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The Port of Seattle is following through on promises to take legal action to halt a recently approved Seattle bill that allows residential housing near Seattle’s professional sports venues.
The Port filed the appeal in the King County Superior Court last week, arguing that the bill is unlawful.
Council Bill 120933 amends the city’s land use code to allow for workforce housing in the Stadium Transition Area Overlay District, which encompasses Lumen Field and T-Mobile Park.
According to a fiscal note, the intent of the bill is to create a livelier Stadium District by allowing residential uses that serve a mix of incomes.
During discussions on the legislation, Seattle City Council Chair Sara Nelson said the bill will help address the city’s affordability crisis and help small businesses. Planned privately subsidized housing and workspaces will also be built using 100% unionized labor.
The Port’s appeal accuses the city of “spot-zoning,” which is a controversial practice where land-use rules are changed for a small, specific area in order to benefit a single project.
The appeal alleges that the city approved the legislation to rezone a small, three-block area of industrial land for one single project that promises to add up to 990 residential units.
Issues taken up by opponents of the passed legislation include the possibility of thousands of new residents right next to some of the city’s busiest industrial arterial streets, and pushing low-income residents into more polluted and less protected areas.
“The Port feels we must take these actions to defend industrially zoned lands critical to our economic development and job creation mission,” Port of Seattle Executive Director Steve Metruck said in a statement. “The harmful impact to maritime and industrial operations caused by this spot rezone were not dutifully considered and there are many inconsistencies with state, county, and local land use regulations.”
The office of Mayor Bruce Harrell and the City Attorney's Office declined to comment on active litigation.
Harrell’s office told The Center Square in an email that it continues to believe in legislation from 2023 that rezoned the Stadium Transition Area Overlay District to an urban industrial zone, but unlike other urban industrial zones, most residential uses were prohibited within the district.
“We remained neutral on this legislation throughout the City Council’s recent process,” the mayor's office concluded.