The Seattle City Council’s Neighborhoods, Education, Civil Rights, and Culture Committee Friday morning will discuss legislation from the mayor’s office that would keep approvals on small changes to designated landmarks in the hands of city staff. The proposal would keep in place changes made during the pandemic when meetings of groups including the historic review boards that typically hold the power were prohibited.

According to the committee presentation (PDF), the permanent change allows faster approval of necessary changes and repairs to landmark structures by Department of Neighborhoods staff while allowing boards and commissions to focus on more important business.

“Examples of minor alterations currently eligible for administrative review by staff include signage, awnings, storefront renovations and building systems upgrades,” the presentation reads. “New construction, demolition and major redevelopment proposals” would not be eligible for administrative review under the plan.

According to presentation, cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York already handle small change approvals with staff reviews.

$5 A MONTH TO HELP KEEP CHS PAYWALL-FREE THIS SPRING
🌈🐣🌼🌷🌱🌳🌾🍀🍃🦔🐇🐝🐑🌞🌻 
Subscribe to CHS to help us hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you.

Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month -- or choose your level of support 👍