My Testimony at City Council
I am a resident of ALUV, an urban village in District 5. I applaud the City’s vision to rezone Aurora & the amendment to designate “Pedestrian” zoning. Aurora houses little and job growth has decreased. This is meant to be the central business district for a thriving, walkable community, and while we have added thousands of new residents, nothing on Aurora has changed. This is because there are two North Seattles. The haves, and the have nots. District 5, and ALUV are have-nots. ALUV has no amenities. There is no library, no community center, no bank, much of it isn’t walkable, and the entire stretch is labeled as “low access to opportunity”.
Aurora needs a spark.
While the affordable housing program collects millions of dollars during development, the added fee may stall proposals. Each project along this stretch carries a fee over $300,000. Council should waive or return 50% of the MHA fee if a developer provides one of the missing assets to the community. Doing so will point development where it should be, along the most ridden bus in the state of Washington (E Line).
Aurora needs a new identity.
Aurora’s image is car oriented. But Aurora has changed. It’s biggest asset to the city is not as a thoroughfare for cars. It’s for bus ridership. The district should engage this identity of sustainability. The other half of MHA fees should be waived or returned if projects utilize cross laminated timber construction, a carbon negative building practice, and provide solar power on rooftops. With Dunn Lumber in ALUV, job growth would be ripe if sustainable wood construction were incentivized. Seattle City Light owns property in ALUV too. Solar power installation and maintenance could be another job opportunity for ALUVers in our neighborhood.
Lastly, this should be the last upzone for urban villages. Urban villages have carried 75% of the housing growth for 25 years. We are proud to supply it. But after this? It’s time for the rest of Seattle’s neighborhoods to share in housing growth. The next land use discussion should include the direction Minneapolis has taken, allowing triplexes or additional dwelling units in all our neighborhoods. It’s time the other neighborhoods provided housing growth too, not just our imaginary bound ones.
