Director of Housing and Urbanism @Sightline. Before that, worked as an urban planning consultant. Before that, was an electrical engineer. Views here just mine.
Seattle
Joined November 2010
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Dan Bertolet retweeted
Now legal in Missoula: ADUs, townhomes, cottage courts, apartments, small-scale multiplexes. Mixed use on every parcel. Costly off-street parking mandates gone.
The new code doesn't just lead Montana... it sets a new standard for every city in the US. sightline.org/2026/04/28/mis…
Thank you @GovBobFerguson, Sen. Alvarado, @davinaduerr, and many others!
Here’s Sightline’s writeup on WA’s bill to legalize housing in commercial zones and make ground-floor retail optional:
sightline.org/2026/03/11/was…
One big reason Washington now leads the pack on statewide housing abundance legislation is that it just passed the nation's strongest parking reform bill.
Here's what made that possible:
sightline.org/2025/05/16/how…
I'm calling it:
Washington has now accomplished more on statewide zoning reform than any other US state.
In the just ended 2025 legislative session, Washington lawmakers knocked out nation-leading parking and TOD bills, and more.
sightline.org/2025/05/15/was…
I'm calling it:
Washington has now accomplished more on statewide zoning reform than any other US state.
In the just ended 2025 legislative session, Washington lawmakers knocked out nation-leading parking and TOD bills, and more.
sightline.org/2025/05/15/was…
WA has a bill for that:
app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?…
More about it over at the blue place
If you followed this account to track housing bills in the Washington state legislature, I'm now posting over at the blue new place.
#waleg
A parking reform bill is in the works for WA's 2025 session.
We know parking mandates worsen affordability, climate, and sprawl.
On top of that, the parking rules in WA cities are an arbitrary, inconsistent cluster that begs for a state fix.
sightline.org/2024/10/01/was…
Ahoy parking policy nerds of Washington state!
Tommorow at noon @Citizen_Cate will give a rundown of just how bonkers and damaging local parking rules are in cities all across WA.
It's even worse than you thought.
lu.ma/un5mc0qz
The important story here is that market-rate rentals can be affordable if enough new housing is getting built to meet demand.
The couple got a market-rate 1-bed for $1,500/month, which is cheaper than the 60% AMI housing provided by MHA.
seattletimes.com/business/re…
In WA, IZ can be funded with property tax abatements without reducing property tax revenue.
It's a relatively progressive way to fund affordable housing, because all property owners pay a little more tax to cover what's not collected on the IZ building.
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
WA state was way ahead of the game when almost 30 years ago it launched a program that grants tax exemptions on buildings that set aside a certain portion of affordable units.
Known as MFTE, this optional version of funded IZ has created thousands of affordable apartments.
Ahoy inclusionary zoning nerds!
This table shows all the examples of mandatory IZ with significant funding that I could find. Any others out there?
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
TOD is a major piece of unfinished business on statewide zoning reform for WA and many other states.
One big reason: the policy and political pitfalls of inclusionary zoning that's typically also mandated by TOD bills.
There's a solution: Funded IZ.
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
The good news is there's a solution to the fatal flaws of unfunded IZ and it's up and running in Baltimore.
Baltimore mandates affordability but makes up for the forgone rent with property tax abatements.
A win-win: more housing overall, with a portion guaranteed affordable.
Baltimore's funded IZ also elegantly avoids the problem of relying on upfront fuzzy math to set IZ parameters.
The tax abatement is based on the actual rent that is forgone on the required affordable units, updated every year.
Read more about here:
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…