Five more appeals have been filed calling for more environmental review around Seattle’s proposed growth plan update and neighborhood rezoning across the city.
The new cases join the appeal reported on by CHS earlier this week from the Friends of Madison Park arguing for a supplemental environmental impact study ““a reasonable range of alternatives” to mitigating what it says will be detrimental impacts to living in the neighborhood on the shores of Lake Washington.
The roster of six appeals filed with the Hearing Examiner now includes a stretch to Madison Valley joining the residents in Madison Park, plus appellants in Mount Baker and Hawthorne Hills, a neighborhood wedged between the Bryant and Windermere neighborhoods in Northeast Seattle. One appeal has been filed on behalf of the “73 remaining Southern resident killer whales.”
The State Environmental Policy Act maneuverings come as the city is moving forward on shaping a new growth plan to meet requirements of the 2023-passed state law HB 1110 that requires the elimination of single-family zoning in cities across the state to address the ongoing housing crisis. If Seattle doesn’t have its plan update approved by June, the city will be subject to state land use code.
The work to find a compromise with Madison Park and other areas of the city is underway. CHS reported here on neighborhood pushback on the growth plan over the creation of 30 new “neighborhood centers” across the city including D3’s Madison Park, Madison Valley, Montlake, and Madrona. The designation could “allow residential and mixed-use buildings up to 6 stories in the core and 4- and 5-story residential buildings toward the edges,” according to a plan draft — but Hollingsworth’s office has told CHS it sees room for compromise.
Chair of the Seattle City Council’s comprehensive update committee and District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth is leading the city’s push to get the new growth and zoning proposal over the finish line.
More public hearings on the plan update are planned in the coming months. One hearing is scheduled in April and another in May. Those line up with Hollingsworth’s Phase 1 and Phase 2 approach to forging a compromise on the plan.
That approach could give the EIS appeal process time to play out — and be quieted. New state laws that restrict appeals under the State Environmental Policy Act could help.
The full list of appeals including links to the case documents is here:
| HE File # | Filing Date | Name/Address |
| W-25-006 | 2/13/2025 | Jennifer Godfrey Citywide |
| W-25-005 | 2/13/2025 | John M. Cary Citywide |
| W-25-004 | 2/13/2025 | CHRIS R YOUTZ Citywide |
| W-25-003 | 2/13/2025 | Hawthorne Hills Community Council Citywide |
| W-25-002 | 2/12/2025 | Trevor Cox and Jake Weyerhaeuser Seattle city limits |
| W-25-001 | 2/11/2025 | Friends of Madison Park Seattle city limits |
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Yeah, avoiding suburban sprawl by building more housing in the city is bad for orcas. Come on. Ridiculous.
Delay Delay Delay. Then delay some more.
The funny thing this time is that delay means the (more liberal) state zoning code goes into effect. Cutting off their noses to spite their faces.
It is going to be hilarious when the nimbys succeed in blocking the growth in the neighborhood centers and the city is forced to allow more development outside of those limited areas to comply with state law instead.
Rather than growing business districts they’ll get townhouses & condos replacing their neighbors’ houses, and we’ll all play tiny fiddles as their views disappear.
Exactly.
I live in Madison Valley on one of the single-family parcels proposed to be upzoned. These NIMBYs do not speak for me.
I feel for you – I lived there during the “Save Madison Valley” era, and those insufferable NIMBYs were one of the reasons I ultimately left. When that campaign ended, I hoped Madison Valley might finally get to grow up, but apparently they’re still at it. Fight the good fight, my friend!
I lived there, too, during those days.
Recall how much resistance there was to the PCC development? Remember the contention that the development would cause “flooding” that would quite literally kill people?
On the one hand these disgusting Nimbies are just making up specious arguments and laughing as officials are required to take them seriously, on the other they actually believe a lot of it.
And the PCC development? The crux of the real resistance was the idea that commercial activity would cause their average commute to increase by < 5 mins. Which, as we all know, is utterly unacceptable and means we cannot have such a development.
I liked it better when we all just referred to others we didn’t agree with as assholes. I mean, who hasn’t been an asshole on some occasion, so we can all relate better to those we disagree with when we called them assholes. Pioneered by the left and perfected by the right, we now wall ourselves off by labeling those we don’t agree with in so many ways, Nimbys just being one of them.
I don’t agree with the position that we shouldn’t reasonably upzone urban areas to achieve some greater density in select areas. I think some of the opposition expressed by these groups is wrongheaded and elitist. But I will call those opposed assholes, not Nimbys. Because I can relate to assholes. I can converse amicably with assholes. I can live next door to assholes. Sometimes I can even recognise their point of view. So join me in recreating a sense of old fashioned civility. Refer to the people you disagree with as assholes so we can move forward together again.
Ya ever see the documentary “Assholes- A Theory”?
I’m going to completely disagree with you and label you “The Problem”
I’m going to gather alternate signatures from the orcas this weekend.
are they even in town?
I keep them on speed dial
Looking forward to the examiner’s ruling on whether shouting “I speak for the whales!” gives one standing. I guess the NIMBYs found the trees weren’t charismatic enough.
Hey, we do not speak whale. I can’t even whistle. Just air and some reluctant spittle.
The wealthy are omnipotent. They speak whale.
Maybe destroy your lawns and stop dumping fertilizer into the sound before you talk about pollution problems. Somehow this is still a bigger pile of shit than the lack of public toilets and amount of people living on the street because these people can’t fathom giving up their government handout homes…
Interesting perspective. Not very accurate, but interesting perspective.
Great comment 🙄
The city is projected to grow whether these chuckleheads bury their heads in the sand or not. They are against this but have no alternative to where we’re going to house people or address this issue. They got theres, future generations that aren’t in their inheritance be damned.
What is your answer Glenn?
I suggest an anger management class!
Out of curiosity, I would love to know the chemical that this group uses on their well-manicured lawns.
Ah yes, the famous killer whales of… *checks notes* Lake Washington?
LOL