Misinformation Runs Rampant as Seattle Council Considers SEPA Appeal Changes
Tuning in cold to a public hearing Wednesday morning at the Seattle City Council's Land Use Committee, you might have walked away confused and thinking that there were comments being made about two different proposals. To many commenters, Council Bill 121215 was touted as a commonsense reform that will bring Seattle in line with standard practice in other large Washington cities. By others, it was framed as an affront to democracy that will lead to the clear-cut logging of the city.
Introduced by District 2 councilmember and committee chair Eddie Lin, CB 121215 would remove an avenue for administrative appeals of Seattle's Comprehensive Plan under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA). Such appeals are heard by the City's internal hearing examiner and have added months to the timeline to implement the "One Seattle" growth plan overhaul proposed by former Mayor Bruce Harrell, most recently pushing the next set of planned rezones around the city into 2027.
Under Lin's proposal, the ability to appeal the City's environmental analysis wouldn't be fully removed, but the bar would be raised. Appellants would be required to take their filings to King County Superior Court or to the state's Growth Management Hearings Board.
As it stands, an appellant can hold up land use changes impacting the entire city with a $120 filing fee, even if an appeal lacks all merit. With this change, legislation would go into effect while appeals played out, but land use changes could still be found invalid and nullified, as the City of Seattle saw with the tossed-out proposal to legalize housing in the stadium district last year.
https://www.theurbanist.org/misinformation-runs-rampant-as-seattle-council-considers-sepa-appeal-changes/