We are seeing drastic signs of climate change in Seattle and throughout Washington State. Smokey summers and droughts are becoming more common, snowpack and stream flows have been altered and are decreasing future water supply and hydropower production, all while energy and water demands are increasing with population growth. We must reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to tackle climate change and to achieve the City’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Our buildings make up about one-third of Seattle’s emissions.
New Land Use Division Director
Darlene Edwards has been selected as the new Land Use Division Director at SDCI and will lead this group of 92 employees. She replaces Roberta Baker, who retired in August 2018. Darlene has been with SDCI for more than 28 years and has over 11 years of leadership roles in Land Use. She brings a wealth of historical knowledge in zoning and the land use discretionary review process and has a strong customer service ethic.
January Publication Updates
We updated four Tips and released a final Director’s Rule about major marijuana activities.
Visit the North Seattle Home Fair
Once again, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) is hosting the Seattle Home Fair. We’ll have free information for renters, homeowners, and landlords with experts on rental housing rules, coaching on obtaining permits for renovations, and breakout sessions on topics including landslide prevention, backyard cottages, and earthquake retrofits.
Reminder: Temporary Hour Changes
We are temporarily changing our Applicant Services Center in-person office hours between January 14 and February 1, 2019. The temporary hours will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 a.m.to 2:00 p.m. and Tuesday and Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Don’t Miss SDCI’s North and South Seattle Home Fairs
Start 2019 off right by getting a jump-start on your home improvement project! Whether you’re a homeowner, landlord, renter or potential homeowner, one of the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections Home Fairs will have something for you!
Learn about Earthquake Home Retrofits, Landslide Preparedness and Awareness, and Backyard Cottages with three focused presentations covering each of these important topics.
Ask us about our permitting process, inspections, and codes requirements. Do you rent, or are you a landlord? Come learn about rental housing rules. We’ll also have information tables about affordable housing, landslide awareness, emergency preparedness, energy rebates, home ownership assistance, weatherization of homes, and so much more!
Mechanical Permit Is Now a Separate Application
To help streamline the mechanical permit application process, we created a new mechanical permit application in the Seattle Services Portal. This means customers can avoid the Building & Land Use Pre-Application process. As a result, they can get their mechanical permit much more quickly.
Reminder: 2019 Fee Changes
The Seattle City Council recently adopted the 2019-2020 budget, including legislation that implements SDCI fee changes in 2019 to cover wage increases that reflect our current cost of doing business. On January 1, 2019, these service fees go into effect. As in past years, we are making inflationary adjustments to most fees. This year’s inflationary adjustment is 3.0 percent. As an example, our Base Hourly fee will increase from $216 to $222.
December Publication Updates
We updated two Tips and created a new Tip about Floating on Water Residences and House Barges.
City Launching Online Registration System for Short-Term Rentals
The Department of Finance and Administrative Services recently announced the city’s new registration system for short-term rentals will launch on January 2, 2019. The City of Seattle adopted new regulations for short-term rentals, a type of lodging sometimes called vacation rentals, in December 2017.
