations. -As part of the renovation.
You know, part of what took so long was we were hoping
that the construction on the children's playground
that I secured money for could start now.
-Yeah.
-Unfortunately, the permits are just finalizing now,
so, rather than -- we had hoped that we could just take down
all of the fences, and leave that section fenced.
-Yeah. -But we can't wait.
So, we're gonna take down all the fences,
and then put new fences back up once that construction starts.
-Okay.
-And you want to talk about
how will we prevent re-encampments in this space.
-Please.
So, Woodland Park, which had a larger homeless encampment --
so, Ballard Commons and Woodland Park,
we used the same model of resolving the encampment,
which was, we took a census of everyone living there,
we took a needs assessment of what they --
what type of shelter they would take,
and then we took the time to get them into that shelter.
-Yeah.
-This model is extremely effective.
-Yeah.
We've seen the Regional Homelessness Authority use this
in a variety of ways, and in a number of places since then.
And we see that, when we use this type of model,
we don't see re-encampments.
-Okay.
-The other two things that have changed
since Ballard Commons was resolved
is Deputy Mayor Washington and I worked together
to resolve the Woodland Park encampment.
From that, we used that model
as a pilot for the Unified Care team.
-Okay. Yes. Which is all over the city.
Yeah.
-And, you know, when Mayor Murray
announced the civil state of emergency,
he opened up the emergency operations center
to address homelessness.
-The state of emergency on homelessness.
Right. -Yep.
The civil state of emergency.
And so, when that happened, he brought in decision makers
from every department into the same room
to address the situations in real time.
-Okay.
-In 2023, using Teams and Zoom...
-Yeah. Right.
-...We can now have an emergency operations center virtually.
And that's what they are.
And that's what the Unified Care team is.
-Okay.
-And so, the next steps that I've been working with
Deputy Mayor Washington and others on
is making it regional,
so that we can have five Unified Care teams.
-Different parts of the city, essentially.
-And to focus on that part. -Yeah. Okay.
-Because right now, we have one team for the whole city.
-Yeah.
-So whether it's Dell Ridge, Lake City, Columbia City...
-Right. -...Crown Hill,
it is one team for the whole city.
-And I just -- Can I jump in?
-Sure. And I've got two more answers.
-Please. Please.
I want to make sure that I do this.
I just want to help people understand this --
We have this Regional Homelessness Authority
that's working on a lot of things,
including shelter, including housing.
But when it comes to this actual work with the encampments,
and people need to be moved,
for example, that is the city's job, right?
This is the Unified Care team's job that has to do
that piece of it, that interaction.
Is that right?
I want to make sure I get that right.
-So, the Regional Homelessness Authority
is focused on Chinatown International.
-Okay. Okay.
-And so, I'll get to talking about
Partnership for Zero in just a second.
-Okay.
-But I just wanted to focus on the difference between
one Unified Care team and regional.
-Okay. Okay.
-Because if -- when we were working on Woodland Park,
that meant that we were taking citywide resources.
So, if there was a problem in Del Ridge,
it couldn't necessarily be addressed,
because we were attending to Woodland Park.
-Got it.
-As we transfer into regional teams,
it allows the same city workers to work in the same places,
so that they know, is trash getting worse?
Is it getting better?
Are the people that they're working with getting better,
or are they getting worse? -Okay. Okay.
-It allows the same people to be in the same places,
and create those relationships.
-Okay.
The other thing that has happened is, as you were saying,
the Regional Homelessness Authority
opened their pipeline into shelter and housing
with their Partnership for Zero.
They're focused in Chinatown and International district.
And this has been five years in the making.
-And Partnership for Zero -- I'll just jump in.
Philanthropy is jumping in with these different agencies
to help out.
Keep going.
I wanted to make sure I pointed that out.
-And it's the same model, where you do a census,
you do a needs assessment,
and then you connect people with shelter and housing.
The benefit that the Regional Homelessness Authority has
is that they have resources all across our county,
and in many -- and in some cases,
they're able to skip shelter.
So, they can take people off the street.
Because if we keep spending money on shelter,
we're never gonna get out of this problem.
And if we don't have shelter capacity right now,
then, we can't get people off the streets.
But with the regional Homelessness Authority
able to skip shelter,
we can do this faster and cheaper.
-And I did want to ask about this,
because I've talked with Mark Doane,
who's the C.E.O. of the Regional Homelessness Authority,
and he's very bullish on this idea that,
sometime this year,
we're gonna get to a functional zero,
as it call -- as it's called,
with regard to homelessness in the downtown core.
I've asked a few different legislators, and lawmakers,
and people connected to this story this question,
but do you think that's gonna happen?
Do you feel -- Do you feel as bullish as he does about that --
that whole idea of a functional zero downtown?
I think the model is in place.
And what it comes down to is funding,
and partnerships, and places.
-Okay. -Right?
And so, we saw Canmore and Lake Forest Park
also enter into the agreement
with the Regional Homelessness Authority.
That is good news.
What we need are more partners in other cities
throughout the county.
We also need everyone to be funding --
Mark will often say,, "I can solve as much as you
give me the resources to solve."
If you give me, you know, one piece of bread,
can I make a sandwich? No. Right?
And so, you know, the city, the county,
other suburban cities, need to be realistic that,
if we're going to address homelessness,
we have to spend the money that is required to do so.
We had the Deputy Secretary of HUD out here.
-Right. Not too long ago. Right.
-Their words --
I didn't realize what we're doing here in the city.
Right?
You go to so many other places in our country,
and you plop into a city that's experiencing home--
that has a high level of homelessness,
and 10 different people will give you 10 different answers
on how to solve it.
Here in Seattle, we've got everyone saying the same thing,
which is that you address --
you do the census, the needs assessment,
get them into shelter and housing,
and -- and you meet people's needs.
-It's that whole question of, though,
how much money is it gonna really take?
And I know this has been a big question.
We're putting too much. We're not --
It's not a question of money, things of this nature.
Are we short by X amount of million,
or where are we with that?
Is there a -- Is there a figure that you know of that can say,
here's what we're -- where we need to go?
Or is that the RHA's purview?
McKinstry put out the -- the number in 2017
that the city needs to be spending $200 million per year
on affordable housing.
-Right.
-Last year was the first time we did that.
This year is the second. Next year will be the third.
-Yes. -Right?
So, the city of Seattle is doing our part.
-It's in the budget. Right.
-And when you watch the State of the State speech
by Governor Inslee this week,
he made overtures about the state's responsibility
for funding the solutions to these problems.
The county's there.
We need our suburban cities to join us, because as we --
you know, Seattle bears a burden of the regional problem
because we're the county seat.
-Yes. Yeah.
-There are so many county programs
that are here in the city of Seattle
because we are the seat of the county.
-Yeah.
-And everyone bears the responsibility
of addressing homelessness.
-Thank you.
And I'm glad you brought up
what Governor Inslee was talking about,
because he's been talking about a lot of ways
to try to make sure that there is --
there is enough density in Washington City
such that we can build this housing.
And I think that's a good way to segue to the comprehensive plan,
if I could, with you.
Let's talk about where we are with this.
This is basically the future blueprint of Seattle.
The State Growth Management Act
says we've got to do this about every decade,
so let's get on it.
It's time for Seattle.
It's due up in 2024.
That's what this process is supposed to be done.
But this is where it gets very interesting,
because there are a number of alternatives
in front of the council right now.
And I'd like for you to give us an overview of that process,
and then maybe I can dive into some details with you.
-Where are we with the comp plan, Right?
-Yeah, and those alternatives are actually before the public.
They're not before the council. -That's right. Good point.
And right now --
And so, Office of Planning and Community Development
is leading this work.
-Yep.
I'm the Land Use chair,
so it will come before my committee.
And it's OPC that's leading this work.
So, over this last summer, they did a scoping analysis
for their environmental impact statement.
And this is just general broad strokes of
what do people want to see?
On their website, they have the report about that.
And right now, they're doing community engagement
on that scoping report.
-Okay. Okay.
-From there, they will draft an environmental impact statement
that will come before my committee as a presentation.
No votes.
A presentation in late spring.
-Okay. Okay.
-And from there, they will solicit
more community feedback for a final plan
that will be at the end of Quarter 4 or maybe next year.
And I want to be really clear about something.
-Okay.
-The major update to the comprehensive plan
that happens every 10 years,
what's in it is not a requirement.
-Okay. -It is the allowance.
-I see. I see.
-And so, right now,
let's say I wanted to have duplexes
or triplexes across our city,
because they used to be allowed in all parts of our city
until the '70's.
So, let's just say I wanted to do that.
-Okay. Fair enough.
-I can't do that right now
because the major update to the comprehensive plan
disallows me from doing that.
-Okay.
-Now, let's say that the major update says
that we're going to allow duplexes and triplexes.
-Okay.
-That does not require me to allow that.
-Okay. Okay.
-It just gives me the allowance to do so.
-Okay.
Can I break down this whole idea with the alternatives, there?
Because you got, basically, all -- the first alternative,
which is do nothing.
The state requires you to do that.
You work it up to alternative five.
I know there's been a lot of talk about that,
some of these duplexes, triplexes
And then, I know there's -- and maybe even some quadplexes.
And then, I know there's a lot of people saying
"Give us an alternative six, where we can have sixplexes
and buildings that are up over 30 feet high,"
and things of this nature.
I know there's a lot of back and forth with this.
I just wanted to talk about, is there a place where you stand
on this, in terms of these alternatives.
I know it's a public push, here,
but you have a certain alternative that you like?
-You know, I'm really interested in what the public has to say.
-Okay. All right.
-You know, I think that it is important for OPCD
to do their work.
I don't want to put my finger on the scale right now.
-Okay.
-What I do know, though, is that duplexes and triplexes
have been allowed in Ballard all over the place,
and they fit the community character.
There's a...
just up the street from Larsen's, on 24...
-Sure, sure. Yeah.
-I pass by there all the time because I love Larsen's.
And I worked with a graduate student
at the University of Washington to identify
all of the non-conforming uses in my district.
-Okay.
-And going through this process,
I realized that there are two triplexes on 24th
that I pass by all the time.
And I had no idea.
I thought they were just single-family homes.
Because you can build --
the only difference between a house and a triplex
is the number of doors coming out.
-Can I ask one last question on this?
Because I think it's really interesting.
I remember the Seattle Planning Commission
looking at this last year, and they were saying,
"Well, there has to be a way to try to incentivize developers
to build these things, too."
That can be an issue, as well,
because you look at Minneapolis, you look at Portland,
they're saying, "No single-family housing."
You know, it's all open.
They've basically done away with that.
But in those cities there hasn't been this big rise
of sixplexes, et cetera.
Help me out with that part,
because I think, as much as you need to pass some laws,
and make sure things are equitable,
you also need developers to play along, too,
and they need to be incentivized, potentially,
to build these things.
What do you think about that piece?
-Well, what I know is that duplexes and triplexes
have been part of --
and even sixplexes, small apartment building.
So, right next to West Woodland Elementary School,
there's an apartment building
in what is a single-family -- a neighborhood residential zone.
That's not allowed today.
What I know is that, in the past,
duplexes and triplexes have been allowed
in what was known as single-family zoning.
-Yeah.
-And so, this is already part of the fabric of our city.
It's -- And the important part is making sure
that these buildings fit the character of our communities.
Because the McMansions that are --
you know, the thing that I hate the most --
I'll be really honest with you, Brian --
which is, you take a single-family home,
you demolish it, and you build a McMansion.
-Yeah.
-The same number of people could have lived
in that original home or in the new home.
It doesn't help bring in any new neighbors.
It just.... -Yeah.
-...makes the community feel different.
So, if you were to raze that, and put it in, you know,
a place that still looked like our community,
and had another --
you know, a place for a duplex...
-Yeah. -...that's gonna be better.
Or, you know, I guess the McMansions, the --
it's something that I -- I -- you know?
-No, I hear you.
And I think a lot of people have --
have some similar thoughts about that.
It's difficult when that new construction goes in,
no matter what it is.
And I think this actually dovetails into another topic
I wanted to talk about with you,
which is design review standards,
and putting those in place.
There are some changes going on here, too.
During the pandemic, I know the council,
the city really wanted to make sure it was building
as much affordable housing as process --
affordable housing as possible.
So, they said, "Okay, let's suspend
this design review process,
get these affordable housing projects through
as quickly as possible."
It looks like you're trying to make that
more of a permanent thing.
And I wanted to talk about that.
We're in the process with, right now --
that right now, the city is right.
-Right. So, design review's broken.
-Yeah.
-It doesn't give the community the opportunity
to have meaningful input, and it takes too long.
-Is it necessary, though?
I know a lot of people are saying, you know,
"character of the neighborhood," and all these other things.
Help me with that part of it.
For any building that wants to have a departure
from building code, or, you know, design standards,
it is required.
-Okay.
-Because that's where they get their departures.
-Okay. Okay.
-And it's also a great opportunity
for the community to say -- you know,
with the Bartell's it's across from Ballard Common.
-Yeah, yeah.
-Through design review, they added another entrance.
-Right, right. -Right?
-To make it more accessible.
But on the other hand, if design review is being used
as a way to disallow a project from being built,
that's not okay, because we are in a housing shortage.
So, you know, holding up a project
because the brick face in the alley
isn't the right color is not okay.
-Okay.
-So, it's broken in two ways.
One, it doesn't give the community real teeth
to have an input,
and it is weaponized to take too long.
-And it almost sounds like, to me --
and I don't want to put words in your mouth,
but this feels like something maybe not just
for affordable housing, but for other projects, too.
What do you think about that, just long-term, here?
Because I know you're working on affordable housing
to get that going,
but we do need housing at all levels, here.
So, is it -- is it an idea where we start doing away
with design review?
Or how do you look at that?
We've got two tracks that we're going on.
So, for affordable housing,
because that's what we need right now, and a lot of it,
we have exempted affordable housing
from design review for one year
while we create a permanent plan for affordable housing.
-Okay.
-In regards to design review. -Yes, yes. Right.
-The second track is that
I had a statement of legislative intent.
SDCI has set up a work-- a stakeholder workgroup
to provide the city recommendations
on how to improve design review.
-Okay. -I want to see that report.
You know, did I wish the report came to me sooner?
Absolutely.
Much like, did I wish that the renovations
to the park were done sooner?
Absolutely. But here we are, right?
It's always how do we move forward together?
So, when I get that report about recommendations
to change design review, we'll go from there,
because we do need to give the community
real power to have input.
-Yeah.
-And it has to be done quickly.
-Thank you.
And I wanted to work on one last land use issue
with you, here, before we wrap up,
and that's protecting trees in Seattle.
You're working on a tree protection ordinance.
This is something that has been talked about for decades
in this city, and it needs some changes.
I've read in different places
it's kind of Wild West out there,
when it comes to cutting different trees, et cetera,
and cutting them down, and that's not a good thing.
I wanted to talk about this,
and where we're going with this, as a city, right now.
Talk to me about this, because I know
it's a big concern, from environmental concerns.
Talk about all these heat domes we have,
and people not having enough cover, et cetera,
climate change and all the impacts there.
Let me know what's going on with trees,
and what you're working on with this ordinance.
-Yeah, we -- if my plans stay in place,
and the schedule sticks,
we will have three to four different committee meetings
in the month of February and early March
to address the tree ordinance.
I haven't had the legislation transmitted to me yet,
so I leave that as a caveat.
But this is gonna happen soon.
I'll send you the video that I shot this summer,
where we went to a D6 resident's house, and in his backyard,
he had started all of the trees in his yard from seed.
-Wow.
-And today, he has almost complete coverage
over his his property.
And when we were in the shade,
it was something like 86 degrees.
When we went out into the street, it was 96 degrees.
-Right. That's a difference.
-The power of the tree canopy to cool our city
is absolutely there.
And what we know is that the trees that we're planting today
in 30 years from now,
will create the canopy that we need.
So, what -- there's a couple of changes
that we need to make, right?
We need to increase protections for trees.
We need to clarify rules.
We need to have an in-lieu fee, in case a tree does ---
that is a new protected tree needs to be cut down,
that we have funding to be able to plant more trees
that are native, and that are climate resilient.
-Yeah, yeah, yeah.
-Because, you know, my arborist friends will tell me
Seattle is the largest botanical garden in the state.
-Okay.
-Because so many of our trees aren't native.
And the the product of that is, also,
there's a lot of trees here that are not climate resilient.
-I see.
-As we become a hotter area,
we need trees that will be able to survive these changes.
-Can I go down one path with you, here?
Because you talked earlier about, sometimes,
when legislation gets weaponize --
and it does happen, sometimes.
I look at this one,
and I see a lot of people who very honestly
want to save trees.
-Sure. -That's their thing.
But then, you have other people in neighborhoods
who are saying, "We don't want development here,
so let's use this tree ordinance as a way to stop that."
It makes for a very interesting balance, there,
because I know that our area needs density.
You want to try to make sure that that's happening.
I know we need trees, as well.
Help me out with that thought.
When a -- When an ordinance like this could potentially
get weaponized, that's not a good thing.
-Absolutely. It's not a good thing.
And I think one of the biggest problems right now
is that there's a lack of clarity
about what trees can be cut down,
and what trees cannot be cut down,
and there's not a mechanism to increase protections,
and, in the cases that the tree needs to be cut down,
a way to plant more trees from it.
So, I'll ask you this question --
which has higher protections,
a significant tree or an exceptional tree?
-Okay.
-Hard to tell. -Yeah, right.
[ Indistinct talking ]
-[ Stammers ]
-I think it's "exceptional.'
-I mean, what is stronger?
-Sure.
-So if we -- if I said to you,
"Tier one, Tier two, Tier three..."
-Okay, okay.
-...it's a little bit more clear.
-I see what you're saying. -Right?
If there's a tree in the setback
that is not gonna be impacted by a development,
why should it be cut down?
You know, I've seen, in developments up in Crown Hill,
where trees were cut down, the building was then built,
and trees were planted where those trees were cut down from.
That has to stop. -Yeah.
-And that -- there are two lots
that I'm thinking of in this example,
both single-family homes,
and now there's something to 18 to 25 homes.
Right?
When we're talking about the need
to make places for new neighbors --
because we've had so many new people move to Seattle.
-Yeah.
-And we need to make space for them.
And so, how do we create this new housing
while protecting trees?
-Got it.
We've got about a minute left, here, Council Member Strauss.
Is there anything else on your mind?
I know you're always working on something.
The council is always working on something.
We've covered a lot of different land use issues.
Anything else going on in your mind,
with regard to what's happening with the council,
or stuff you have planned down the line?
-You know, I've really been focusing on District Six.
I've been doing it for years.
I've opened a District Six office.
The second day that I was in office.
It closed down during the pandemic.
We were able to reopen it when Mayor Harrow allowed people
to go back into the office.
And so, I've been -- I work half time from
the District Six office in Ballard,
at the Ballard Library,
and half time in the City Hall office downtown.
And it's just a great experience to be with the people
of District Six.
-I know that a lot of people are connecting with --
connecting with you at that office.
So, glad for this visit, here, Council Member Strauss.
One more time. -Great to see you, Brian.
-Yeah. Good to be here.
Thank you very much, Council member Dan Strauss
We're here... -Hattie's Hat.
-...at Hattie's Hat in District Six.
And I thank you for joining me, Council Member Strauss.
We'll see you next time on "Council Edition."
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