Where should Seattle build homes for newcomers?
From KUOW, Joshsua McNichols
The City of Seattle is planning for more growth and it wants your input.
Should the city keep funneling newcomers into dense neighborhoods known as “urban villages” — or should it spread density out across more parts of the city, including neighborhoods dominated by older homes?
Seattle doesn’t get to choose whether it grows or not. Companies keep adding jobs, which means more people will come.
But the city can plan for where it puts those new arrivals. In fact, it has to, according to Washington state’s Growth Management Act.
Seattle has somewhere around three-quarters of a million people right now. Despite a slowdown in growth during the pandemic, it’s expecting to add another quarter million — about the population of Spokane — by the year 2044. That would bring the population of Seattle to one million.
Right now, most of the new homes being built in Seattle are in “urban villages.” They feature dense clusters of apartment buildings clustered around good transit and townhomes in the splash zones on their peripheries.
The city’s considering five alternatives, as it works on updating its comprehensive plan.
