What is Your Neighborhood Doing?

Overall median home price and volume were down in King and Snohomish Counties for February 2009, comparing year over year sales. However, there were five neighborhoods in King County with positive gains in Median Home Price. The winners are:

Belltown/Seattle – 10.4%
Des Moines/Redondo – 8.9%
Newcastle – 7.2%
Vashon Island – 4.3%
Central Dist/Seattle – 1.5%

We have the numbers for your particular neighborhood. Don’t hesitate to contact us anytime we can be of assistance at 425-330-0663.

Shoreline, WA Is On The List – Yikes!

As many of you may or may not know, Shoreline, WA is one of the proposed sites for a 640-bed municipal jail facility. The site is located at 2545 NE 200th St which lies on the Northeast side of Shoreline bordering Lake Forest Park.

In November, we posted the news release from the city identifying the six sites. Since then, there have been public forums and meetings held by both the city and the surrounding neighborhoods. If you would like to get involved, review tapes of the public forums, or simply find out more information about the proposed site you can visit http://www.necmunicipaljail.org/ .

You can also read more and submit written comments regarding the EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) by visiting these links; http://www.necmunicipaljail.org/SEPA.htm and http://www.necmunicipaljail.org/docs/NEC_2008_EIS_Scoping_Notice.pdf.
Please note the following notice received from a local resident:

Dear Neighbors, Friends and Shoreline residents,

The community is organizing opposition to the proposed jail site at the residentially zoned, Aldercrest Annex. Comments on environmental impact and ideas are needed on an appropriate use of this property such as park, soccer complex etc.

The following are two web sites with updates and information on what you can do to help.
Concerned citizens of Lake Forest Park have started this web site, check it out:

www.NoShorelineJail.org

Local Housing Stimulus Package

As reported by NWREporter

More housing and, ultimately, more construction jobs are the goals of a new housing stimulus package approved by the King County Council at its Dec. 15, 2008 meeting. The measure, proposed by King County Council Chair Julia Patterson and King County Executive Ron Sims, passed with a 6-0 vote, with three members excused.

The package aims for a more streamlined and cost-effective development and permitting process for builders, which is expected to result in more revenue for the county and more environmentally-friendly development. The measure is expected to increase certainty, predictability and consistency for housing builders and lenders while providing critical infrastructure, jobs-based training and educational opportunities.

“This housing stimulus proposal is just one of our efforts to help stimulate our regional economy,” said Executive Ron Sims. “These changes will pay big dividends in the long run because they’ll not only help the struggling housing industry, but also continue to provide benefits to the housing development process long after this worldwide economic crisis passes. We have seen a significant decrease in housing permits. It is essential to look forward to ensure there is enough appropriate housing stock to meet the housing needs in the future.”

The Housing Stimulus Plan adopted by the council considered 10 elements:

1. Review and consider expanding current extensions for approved preliminary plats and short plats;
2. Review and consider expanding current extensions for approved building permits;
3. Permit processing improvements, including but not limited to: project management refinements; implement preferred applicant program for land use inspections, and consider other preferred application processes similar to city of Seattle; review impact of inspection costs on subsidized housing that is already subject to inspection and program requirements; and explore alternatives and process improvements to performance and maintenance bonds;
4. Implement the recommendations from the permit technical advisory committee;
5. Consider increased density bonuses for sustainable development projects;
6. Consider greater development flexibility including, but not limit to; reduced parking requirements, flexible road standards, reduced building setbacks, increased heights and floor area ratios and flexible standards for low impact development, and consider options related to moving the point of collection of all county administered impact fees to a date closer to the end of the development and building process;
7. Consider expanding the use of more efficient in lieu fee mitigation programs including implementing the county’s updated mitigation reserves program to provide greater applicant flexibility and improved environmental outcomes;
8. Identify county properties appropriate for housing development; use of surplus properties; consider co-location of services and housing development for mixed-use opportunities; request for qualifications and proposals for affordable and workforce housing; and leasing county land for affordable and workforce housing use;
9. Continue to only require the replacement or repair of cracked sidewalks when critical to address structural or safety defects; and
10. Work with federal and state government and other partners; advocate for a federal stimulus package which includes resources for local public works infrastructure projects that may allow for reductions in or reimbursements of transportation and school impact fee programs to local jurisdictions; partner with the King County Housing Authority on a homebuyer education program aimed at current renters; coordinate with water and sewer utilities regarding the timing of sewer charges to coincide with occupancy permit issuance; and work with school districts to consider collection of impact fees at a date closer to the end of the development and building process.

According to 2008 market research by the National Association of Home Builders, an average of 3.05 jobs and $89,216 in taxes are produced from building an average new single family home and the development of a typical one-hundred-unit multifamily apartment complex generates one hundred sixteen jobs, $8,670,900 in income from all affected industries and $3,349,400 in tax revenue. In addition, every job created on site by creating or renovating affordable housing an additional 1.5 jobs are created off site. For every dollar invested in affordable housing, an additional ten to fifteen dollars of economic benefit was generated for the surrounding community.

“Executive Sims’ effort to advance a housing stimulus plan represents an important first step toward enhancing the economic vitality of our region’s housing market and getting the economy back on track,” said Sam Anderson, executive officer of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. “The motion recognizes what a critical role housing plays in our local economy, contributing jobs and helping to fund valuable local services.”

Mt Rainier Puts On A Show

Mt Rainier, photo by Tim Thomspon

Those of us that live in the NorthWest know we are lucky to have the scenic views that we do. But every now and then we are still amazed by nature’s beauty. Back in December Mt Rainier put on a show that captivated many with it’s amazing cloud formations. To check out more photos and learn about how these formations came about check out KATU’s blog.

Just In Case You Haven’t Heard…

Just in case you have not watched, listened to, or read any local news Western Washington is flooding and has caused many road closures including I-5.  A  stretch of Interstate 5 from mile post 68 to mile post 88 is closed due to water over the roadway, many highways in the area are closed making it tough to get out of Western Washington  in any direction.

Please check the Washington State Department of Transportation for up to date road conditions and closures. It might not be a bad idea to stock up on food, batteries, and fresh water too, just in case!

Puget Sound Christmas Lights

I love, love, love Chrismas Lights. At our house, I do the inside and my husband does the outside. For some reason he enjoys putting the lights up in the rain and cold and many times he’s crawling on the roof at midnight fixing that one light.  As much as I love our own lights we also enjoy going to light festivals. Here are just a few of the big ones around the Seattle area but of course you can always just drive around your own neighborhood. Let me know if there are some really good ones that I should add to the list!

• Bellevue – Festival deLights and Snowflake Lane
• Stanwood – Warm Beach The Lights of Christmas
• Downtown Seattle – A list of events here Downtown Holidays
• Tacoma – Zoo Lights
• Renton – Ivar’s Lights
• Leavenworth – a drive but worth it!

Downtown Seattle Traffic Improvements!

I don’t go downtown much, actually very rarely, but to those that do have you noticed a change in traffic flow? Apparently Seattle has gone through and re timed the traffic signals downtown, something that hasn’t been done in over 2 decades! That seems crazy to wait that long. With all the complaints of how bad traffic is how come this wasn’t done sooner? The Seattle PI reported it only cost $300,000 to do the work so I’m wondering why that wasn’t one of the first ideas on the table years ago. The city still plans to work on more signals downtown and of course spend millions in other traffic improvements. To read the entire article from the Seattle PI click here.