Mayor Durkan has set up a new council to look at industrial lands policy that includes two Royers (Charles and Jordan), the head of the Ballard Alliance, neighborhood activists, and temporary council member Abel Pacheco, who has been a reliable vote for the mayor.
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The tension in Seattle's industrial areas has long been whether to restrict their uses to industrial-only or allow some commercial, lighter industrial, and residential development. So far, industrial interests and the Port have prevailed in preserving 20th-century zoning.
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This new committee follows on many previous efforts and studies of Seattle's industrial areas, including one that led to a series of detailed recommendations in 2016.
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The mayor's letter on industrial lands suggests that the city hasn't done any work to update industrial lands policy in 10 years; in response, @Lisa_Herbold is now pointing out the extensive process that led to a set of recommendations in 2016.
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The future of Seattle's industrial areas is a big deal—one we've been debating for as long as I can remember. Another committee prolongs that debate. Meanwhile, other cities are making changes to allow new uses to coexist with traditional industry.
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Final small note: Pacheco is included ostensibly because he's the current head of the council's planning committee, an appointment that ends this month. I'll be very interested to see if he stays on this committee and/or transitions to a new position with Team Durkan.
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I don't see any environmental groups on this list, despite a mention of communities affected by 'environmental inequities' as one of the concerns for this group to address...
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Transportation Choices Coalition is the closest thing. Otherwise the group is heavily weighted toward industrial and neighborhood interests, plus a couple of developers/developer representatives.
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