Building Connections Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections

Building Connections

Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections news and events

Visit the North Seattle Home Fair

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

Temporary Hour Changes

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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.

Proposed Electric Vehicle Readiness Rules Available for Public Review

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We’d like your feedback on draft legislation that would require new development in Seattle to provide electric vehicle (“EV”) charging infrastructure. Specifically, the amendments to the Land Use Code (Title 23) would require that a certain amount of off-street parking spaces include the wiring and electrical (power) outlets necessary to be considered “EV ready”, to make it easier for someone to install charging equipment/stations there in the future. The legislation is available for public review and comment through December 20, 2018.

SDCI Temporary Change of Hours

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On January 11, 2019, we’ll witness history with the Washington State Department of Transportation’s permanent closure of the Alaskan Way Viaduct. This is a major step toward realigning SR 99 to the new SR 99 tunnel. When the viaduct closes on January 11, SR 99 will be closed through downtown Seattle for three weeks, and travel patterns will change with traffic moving over to I-5, local downtown surface streets, and Alaskan Way. And over the next several years, large projects such as the Washington State Convention Center, light rail extensions, and the arena at Seattle Center, will further challenge our traffic flow. This is what the City is calling the “Seattle Squeeze.” For a three-week period from January 11 to early February, we expect even greater traffic impacts with the Viaduct gone and the SR 99 tunnel not yet open.

To support the Mayor’s and our City’s efforts to manage congestion downtown, and to help our customers avoid delays during peak travel times, SDCI is modifying our in-person office hours for all services at our Applicant Services Center (ASC).

All in-person services at the 20th Floor ASC will be available only on 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. We expect to resume normal business hours on Monday, February 4, 2019.