SDCI is once again recognizing the International Code Council’s Building Safety Month for 2022. Building Safety Month is an international educational campaign celebrated in May every year to raise awareness about building safety. The campaign reinforces the need for adoption of modern, regularly updated technical building codes, and helps individuals, families, and businesses understand what it takes to create safe and sustainable structures.
Revised Policy for Use of Fire Walls in Lieu of Substantial Alterations
Substantial alterations are a part of the Seattle Residential Code (SRC) that is applied when a large percentage of the house is being renovated or a large addition is being constructed; SRC Section R107.9. The requirements of substantial alterations are to update the house to the current code for major life safety items of fire, egress, and seismic. Substantial alterations may be required when an attached accessory dwelling unit (AADU) is created as an addition to an existing house. Traditionally, SDCI has given a break from substantial alterations when an AADU is being created in an existing house to support the housing need in Seattle, though this break has not been given when a new addition to a house is for an AADU. Recently, SDCI has revised the policy to allow fire wall construction in compliance with Seattle Building Code 706 to separate a new addition from an existing dwelling unit per SRC 107.5.
City Renter Protections Extend Beyond Eviction Moratoria
After two extensions of the eviction moratoria in 2022, Mayor Harrell in his Executive Order 2022-02 instructed our department to develop clear and accessible information to ensure renters understand the remaining tenant protections in place once the eviction moratoria expire on February 28. While the City of Seattle’s eviction moratoria has been in place for much of the COVID-19 pandemic, renters living in Seattle have other protections that will be in effect after February 28.
New Small Business Permit Facilitator and Dedicated Permit Services
The Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) is now offering dedicated permit services for future tenants of downtown vacant storefronts and small businesses citywide. Downtown tenants and small businesses have been disproportionally impacted during this pandemic. The goal of this new service is to provide early coaching to tenants in advance of signing a lease, to minimize costly requirements, and set businesses up for success by reducing the time it takes to obtain a permit.
New Plan Review Process Starts January 10
SDCI is pleased to announce that we will transition to providing review comments via plan set markup on January 10! We have prepared a short video to help applicants understand the new process. We will also publish step-by-step instructions on the Seattle Services Portal Help Center. The primary change that we are asking of applicants […]
Don’t Miss the Seattle Home Fairs
We’ll be hosting our popular Seattle Home Fairs online on Saturday, January 29, 2022, and Sunday, January 30, 2022. Both dates will have the same presentations to give you a couple of opportunities to attend the sessions that most interest you. Our virtual home fairs will be full of useful information about our permitting process, code requirements, renting in Seattle, and much, much more.
It’s Landslide Season! Are You Prepared?
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? As snow melts and rainfall continues to increase throughout the winter, the threat of landslides will continue to rise.
Members Sought for Seattle’s Design Review Boards
Passionate about design or architecture? Mayor Jenny Durkan is looking for qualified candidates to fill 14 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, 2022, when retiring board members’ terms expire.
New Seattle Laws Impact Tenant Relocation Assistance License Process
Several recent changes to Seattle laws impact residential properties that require a Tenant Relocation License. The Right of First Refusal, SMC 7.24.030.J, requires owners to offer a lease renewal to existing tenants when their term lease is expiring unless there is just cause. To obtain just cause for development activity, you must obtain a Tenant Relocation License. Therefore, all properties that are tenant-occupied at the time of the permit application need to go through the Tenant Relocation Assistance Ordinance (TRAO) process regardless of whether the tenants have a term lease or are month-to-month. We highly recommend that you submit a service request for TRAO when you receive the notification that your project may require a license. If you wait until the end of the permitting process, your permits may be significantly delayed. You can submit a service request by calling (206) 615-0808.
Update: New Plan Review Process
In August, SDCI announced that it will implement a new plan review process using the Bluebeam software application. We will stop sending standard letter-based corrections for plan reviews and begin providing marked-up documents created with Bluebeam. This transition will align our plan review process with many of our neighboring jurisdictions’ process.
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