The City Council finished the Comprehensive Plan this week — and a court spent the same week deciding maybe they're not finished after all. This is Seattle Politics and Urbanism Daily. The growth framework is law, transit reform is edging toward the ballot, and the stadium district just went to court. Passed, sure. But Phase 2's already penciled in for 2026, and the hard zoning fights are exactly what's getting shoved into it. Let's start there — the finish line, and who's already trying to redraw it. Then Cruickshank's pitch to blow up Sound Transit's board. Oh, I've got thoughts on that one. So the council passes final Comp Plan legislation, the HB 1110 compliance piece is now in the record — and the Washington Court of Appeals reopened the environmental review in the same week. They're celebrating a finish line a court may still erase. And here's the part that gets me — the MLB Stadium Authority filed an appeal in the stadium district housing fight. A publicly created body, using legal process, over units on land that sits right on top of transit. Ryan Packer at The Urbanist laid out the appeal. We're talking about an institution the city helped stand up, now in court over the housing rules the city just voted through. And that same dynamic squeezes the drug ordinance from last week — if you can't site density near transit, the public-health diversion targets get harder to fund and harder to place. Right. The passage headline has the same problem as “Ballard design-only” — sounds like progress, defers the part that actually delivers. Let's pivot to governance. Robert Cruickshank's op-ed in The Urbanist — there's an actual ballot initiative filed to overhaul who sits on the Sound Transit board and how. Finally. Three days of asking who the board even answers to — and here's the first real mechanism to change the answer. Not a letter. A filed initiative. You're enthusiastic. I'd note the same suburban math that built ST3 still gets a vote on whatever reform you put in front of it. That's exactly my worry. The walkout bloc that locked in their corridors while Ballard got a sketch — they don't suddenly lose their leverage because there's an initiative number on it. But at least now there's something to push on. And the operational cost lands the same week — KIRO Newsradio's got SPD staffing shortages slowing 911 response. That $2.6 million settlement now has a meter running next to it. Slower response times on top of the payout. The culture problem's got a stopwatch on it now — that's the part people actually feel. So we close the week where it opened — uncertain — except now the framework passed and it's under legal attack from two directions at once. Progress. This one's from Seattle City Council Blog:
The City Council today revisited amended legislation on Seattle’s Comprehensive Plan (CB 120985) and Permanent HB 1110 legislation (CB 120993), approving both pieces of legislation. Councilmember Joy Hollingsworth (District 3) chaired the Select Committee on the Comprehensive Plan.
The Council passed it today — CB 120985 and the permanent HB 1110 legislation, both approved. The growth framework is officially law. And the Court of Appeals reopened the environmental review in the same stretch. So they're cutting the ribbon on a finish line a court may still redraw. Yeah, and read the subhead — Select Committee takes up Phase 2 in 2026. The Neighborhood Residential fights, the hard HB 1110 compliance stuff? Punted. So the headline says the framework's done, and the actual zoning brawl gets a 2026 calendar invite. Forgive me if I hold the champagne. To Devin's point — Hollingsworth's name is on the win, but the document itself tells you the easy part passed. The deferral's right there in print. the source writes:
This report describes a revised proposal for updating Seattle’s Neighborhood Residential zoning, including visualizations of potential outcomes. Neighborhood Residential currently represents Seattle’s lowest-density residential zoning and consists primarily of detached homes. We published an initial proposal in March 2024. This revised proposal includes changes that respond to feedback received…
This is the document everyone's been arguing about — the Neighborhood Residential rezone, the HB 1110 compliance piece. Updated October 2024, and as of this week it's finally law inside the Comp Plan. Read the table of contents though, Sarah. It starts with the affordable housing bonus, stacked flat bonus, and corner stores, then spends a whole back half on off-street parking, trees, and design standards. That's where the fight actually lives. Because the city blog is already flagging Phase 2 in 2026. So I want to know which of these — the bonuses or the parking and design standards — got punted past the headline. And here's the timing problem. The council passes this, the Court of Appeals reopens the environmental review in the same window. So the zoning toolkit is on the books and in litigation at once. From Ryan Packer at The Urbanist:
Just weeks after the Seattle City Council officially repealed a law that would have paved the way for residential uses around SoDo's stadiums, the municipal corporation charged with overseeing T-Mobile Park has joined with the Seattle Building & Construction Trades Council to challenge a pending plan that could ban housing there, turning the tables on the debate.
So the same week the council finalizes the Comprehensive Plan, Ryan Packer at The Urbanist catches the MLB Stadium Authority filing an appeal in the SoDo housing fight. And here's the twist — they're fighting the proposed ban, trying to keep housing in play. The state planning board already ruled the 2025 housing law was illegally adopted back in November. Now the stadium authority and the Building Trades are saying the city's swinging too far the other way — sealing the door shut on housing entirely. Wait — the stadium authority's on the housing side this time? Okay, I had them penciled in as the villain and they flipped the script on me. But look at the choreography — council repeals the law, then a quasi-public authority and the trades have to go to court just to keep housing on the table. On land that's a transit stop from downtown. That's the obstruction machine eating its own. It's a small swatch of land in North SoDo that's now generated a state ruling, a council repeal, and a fresh appeal. The acreage-to-litigation ratio is impressive. Here's Robert Cruickshank at The Urbanist:
We need a board that is capable of getting ST3 built – and rebuilding the public trust needed to expand the system even further. We do not have that board today. It is time to reform the governance of Sound Transit. That is why I filed an initiative to scrap the current Sound Transit board.
Three days I've been documenting this board burying Ballard and pushing projects into the 2050s — and now there's an actual filed ballot initiative to remake who sits on it. Cruickshank's not writing another letter. Somebody filed paper. And that's the escalation worth marking. We've spent the week on the board's decisions on Ballard and Issaquah — this op-ed goes after the structure, who gets appointed versus elected. That's a different fight. Right, because the appointed-board math is exactly how you get a 2016 yes vote turning into a 2050s ribbon-cutting. Voters approved ST3 ten years ago. Ten. Cruickshank quotes Balducci — a sitting board member — calling for change. When the people inside the room are signing onto reform, the status quo defense gets thin. Matt Markovich, writing in KIRO Newsradio:
Despite a very public push to recruit new officers, staffing challenges and response times have changed very little within the Seattle Police Department (SPD), according to an updated report presented to the Seattle City Council Public Safety Committee on Tuesday. After grappling with unexpected officer separations over the past three years, SPD is still not hiring enough officers to replace those who have left.
SPD's down to around a thousand fully trained officers and on track to hire fewer recruits than last year — and the council's been told response times haven't budged. That's the bill coming due. And it lands the same week as that $2.6 million settlement. So now you've got a payout and a slower 911 response stacked on the same staffing hole. The very public recruitment push — Markovich's report says it changed almost nothing. You can run all the ad campaigns you want; if separations outpace hires, the math doesn't care about your press conference. One shift is worth noting — separations are at least getting predictable and trending down. It doesn't fix the problem, but it means the bleeding's slowing. The problem now is the intake pipe, not the exit. Predictable departures are cold comfort when you're waiting on a 911 call. Working people don't grade response time on a curve. Got a tip, a correction, or a neighborhood story we should be watching? Send it our way at seattledailyfix at lantern podcasts dot com. We do read what you send.
You’ll find links to all the stories we covered today in the show notes. If something grabbed your attention, that’s the best place to dig in a little deeper.
That’s Seattle Politics and Urbanism Daily for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.