Starting January 1, 2015 we will require that you submit the updated State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) checklist in order for your Master Use Permit Application to be considered a complete application. The Washington Department of Ecology updated the SEPA rules and the SEPA Environmental Checklist. They were effective May 10, 2014.

The Mayor and City Council approved the Electrical Code amendments and the new code is effective November 12, 2014.

On September 2 the City Council introduced new legislation (Council Bill 118201) to clarify permanent regulation of micro-housing, congregate residences, and similar forms of development. The City Council’s proposal reflects input from three stakeholder working group meetings held during the summer of 2014. After the new regulations are voted on by Council, all future developments will have to meet the new rules.

Our draft ordinance is currently under departmental review. We have posted our draft legislation on our electrical code web page. Our draft ordinance must pass a Council vote and then be signed by the Mayor before we will know the effective date of the new Seattle Electrical Code.

The Department of Ecology is requiring Seattle to update our current codes with additional stormwater control regulations as a condition of our NPDES permit. Our regulations must be equivalent to Ecology’s NPDES 2012 Stormwater Manual. To meet these requirements, we are revising our existing Stormwater Code (SMC 22.800-22.808) and the associated Directors’ Rules. These new rules will replace our current Stormwater Code and Directors’ Rules that are administered jointly by DPD and Seattle Public Utilities.

We are conducting final reviews of the draft 2014 Seattle Electrical Code. We still do not know the actual effective date of the new electrical code. Our draft ordinance will undergo several more department reviews, and a Council vote before we will know the effective date. We hope to have a draft of the ordinance available online before the end of July.

A strong energy code is one of Seattle’s key tools for achieving significant reductions in energy use in the building sector and reaching the city’s ambitious goal of carbon neutrality. Seattle has consistently had one of the most advanced codes in the country and the new 2012 Seattle Energy Code is no exception. That’s the finding of a recently released study comparing Seattle’s Energy Code (SEC) to a national energy standard.

On May 29, 2014 we published a full draft of our proposed code adjustments for Minimum Density. We also published a notice of a Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) on the proposed rules, as part of the required State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) review. The SEPA comment period runs through June 12, 2014.

On May 29, 2014, DPD published a public review draft of our proposed code adjustments for Lowrise multifamily zones. The changes respond to community input, and are meant to make new lowrise multifamily development a better fit within neighborhoods. In addition, DPD issued a State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) Determination of Non-Significance (DNS) for the proposed code changes. The SEPA comment period runs through June 12, 2014.

Urban areas that collect stormwater runoff in municipal separate storm sewers and discharge it to surface waters must have a permit under the federal Clean Water Act. The Department of Ecology develops and administers National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) municipal stormwater permits in Washington State. Our regulations must be equivalent to Ecology’s NPDES 2012 Stormwater Manual. To meet these requirements, we are revising our existing Stormwater Code and associated Directors’ Rules. We are holding a public meeting on June 3 to discuss our revised stormwater regulations and to get your feedback.