On Tuesday, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell introduced a series of design review reforms aimed at expediting housing development in the city.
These reforms come as the deadline set by the state approaches, prompting urgency from the Mayor’s Office to push for changes swiftly.
To address the upcoming deadline, Harrell has suggested implementing a six-month pause on design review requirements.
This interim step is designed to facilitate a smoother transition to a revised, streamlined design review process in the long term.
For years, the topic of design review reforms has been under discussion in Seattle, with various stakeholder processes taking place.
However, actual citywide legislation has been slow to materialize, leaving key aspects of the proposed reforms uncertain.
As reported last summer by The Urbanist, state lawmakers recognized the stagnation and took action.
In 2023, the Washington State Legislature passed House Bill 1293, which enforces a cap on the number of design review meetings per development project to just one.
Additionally, the bill mandates that design standards must be ‘clear and objective,’ with Seattle facing a compliance deadline of July 1, 2025.
Due to delays in passing the city’s Comprehensive Plan update, the new design review reform requirements become effective six months after the missed deadline, creating an urgent need for interim legislation.
The Comprehensive Plan, crucial for outlining the city’s growth strategies regarding housing, jobs, and infrastructure, is updated once every decade.
The delay in Seattle’s update occurred largely due to internal conflicts within the Harrell Administration, which diluted a more ambitious proposal from the City planning department.
Although the Mayor has issued his ‘Final Mayor’s Recommended One Seattle Plan’ to the City Council, the typical review and approval process could take several months.
Furthermore, public outreach processes will also prolong the timeline before the plan can be fully enacted.
Despite concerns about the Comprehensive Plan, Harrell emphasizes the critical need for increased housing and aims to remove unnecessary delays in the permitting process for builders.
‘Building more housing is imperative for Seattle, and we are taking essential steps to streamline our design review process,’ said Mayor Harrell in a statement.
He added, ‘These changes will modernize our process, ensuring that it focuses on key elements such as safe buildings and community needs, while eliminating delays.’
According to the Mayor’s Office, the proposed reforms are expected to reduce the number of projects undergoing design review by up to 40% annually.
This reduction would potentially decrease the permitting time for most new housing projects by one to two years.
Projects newly exempt from design review are anticipated to save anywhere from four to nine months in the overall permitting timeline, thanks to a more straightforward process.
Importantly, the fundamental safety and technical code reviews will remain intact for all projects throughout the existing construction permitting framework.
A coalition of builders and housing advocates known as Seattle for Everyone has long championed these design review reforms.
Brady Nordstrom, the coordinator for Seattle for Everyone, expressed strong support for the mayor’s initiatives.
‘Our design review process significantly impacts housing affordability and accessibility,’ said Nordstrom.
‘While we have witnessed some positive changes, there is still more work to be done.
We can’t control all the factors affecting the rising costs of housing, but we can enhance how we permit and review new constructions.’
He expressed enthusiasm about the city’s progress in implementing the requirements of HB 1293, emphasizing the importance of stakeholder and public input.
Nordstrom noted that the reform effort presents a significant opportunity to improve the system for everyone, thereby increasing clarity, reducing barriers, and prioritizing housing in more locations.
Seattle for Everyone has highlighted the challenges complex housing projects encounter due to a high number of review meetings, which often slow down the permitting process.
Historically, builders started with the expectation of three design review meetings, but some projects would require additional meetings if board members were dissatisfied, sometimes based on subjective opinions rather than objective design standards.
From 2010 to 2020, the design review process contributed to an average permitting timeframe that exceeded two years.
Raymond Connell, the managing director at Holland Partner Group, expressed his support for the reforms, noting that the variability in design review requirements had made the building process frustratingly protracted for developers.
‘Our experience shows that meaningful reforms will facilitate quicker housing development in Seattle,’ Connell stated.
In 2024, Holland Partner Group began construction on a 45-story downtown high-rise, marking it as the first residential tower groundbreaking on the West Coast that year due to a regional downturn in tower construction.
At times, the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) faced criticism for resisting or delaying reform efforts from builders and housing advocates.
However, Nathan Torgelson, the long-time SDCI director who recently announced his departure, has expressed support for the proposed design review reforms.
‘We are enhancing transparency, respecting community feedback, and saving substantial time in the permitting process with these reforms,’ Torgelson remarked.
He emphasized that this updated approach would streamline the design review process while still upholding the goal of creating much-needed housing for the city.
The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties has also voiced its support for the mayor’s reforms, with spokesperson Parker Dawson highlighting the importance of streamlining design reviews in conjunction with middle housing reforms.
‘These changes are particularly crucial for smaller homebuilders focused on constructing middle housing that is essential in addressing our region’s housing shortage,’ Dawson said.
He noted that simplifying the design review process and eliminating costly delays would enhance the feasibility for local builders to deliver ‘missing middle’ homes that cater to working families.
The proposals outlined by the Mayor’s Office boast several notable improvements for the interim and future permanent design review framework.
One key measure is the extension of the successful exemption for affordable housing.
The interim ordinance would prolong a design review exemption for projects meeting Mandatory Housing Affordability (MHA) requirements by six months, an exemption set to expire in August 2025.
During a pilot program that spanned two years, the number of proposed onsite housing units more than doubled compared to previous years in the MHA program.
Building on that achievement, a legislative proposal coming this summer aims to make this exemption a permanent feature of the design review process.
Another important change involves raising the threshold for exempting projects from design review.
Under the new proposal, building projects with 150 or more housing units or 20,000 or more square feet of commercial space will be exempt from review.
Additionally, smaller projects, those outside Urban Centers or Regional Growth Centers, and projects that fall under other specialized review boards, such as the Landmark Preservation Board, will also be excluded from design review.
The reform initiative also aims to simplify and clarify design guidelines.
The Mayor’s Office has committed to paring down design guidelines to align with the state’s ‘clear and objective’ standard, ensuring that permanent design review guidelines are comprehensible and focused solely on building exterior elements.
Another significant proposal involves consolidating the existing local design review boards into a single citywide board.
Currently, eight geographically oriented boards will be replaced with a singular citywide board comprised of 14 members possessing expertise in design, development, and equity.
In this configuration, projects within established equity areas will engage board members from the local community, aiming to simplify the process, ensure consistency, and enhance representation for historically underserved communities.
A new administrative route for design review departures is also part of Mayor Harrell’s proposal.
Currently, builders seek departures from design standards during meetings with design review boards, often in exchange for added public benefits.
Harrell assured that such adaptability would continue under the proposed reforms, allowing for departures from design standards for projects that address community benefits like fulfilling equity objectives or improving street-level design.
Projects that are exempt from design review will also enjoy the option for similar flexibility through an administrative process.
Notably, design review departures may encourage some projects to voluntarily opt into a design review meeting even during the moratorium, as such departures might enable more efficient, effective, or aesthetically pleasing designs than those allowed by the city’s existing land use code.
The Mayor’s Office clarified that the reform package will not affect the three-year design review holiday he previously proposed and that the City Council approved as part of the Downtown Activation Plan (DAP) in 2024.
This pilot program, exclusive to downtown, is set to run until November 2, 2027.
Some observers argue that the city could have expedited its overall design review efforts by avoiding a piecemeal approach that granted a downtown exemption while the rest of the city awaited changes.
Furthermore, Mayor Harrell has maintained that the downtown design review holiday is a critical component of his activation plan, which aims to revive economic activity in the downtown area following pandemic-related declines in office occupancy and local retail business.
Looking ahead, Harrell’s administration plans to submit interim legislation to the City Council shortly, following the completion of the State Environmental Policy Act review process, which commenced on June 9 and is anticipated to conclude by June 26.
This tight timeline presents a challenge, as passing the legislation by June would require expedited action, but approval could still occur in July.
The reception at the City Council is expected to vary, with some members like Councilmember Mark Solomon and Council President Sara Nelson indicating support for streamlining permits.
On the flip side, Councilmember Cathy Moore, who is set to resign soon, has voiced skepticism regarding builder-friendly policies.
‘Safe, well-designed buildings are paramount for fostering secure neighborhoods,’ Solomon emphasized.
‘By simplifying the design review process and centering on clear, objective standards, we’re ensuring that safety, accessibility, and visibility remain key priorities as Seattle expands.’
While it seems the mayor may gather enough support for the reforms, the possibility remains for Moore to stage a last-minute effort to dilute the proposals during her final days in office.
Ultimately, Moore’s upcoming departure on July 7 could eliminate an obstacle in the approval process, allowing the reforms to advance more smoothly.
image source from：https://www.theurbanist.org/2025/06/12/harrell-proposes-design-review-moratorium/
