Building Connections Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections

Building Connections

Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections news and events

Reminder: Don’t Miss Our Hybrid Seattle Home Fair this February!

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Once again, SDCI is hosting our popular Seattle Home Fair. Four virtual lectures will be held in February leading up to an in-person event at the Filipino Community Center on February 25, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. In addition to SDCI staff, representatives from several other City departments and Puget Sound Energy will be participating.

These free events will be jam-packed with useful information about rental housing rules, our permitting and inspection process, emergency preparedness, and much more. With something for everyone, you won’t want to miss these events!

Building Momentum to Fix the Bricks: Working Groups Established to Support Mandatory Unreinforced Masonry Retrofit Ordinance

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The City of Seattle is moving forward with the process to require the earthquake retrofit of its 1100 unreinforced masonry buildings (URMs) which are prone to collapse in an earthquake. In 2021, City Council passed Resolution 32033 declaring the intent to develop a mandatory earthquake retrofit ordinance with a resource program to support URM building owners and tenants.

On January 12, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) and the Office of Emergency Management (OEM), in partnership with the Alliance for Safety, Affordability, and Preservation (ASAP!), hosted a meeting to discuss the timeline and next steps needed to be successful in ordinance adoption.

2023 Fee Changes

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On January 1, 2023, SDCI will be implementing a compounded inflationary increase of 9.16% to most fees. This increase follows two consecutive years in which SDCI did not implement fee increases, and is designed to re-align SDCI fee levels with the current cost of business. These fee increases will result in an SDCI base hourly rate of $252/hr, and Land Use hourly rate of $430/hr. New for 2023, most SDCI fees will also be subject to a 5% technology fee.

New Webpage Focusing on Permit History & Site Research Now Available!

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Finding permit history and property information often requires consulting multiple resources. Many excellent sources of data and documents are already available to you online on the SDCI Resources page and on other websites. To help you better navigate the range of available research tools, we have created a new webpage to centralize these resources. The page includes a description of what each resource offers so that you can understand what data is available, and so you can focus your site and permit history research on the best options.

Don’t Miss Our Hybrid Seattle Home Fair this January and February!

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Once again, SDCI will be hosting our popular Seattle Home Fair! Six virtual lectures will be held in January and February leading up to an in-person event at the Filipino Community Center on February 25, 2023, from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

These free events will be jam-packed with useful information about rental housing rules, our permitting and inspection process, emergency preparedness, and much more. With something for everyone, you won’t want to miss these events!

Members Sought for Seattle’s Design Review Boards

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Passionate about design or architecture? Mayor Bruce Harrell is looking for qualified candidates to fill 22 upcoming openings on the City of Seattle’s Design Review Boards. Board members evaluate the design of new buildings based on citywide and neighborhood-specific design guidelines. The boards review large mixed-use developments, multifamily housing, and commercial projects. The volunteer positions will start on April 4, 2023, when retiring board members’ terms expire.

Seattle Tree Service Providers Must Register and Post Public Notice

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The City Council passed Council Bill 120207 requiring 1) tree service providers to register with the City of Seattle before conducting commercial tree work and consultations on private property and 2) property owners to post a public notice on-site before any tree work beyond routine maintenance. The tree service provider registry will be accessible to the public so that owners, residents, and neighbors can be assured a registered company knowledgeable with tree regulations and best practices is completing work in their neighborhood.  

Reminder: Plan Review Response/Reply Process Refresher

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Back on January 10, SDCI transitioned to providing plan reviews via plan mark-up instead of traditional letters. This article is a refresher on the process for applicants responding to review comments.

The primary change that we are asking of applicants is that they document responses to comments directly in the plan set provided to them by SDCI at the end of each review cycle instead of sending response letters corresponding to each correction letter. (Note: You will still receive correction summaries from individual reviews as they are completed.) When all responses are documented, we ask that applicants upload the response plan set (as document type “Correction Response Plan Set” or “Correction Response Plan Set – Land Use”) along with the new plan set as (document type “Plan Set” or “Plan Set – Land Use”) for the next review cycle. We have a helpful video to help you learn how to navigate the new process.

It’s Landslide Season! Are You Prepared?

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Landslide season is here, so the City of Seattle is urging residents to take preventive measures to protect themselves and their property from possible landslides.

Did you know that most landslides occur between the months of November and March? The threat of landslides will continue to rise as rainfall continues to increase and when snow melts during the winter months.

New Rules Require Seattle Tree Service Providers to Register with the City

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The City Council recently passed Council Bill 120207 requiring 1) tree service providers to register with the City of Seattle before conducting commercial tree work and consultations on private property and 2) property owners to post a public notice on-site before any tree work beyond routine maintenance. The tree service provider registry will be accessible to the public so that owners, residents, and neighbors can be assured a registered company knowledgeable with tree regulations and best practices is completing work in their neighborhood.