On August 21, 2020, Mayor Jenny Durkan signed Ordinance 126131, the Childcare Near You legislation, providing greater flexibility to establish new child care centers in nearly all zones in the city including single-family zones. This ordinance is effective as of September 20, 2020.
On July 24, 2020, the City passed Ordinance 126113, which establishes interim floodplain development regulations. Interim regulations are required for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program and are based on a Federal Emergency Management Agency Flood Insurance Study. Interim regulations will be in place for six months while SDCI develops recommendations for permanent regulations. The ordinance was passed pursuant to RCW 36.70A.390 and, unless renewed, will expire in February 2021.
On August 21, Mayor Durkan signed Ordinance 126131, which updates the Land Use Code for greater flexibility in locating child care facilities in all zones. The City Council estimates that as many as 33,000 children in Seattle under the age of six are in need of child care. They identified a shortage in child care and sought to remove code barriers to more affordable and conveniently located child care.
SDCI is now reporting new Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADUs) and Detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (DADUs) permits to King County for the purpose of capacity charges. We are required by code and our agreement with King County to report all new sewer connections to King County. Title 28 of the King County Code requires that we report all new units to the King County Wastewater Treatment Division.
New interim Floodplain Development Regulations and floodplain maps will take effect on August 23, 2020. The City of Seattle is required by FEMA to update our floodplain maps based on their new maps dated August 19, 2020. As part of this update, Seattle is also required to update SMC 25.06, which is Seattle’s Floodplain Development Regulations. These interim regulations will be effective for approximately six months while SDCI works on permanent regulations.
SDCI is in the process of updating Seattle’s construction codes to the 2018 versions of the building, residential, existing buildings, fire, electrical, mechanical, energy, fuel gas, elevator, boiler, and plumbing codes. Due to many factors, including the impacts of the COVID-19, the 2018 Washington State Construction Codes effective date has been delayed. SDCI will be aligning the effective date of our 2018 code versions with the State’s current effective date of February 1, 2021.
The draft documents of the 2021 Stormwater Code and Manual, supporting documentation, and other related project code changes are available for your review on the project documents page. The official public review period for these documents was April 1 – May 16, 2020, but we are still interested in your comments. Visit the get involved page to find the template and instructions for submitting your feedback. We will hold another official comment period in the Fall/Winter of 2020.
On February 27, 2020, SDCI issued a code interpretation of Seattle Building Code section 1604.5, Risk Category Occupant Load Calculations. This code interpretation will help applicants calculate the building occupant load to determine the building’s risk category. The code interpretation allows a reduction in gross area for certain occupancy groups…. [ Keep reading ]
– Public Comment Period Now Open The Department of Ecology is requiring Seattle to update our current codes with additional stormwater control regulations as a condition of our NPDES permit. To meet these requirements, we are revising our existing Stormwater Code (SMC 22.800-22.808) and the associated Stormwater Manual (Directors’ Rule… [ Keep reading ]
SDCI is in the process of updating Seattle’s construction codes to the 2018 versions of the building, residential, existing buildings, mechanical, energy, fuel gas, and plumbing codes. We have been aiming for an effective date of July 1, 2020, to align with the effective date of the Washington State building… [ Keep reading ]
