by Sara 

Shoreline plan recommends added setbacks, more access

20 Comments

Photo courtesy of the Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

 

A second draft of Seattle?s Shoreline Master Program has been released and in it are recommendations to limit the number of houseboats and to increase building setbacks by another 10 feet.
Seattle?s Department of Planning and Development announced the proposed changes this morning and are soliciting feedback from neighbors before a final draft is penned. The update revises all of Seattle?s shorelines including Lake Union/Ship Canal, the Puget Sound, Lake Washington, Green Lake and the Duwamish River.
The revisions focus on environmental protection while promoting public access. Included in the proposed revised regulations are:

? Prohibiting new floating homes and house barges
? Increasing shoreline setbacks for new residential development from 25feet to 35feet
? Prohibiting new hard shoreline bulkheads, such as concrete, unless there is the threat of water undermining a principle structure or substantial accessory structure within three years or the bulkhead is required for conducting water-related business activity
? Clarifying the use of shoreline environment for some non-water dependant uses when supporting water-dependant businesses
? Improving public access to the shoreline by encouraging the connection of public access

You can see the revisions by clicking here.

Written comments are being sought through Dec. 6. Please send your written comments to Margaret Glowacki at margaret.glowaci@seattle.gov or to the following address: 700 5th Ave. Ste. 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019

About the author 

Sara

  1. 今天辛卯年(兔)九月三十 2011-10-26过来就为了看这篇,7hx8eu评论还要审核

  2. 今天辛卯年(兔)九月三十 2011-10-26过来就为了看这篇,6mc6iy评论还要审核

  3. Just once, I’d like to see a regulatory revision that allows the public and homeowners to do more things rather than less. But no, to?the regulatory mindset is that there are never enough rules. More, more, more. If we don’t watch out, we’ll become like the Prussians of a century ago, of who other Europeans said, “everything that is not prohibited is mandatory.”

    For an illustration, note this new prohibition on “new hard shoreline bulkheads, such as concrete, unless there is the threat of water undermining a principle structure or substantial accessory structure within three years.”

    So someone’s whose home is likely to tumble into Puget Sound in four years rather than three can’t do anything? That is crazy. Utterly crazy.

    Why, with high unemployment rate in the construction industry, shouldn’t we want a firm that builds bulkheads to get work like this? Why shouldn’t someone who wants to build a bulkhead and someone who wants to build it for him be able to come to an agreement without some bureaucratic “master” getting in the way?

    And, with weather experts are predicting a particularly cold and stormy winter, what if we have a storm that creates four years of erosion in a single night? That could easily happen.?Shouldn’t homeowners have the right to protect their homes against that? No, not if Shoreline’s Master Program has any say. And of course, it that happens, don’t come to them expecting they’ll cover the damages.

    I’m?beginning to understand how a neighbor felt when I lived in Lake City. He was building a free-standing garage and a Seattle?bureaucrat with nothing better to do kept dropping by, telling him what he couldn’t do and what would happen to him if he did. The attic, which would have made an excellent shop, had to have low ceilings, lest it become an apartment to be rented out.

    The Germans are right. Many of these people are “little Hitlers” and should be treated as such.

    1. I for one am glad that people have regulations which protect the environment, the views for all and allow for access to public lands (shorelines). Sometimes the rules that seem arbitrary for one specific person or situation make sense for the population at large. I would hate to see what developers or individual homeowners with little interest in how their desires effect everyone else. A great example is that horrible cement bulkhead on the shoreline that you can see sitting at Ray’s. It’s obviously needed, but perhaps better zoning would have kept this from needing to be built. Everybody has their opinion- this is just mine

Comments are closed.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
Subscribe to get the latest updates