West Seattle, Washington
29 Sunday
As mentioned in our morning preview, the second contest presented by Save The Stone Cottage happened today – a “find the story stone” contest via clues on Twitter. Above, the winner! The photo and update are from STSC’s Jeff McCord:
West Seattleite Keefe Leung found the second lost Story Stone hidden in the bow of the Sasha Eli boat situated “frozen in time” in Whale Tail Park (north of Alki Elementary) in West Seattle.
Here’s a short video of Keefe telling his story of finding the coveted “Story Stone.”
Keefe can now prize his carved soapstone reward (donated in part by Northwest Art and Frame), as well as a gift certificate to a local restaurant and, of course, bragging rights.
Over the weekend, the organizers of the “Search for the Lost Stone” event will reveal some of the hints riddles hidden within the six “Story Stone” clues. Those answers will be tweeted out to “Save the Stone Cottage” Twitter followers here.
There are still two more “Story Stones” to be found. To learn more about the remaining two stones, and the events surrounding them, at the contest page of the “Save the Stone Cottage” website here.
For those who wish to support the rescue efforts, the donation link and social media connections can be found on the home page of the same website, or directly at the donation page for the “Save the Stone Cottage” GoFundMe Charity page.
If you’ve missed previous coverage – the Stone Cottage is the iconic nearly-a-century-old beach bungalow covered in stones, facing demolition to make way for development unless advocates can move it off its site at 1123 Harbor SW.
The campaign is well past the halfway point in fundraising efforts to “Save the Stone Cottage,” but the need is still great to reach the project’s $110,000 goal by the end of January.
With the holidays over, community groups are returning to their regular meeting schedules. Next up: The Morgan Community Association, 7 pm Wednesday night (January 20th), online. MoCA meets quarterly; this month’s agenda includes updates on Lowman Beach – both the seawall and the possible racket court – and the landbanked Morgan Junction Park expansion site‘s contamination cleanup. SDOT will be there to update West Seattle Bridge closure-related traffic remediation, and Seattle Public Utilities is scheduled to talk about the California/Myrtle sewer project. The small-apartment-building project to be developed by Storybuilt is on the agenda too. All are welcome; the meeting link is here, or call in via 253-215-8782. For either option, the meeting ID is 863 758 2652, passcode 123456.
Just yesterday, we were bemoaning a shortage of stories about people doing positive/interesting things. Though most news is inherently bad news, we usually have more stories of helping, gratitude, etc., to break it up, but right now we seem to be experiencing a shortage. So when Krystal Kelley‘s video landed in the WSB inbox late last night, it seemed fortuitous. That, in fact, is what her video’s about – a small action to try to chase off dome of the negativity that’s already spilled into the two-weeks-old new year. Krystal – who has been a small-business owner herself – visited some local businesses with a “Surprise Smudge.” She explains, “Smudging is traditionally a ceremony for purifying or cleansing the soul of negative thoughts of a person or place.” 2021 is off to a shaky start, so anything might help.
P.S. Krystal adds, “If you are out and about today, we will be playing meditative music in Lincoln Park down by the water from 1-2 or 3 … depends how long we stay warm. We started a band called Krystal Kelley and the Woo-Woo’s. We play soft, gentle music intended to heal.” She also says, “I want to declare 4/20/21 World Smudge Day to help with the healing of Mother Earth.”
10:41 AM: If you are trying to get around eastern West Seattle, beware myriad challenges today. Along with the Sylvan Way closure and work at Delridge and Trenton, right now Seattle Fire is blocking 16th SW in the 6000 block, dealing with a gas leak at or near South Seattle College (WSB sponsor), so avoid that area.
11:23 AM: We haven’t heard an update, but the incident log shows all three SFD units are still on scene.
11:31 AM: And now they’ve begun to wind down the response, though Puget Sound Energy is still on scene addressing the situation.
12:35 PM: Just went by to confirm – all clear, road open.
Photographed by David Hutchinson at Don Armeni Boat Ramp, that’s a “young harbor seal (nicknamed ‘Tubby’ for his good body weight) that Seal Sitters has been monitoring recently, seen cruising along the shoreline of Elliott Bay. Tubby would be one of last year’s ‘pups,’ born in the summer so would be approximately 6 or 7 months old. Harbor seals spend only 4 – 6 weeks with their mothers before having to face life on their own.” Here on shore, here’s what you should know about today:
ROAD CLOSURE: Sylvan Way is scheduled for closure 7:30 am-5 pm today and tomorrow while Seattle Public Utilities works on a drainage project. Metro Route 128 will be rerouted (info here). If you’re driving, the next direct route between 35th and Delridge is SW Holden.
JUNCTION PAID PARKING: This is the second day you’ll have to pay in what had been the four free West Seattle Junction lots (just south of SW Oregon off 44th and 42nd, on the southeast corner of 42nd and Alaska, and off 44th just north of Edmunds). You can use the new machines or pay by phone.
LOW BRIDGE TICKETING: This is the first weekend since the enforcement cameras were turned on for the Low Bridge, with $75 tickets for unauthorized low-bridge users between 5 am and 9 pm, 7 days a week – revisit the rules here.
STORY STONE CONTEST #2: The next Save The Stone Cottage contest is today – on Twitter:
Search For The Lost Stone scavenger hunt this Saturday 1/16 starts at 9am. Clues will be posted at 9am. Part of a fun series of events we are hosting to raise awareness of the effort to save the Stone Cottage. #storystones #savethestonecottage Details at https://t.co/luO5fobDq0 pic.twitter.com/VO1UWIp1rT
— Save the Stone Cottage (@StoneCottageWS) January 15, 2021
CURBSIDE LIBRARY SERVICE: Curbside pickup is available at High Point’s Seattle Public Library branch noon-6 pm Saturdays. (3411 SW Raymond)
(Thursday night sunset, photographed by Theresa Arbow-O’Connor)
SUNSET: 4:46 pm.
46 weeks have now passed since the Friday night announcement of the first King County case of COVID-19. Here are tonight’s updates:
KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary page, cumulative totals:
*71,231 people have tested positive, 684 more than yesterday’s total
*1,180 people have died, 15 more than yesterday’s total
*4,566 people have been hospitalized, 71 more than yesterday’s total
*788,074 people have been tested, 5,123 more than yesterday’s total
And from the new COVID Vaccination Among King County Residents dashboard (updated weekdays):
*82,382 people have received one dose
*11,640 people have received both doses
*141,375 doses have been allocated to King County
One week ago, the first four totals were 67,068/1,138/4,375/767,530 – we’ll add vaccination numbers after tracking them for a week.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: See them here.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 93.8 million cases, 2 million deaths – see the nation-by-nation numbers here.
PHASE 1 FOR WEEK 2: The second “Roadmap to Recovery” report since the governor’s announcement of a new reopening plan is out. It shows every region in the state will continue in Phase 1 next week. The weekly reviews are on Fridays.
OPEN-AIR SERVICE: As part of the rules for Phase 1, some food/drink establishments are seating patrons in “open air” – sort of an indoor/outdoor hybrid.
ANOTHER NEW DASHBOARD: Besides the vaccine dashboard mentioned above, King County also has one with weekly updates on outbreaks – what type of settings they’re happening in, for ecample.
COUNTY HEALTH OFFICER’S BRIEFING: Dr. Jeff Duchin provided another video briefing, saying we’re on a “roller coaster” – see it here. He expressed concern about the more-contagious new variant (though it hasn’t been detected here yet) – “beware and prepare” to be ready, he said. “The virus has gotten smarter and faster.”
GOT INFO OR PHOTOS? westseattleblog@gmail.com or text/voice 206-293-6302 – thank you!
If you go to local parks this weekend, you might encounter the aftermath of this past week’s storms. Above and below are photos Mike Munson took at Lincoln Park, where, he explains, he found the above sign “at the bottom of the trail from the cliff to back of the pool at Point Williams, on the old road grade.” He also saw this:
That, Mike said, was “a small slide developing along the beach trail north of the pool. Some brush has been pushed a little way into the trail, and fresh gray goo is visible behind, upslope. It’s probably done sliding, but maybe more to come?” Parks crews also have been busy with downed trees. Today, we saw that this one is still on its side in the big field at Roxhill Park:
No notable rain or wind in the forecast – though note that mention of a possible snowflake or two next Friday.
In the first week of the new statewide “Healthy Washington” reopening roadmap, businesses are still exploring the fine print. For food and beverage businesses, though indoor dining is still banned in Phase 1, “open-air” service is allowed as well as outdoor seating. That means establishments such as Best of Hands Barrelhouse (Instagram photo above) that have walls with multiple windows can offer 25 percent capacity seating with those windows open. The Lodge in The Junction plans to start offering open-air seating tomorrow; the West Seattle Junction Association tells us Matador and JaK’s Grill have it too, and others are planning to follow. This is in addition to the numerous establishments that already have patio and/or “pod” outdoor seating, from Mission Cantina (WSB sponsor) and several Alki spots in the north, to places like The Bridge and The Westy in the south. You can read the new state guidelines here. Phase 1, by the way, will last at least one more week; the state is announcing every Friday what phase regions will be in as of the following Monday, and today’s news is that everyone stays in Phase 1 – although you can see on page 4 here that the Puget Sound region, including King County, was close.
As noted in today’s morning traffic watch, one of West Seattle’s major east-west routes, Sylvan Way, will be closed much of this weekend, without major advance notice aside from sparse signage. Today SDOT was finally able to tell us this is a Seattle Public Utilities project, and we have obtained more information through SPU spokesperson Sabrina Register:
This is SPU drainage crew work. They are responding to some localized flooding issues that were reported by the community last year. SPU is installing one inlet and one catch basin and needs to trench across the street to connect to them to the drainage mainline.
This work will occur Saturday and Sunday, 8 am to 5 pm, and a detour will be in place. Outside of working hours, the crew will be able to reopen the roadway and allow traffic on Sylvan.
The work will be focused in the 6900 block of Sylvan Way [map]. It also means a reroute for Metro Route 128 – here are those details.
BUSINESS BURGLARY: Coastal Surf Boutique posted online that the store at 3270 California SW was hit by “massive theft” night before last. The police report says it happened around 2:30 am Thursday and that the store’s owner was alerted by security video; police got there fast and detained a possible suspect but he turned out not to be the person seen in the video. We have inquiries out to see if any community assistance is in order. The SPD case # is 21-011014.
SCHOOL HIT BY THEFT, VANDALISM: From Sally at Hope Lutheran School:
We have experienced two tagging events just this week plus one tire of our bus was taken.
They left the jack, plus tagged the bus. This is so frustrating. Before the holiday we noticed that the bus’s catalytic converter was taken, too, which we found to be a “thing” in West Seattle.
PROWLER: Jake sent this security video from Alki: “The guy in this video is creeping around on 61st Ave SW near SW Stevens going through people’s packages.” The video shows the person looking through package boxes, and then photographing them.
(added) SCAM CALL: Thanks to Hiro for the alert:
I received a call from a number identified as Seattle Emergency Management warning that my power would be shut off shortly due to my bill not being paid. I’m on auto pay so I knew it was suspicious right away and logged into their site to confirm but others that may be struggling to pay bills right now may think it’s real, as the recording on the call sounded official.
Here’s what to do if you suspect a scam like this.
CRIME PREVENTION MEETING: Hear from and talk with local police at the first West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting of the year, 6 pm next Tuesday (January 19th). Here’s the link.
Thanks for the tips. After almost six years at the beach, Top Pot Doughnuts confirms its Alki café is closing. A company spokesperson answered our inquiry:
We’re saddened to announce the permanent closure of our Alki café following notice from our Landlord ending our tenancy. We are grateful to our friends and customers who have supported our business during these most tenuous of times and are saddened to be leaving this wonderful community. Our guests have made coming to the beach every day a pleasure and we look forward to serving you on Alki until late January and seeing you in the brighter days, months and years to come at all of our other Top Pot cafes.
Top Pot is a locally based chain, founded on Capitol Hill almost 20 years ago. The other space in the building at 2758 Alki SW has gone through a variety of tenants in recent years, from sandwiches to sushi to gelato, but now has a construction sign in the window; the decade-old building has had a permit in the works for two years for, as described in city files, “a second-story, 2-unit apartment addition above an existing commercial building(; p)roject includes a portion of the existing building to be converted into a 1-car garage and 2-car garage addition.”
Today is the 92nd anniversary of the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Monday is the federal holiday in his honor. From the WSB West Seattle Event Calendar, here are two things you can do in West Seattle (please let us know if there are others we can add to this list):
HIGHLAND PARK: Co-sponsored by Highland Park Improvement Club and HP Action Committee:
We have some opportunities to work on demo of the HPIC ceiling, plus trash grabbers and bags for folks to do socially distanced neighborhood cleanup at large. And if you have your own tools and projects at home, join us in spirit!
Tools available at 10 am at Highland Park Improvement Club, 1116 SW Holden. Return pickup tools and collected trash by 3 pm.
Free SDOT traffic mitigation signs available day of event or email HPACtraffic@gmail.com to request alternate pickup.
‘UPROOTING RACISM’: Monday brings the first session in Admiral Church‘s two-track year-long study of “Uprooting Racism” by Paul Kivel. The first track is for “individual introspection,” with monthly meetings, while the second is for organizations, meeting every three months starting in March. For details about timing, course content, book ordering, and registration, go to admiralchurch.org/uprootingracism.
We’ll add anything more we hear about for Monday!
So far today, the clouds are a little more ordinary than the formations Jerry Simmons photographed (above) on Thursday. But the good news, unless you’re a major fan of rain, is that things are drying out, at least for a day or so – the forecast suggests Saturday will be mostly dry, until a chance of rain returns Saturday night and lingers through Sunday until a partly sunny King Day on Monday. As of early this morning, the official rain total (at Sea-Tac) was almost three times normal for this time of year, 7.58 inches (the National Weather Service says the seasonal norm is 2.64). More good news for fans of light:
While there’s no telling yet whether tonight’s sunset will be as photogenic as the Thursday sunset photographed by Dan Ciske (above) and others (thank you, everyone!), the 4:45 pm official sunset time is almost half an hour earlier than the earliest sunset of winter.
6:07 AM: It’s Friday, January 15th, the 298th morning without the West Seattle Bridge.
LOW-BRIDGE CAMERA ENFORCEMENT: One more reminder on this fifth day of enforcement cameras on the low bridge – they’re photographing vehicles so that $75 tickets can be sent to owners of unauthorized vehicles crossing between 5 am and 9 pm. Who’s authorized and who’s not? See our story.
ROAD (ETC.) WORK
Delridge project – SW Thistle is now closed between Delridge and 20th. Here’s what else is happening this week.
California and Myrtle – The sewer-repair project continues – if driving/riding on California, watch out for the bumps; we noticed this new sign last night after a bicyclist was hurt and went to the hospital Monday:
Arbor Heights project – Gas-line replacement work on SW 104th is scheduled to continue.
Sylvan Way weekend closure? – This single sign has been up all week at 35th/Morgan, saying Sylvan will be closed 7:30 am to 4:30 pm both days this weekend:
We’ve been trying to find out what kind of work will be done and exactly where. but SDOT communications says they can’t find anyone in the department who knows about it. As of Thursday afternoon, there was no other signage along the length of Morgan/Sylvan/Orchard, and no Metro alerts about reroutes. So we’ll just have to see what happens Saturday.
9:36 AM: SDOT has finally tracked down some information, telling us it’s a Seattle Public Utilities project in the 6900 block of Sylvan. We are in turn contacting SPU now.
10:11 AM: And finally just now, Metro has sent a reroute alert. (Here are the details.)
CHECK TRAFFIC BEFORE YOU GO
West Marginal Way at Highland Park Way:
Highland Park Way/Holden:
The 5-way intersection (Spokane/West Marginal/Delridge/Chelan):
The main detour route across the Duwamish River, the 1st Avenue South Bridge (map) . Here are two cameras:
The other major bridge across the river – the South Park Bridge (map). Here’s the nearest camera:
Going through South Park? Don’t speed. (Same goes for the other detour-route neighborhoods, like Highland Park, Riverview, and South Delridge.)
To check for bridges’ marine-traffic openings, see the @SDOTBridges Twitter feed.
You can view all local traffic cams here; locally relevant cameras are also shown on this WSB page.
TRANSIT
Metro – On regular schedule – if you’re not subscribed to alerts, you can watch @kcmetrobus on Twitter for them
Water Taxi – On regular schedule (note the WT will not run on Monday, January 18th, for the King Day holiday)
Trouble on the roads/paths/water? Let us know – text (but not if you’re driving!) 206-293-6302.
Tonight’s virus-crisis update:
NEWEST KING COUNTY NUMBERS: From the Public Health daily-summary dashboard, here are today’s cumulative totals:
*70,547 people have tested positive, 453 more than yesterday’s total
*1,165 people have died, 14 more than yesterday’s total
*4,495 people have been hospitalized, 1 more than yesterday’s total
*782,951 people have been tested, 508 more than yesterday’s total
One week ago, the four totals we track were 66,486/1,132/4,377/765,546.
STATEWIDE NUMBERS: Find them, county by county, on the state Department of Health page.
WORLDWIDE NUMBERS: 93.1 million cases worldwide, 23.3 million of them in the U.S. See the nation-by-nation breakout here.
SITUATION REPORT: Elaborating on some of the trends we mentioned last night while summarizing state health officials’ briefing last night, here’s the newest statewide situation report.
SFD’S MOBILE TEAM ROLLS: As promised, the city’s first phase of the new vaccination program got going today:
Our Mobile Vaccination Teams began operating today, visiting adult family homes in the City to provide residents and staff with the first COVID-19 vaccine dose (Moderna). Read more about the vaccination teams here: https://t.co/2FTiwZuMdR 👏
*consent given by patients for photos pic.twitter.com/PY37cF3F3z
— Seattle Fire Dept. (@SeattleFire) January 14, 2021
NEED FOOD? 2-5 pm tomorrow at Food Lifeline (815 S. 96th) HQ, emergency food boxes are available.
GOT PHOTOS/TIPS? 206-293-6302, text or voice, or westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!
(WSB photo, tonight)
9:22 PM: Pay stations are going in tonight at the four West Seattle Junction Association-managed parking lots that move from free to fee at 12:01 am Friday. Other infrastructure was installed earlier this week:
(WSB photo, Wednesday)
And reminder notices were left on cars:
(WSB photo, Wednesday)
If you missed our previous coverage – the change comes after WSJA spent years trying to cover the sharply increasing cost of maintaining the free lots; though they don’t own the land, their lease requires the full property-tax cost to be passed through to WSJA, There’s no free period – $2 (plus tax) buys you from one minute to 2 hours – but remember that you have options: For example, if you’re just going on a quick run, many Junction businesses have curbside pickup spots, retailers (for online or phone orders) as well as restaurants. Some businesses have their own free parking for customers, too, from a handful of spaces behind California SW businesses, to garages in mixed-use buildings like Capco Plaza (42nd/Alaska) and The Whittaker (Fauntleroy/Alaska).
ADDED FRIDAY MORNING: The pay stations are in place:
You can also pay by phone.
(WSB photo)
Going on 44 hours since the first outages caused by Tuesday night’s windstorm, the biggest remaining pocket finally got power back tonight. We took that photo of a Seattle City Light crew working near 49th/Waite just after dusk tonight; the outage map shows the longrunning 300+-customer pocket in that area has had power restored. The map still shows more than 20 spot outages remaining around West Seattle – most affecting one or two customers. Around the SCL service area, 1,000+ customers are still out, down from what the utility says was a peak of 74,000 customers.
(WSB photo)
As previewed this morning, this year’s first West Seattle Art Walk is happening now! Above is one of the artists you can meet, Edimbo Lekea, the painter who founded Natty Dread Illustration to tell the “Untold TRUstory of the Afro-Diaspora.” You can meet him and see his art at Snip-Its (4506 California SW) until 8:30 tonight. Some other artists are having receptions elsewhere, while some have work you can enjoy online, and others are showing work you can enjoy at local businesses throughout the month – go here for the full lineup.
“This will be a year of rebuilding.” That observation from the new chair of our area’s largest political organization, the 34th District Democrats, as they met last night to elect new leadership – their every-two-years reorganization. After two years, Gina Topp decided not to run for another term as chair, and Carla Rogers was elected unopposed. They had a virtual gavel-passing during the online meeting (in our screengrabs below, that’s Topp holding the gavel):
Others elected included 1st vice chair Rachel Glass, 2nd vice chair Jordan Crawley, state committee representatives Chris Porter and Janine Anzalota, county committee reps Norman Sigler and Leah Griffin, county committee alternates Bunny Hatcher and Richard O’Neill, treasurer Julie Whittaker and secretary Sara Smith. Post-vote, Rogers – whose goals are laid out in the organization’s latest newsletter – observed, “This is going to be quite an adventure.” The organization spans the entire 34th Legislative District, including West Seattle, White Center, part of Burien, and Vashon/Maury Islands.
3:12 PM: Thanks to Kersti Muul of Salish Wildlife Watch for the tip: Orcas are in view from West Seattle right now! They’re visible from Constellation Park, east of mid-channel, Kersti says, southbound, passing Blake Island. Let us know if you see them.
3:29 PM: Update from Kersti – they’re “just hanging” off Emma Schmitz Memorial Overlook (across from Me-Kwa-Mooks – she says they’re transients so they may well be hunting (transients eat other marine mammals, unlike resident orcas, who focus on fish).
4:22 PM: Among those who’ve seen them, Mike Jensen:
A January treat…my first Orca sighting #seattle #westseattle #PNW pic.twitter.com/MmBUDOGgGh
— Mike Jensen (@mjtwit) January 14, 2021
ADDED THURSDAY NIGHT: Along with the photos in comments, here’s another one – from Kersti:
THURSDAY: If you’re out along the shore, be on the lookout for Laurie‘s neighbor’s floating dock. She sent the request for help:
During the big windstorm two nights ago, a little floating sea-life dock broke loose and floated away. It’s approximately 8×8 and has the letters “ADM C” on it. We’ve checked up and down Beach Drive to no avail and it’s possible it headed north around Alki (based on wind direction). If anyone sees it, please call Howard at 206-579-5316 and he will come retrieve it.
SATURDAY UPDATE; See comments – it’s been found! Thanks to everyone who looked.
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
The West Seattle Bridge Community Task Force‘s first meeting of 2021 was far more of a briefing than a discussion, two hours stuffed with information tidbits on almost every bridge-related topic.
When the volunteer advisory group’s members agreed to keep meeting even after Mayor Jenny Durkan announced her decision to have the closed high bridge repaired rather than replaced, that was one major role they agreed to keep – community information conduits. So as co-chair Greg Nickels described it, what happened at Wednesday’s meeting was the start of their “second phase of work”; co-chair Paulina López also urged CTF members to let them know how they’d like to “devote (their) energy … to next steps.”
The meeting video is above, and the full slide deck is here; below, highlights of what the group heard:
BRIDGE UPDATES: The high bridge has now been closed for almost 10 months. Project leader Heather Marx said stabilization work – a necessary first step no matter whether repairs or replacement had been chosen – is done and now they’re monitoring the bridge’s stability. She showed a schedule for both high- and low-bridge work ahead:
Last month, we reported on Mayor Jenny Durkan‘s announcement that she planned to pursue a ban on natural-gas usage in many types of new construction. On Wednesday, while we were focused on windstorm aftermath, her office announced that the proposal has been officially sent to the City Council. Note, this is for new multifamily/commercial construction and major remodeling of larger buildings, NOT existing gas usage. Here’s the announcement:
Following the State Environmental Policy Act process, Mayor Jenny A. Durkan announced that she has transmitted to City Council the proposed update to the energy code that would further electrify buildings using clean energy and restrict fossil fuels for most building use. By updating its energy code, the City will restrict the use of fossil fuels in new commercial and large multi-family construction for space and most water heating in order to cut down on the significant emissions contributed by the building sector. Space and water heating account for most building gas use according to City and national data.
“2020 and 2021 will be remembered as years of crises, and as we recover, Seattle can create a more equitable city with green buildings. It is up to Seattle and other cities to make the bold changes necessary to lower our greenhouse gas emissions,” said Mayor Durkan. “Business as usual will not get us to a future where all Seattle residents, especially our Black, Indigenous and people of color neighbors who are unfairly burdened by environmental inequities, enjoy a healthy and prosperous future. Electrifying our buildings is an important step in the many actions needed to curb climate pollution.”
The proposed Seattle Energy Code update includes the following key changes for commercial and large multifamily buildings:
Eliminates all gas and most electric resistance space heating systems
Eliminates gas water heating in large multifamily buildings and hotels
Improves building exteriors to improve energy efficiency and comfort
Creates more opportunities for solar power
Requires electrical infrastructure necessary for future conversion of any gas appliances in multifamily buildingsIn 2019, Mayor Durkan issued an Executive Order committing the City to new actions that will support the goals of Seattle’s Green New Deal. In addition to requiring that all new or substantially altered City of Seattle buildings operate without fossil fuels, City departments will work with the Office of Sustainability & Environment to develop a strategy to eliminate fossil fuel use in existing City buildings, improve data collection and sharing on Seattle’s climate emissions, and engage stakeholders like the philanthropic community, business community, labor community, non-governmental organizations, health care community, county and state agencies, state legislators, and tribes to achieve the goals of the Green New Deal.
The proposed energy code amendments will eliminate most direct carbon emissions from new commercial and multifamily buildings. Requiring these changes at construction is the most economical opportunity to transition to clean electricity. Without the proposed code changes, the City expects that greenhouse gas emissions from buildings to be at least 12% higher by 2050.
Since 2017, the City has also helped approximately 600 households convert from dirty, inefficient heating oil to clean, energy-efficient heat pumps. The City will convert more households to electric heat with the goal of eliminating heating oil use by 2028.
The City also requires Building Tune-Ups to help building owners identify ways to reduce energy and water costs. Through tune-ups, building owners find operational efficiencies and low- and no-cost fixes that improve building performance and can reduce building emissions 10-15% on average. Seattle’s largest buildings have completed 450 tune-ups to date, reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the city and saving money on their energy bills.
The Seattle Energy Code impacts new construction and substantial alterations of commercial and 4+ story tall multi-family buildings. The proposed code changes were recommended for approval late last year by Seattle’s Construction Codes Advisory Board (CCAB), an advisory body tasked with reviewing changes to technical codes for construction.
The City of Seattle is receiving technical support in developing the energy code from the Bloomberg Philanthropies American Cities Climate Challenge. Seattle is one of 25 cities participating in the Climate Challenge, a program to significantly deepen and accelerate their efforts to tackle climate change and promote a sustainable future for their residents.
With City Council approval, code updates will become effective in the spring of 2021, along with the full suite of Seattle building code changes in line with the statewide building code updates. For more information about the proposed energy code updates, including the proposed code language, visit the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections energy code web page.
We’ll follow up when it appears on council agendas (which you can always preview here, once they are published).
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