SEATTLE — After years of negotiation, argument and study, Seattle leaders are poised to vote on broad protections for industrial land meant to protect blue-collar work inside city limits.
Seattle lawmakers are considering a rezoning plan that has thus far received broad support from stakeholders. It’s up for a vote Tuesday by the City Council.
Concentrated near the Duwamish Waterway, in the Interbay neighborhood and on the Lake Washington Ship Canal, industrial land makes up about 12% of Seattle’s area. It generates about 15% of employment in the city.
According to Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, Seattle’s industrial area employment grew 1.6% between 2010 and 2018, with aerospace and manufacturing sectors’ employment declining, as the city’s population jumped 20%.
As residential land in the city has grown more expensive and the economy has shifted in the past two decades, interest in converting industrial land for housing and commerce has increased, putting industrial businesses at odds with residents and developers.
For several years, city administrators have tried to address those conflicts piecemeal. In 2021, city leaders, business owners and community activists ultimately reached a consensus on a collection of zoning changes, called Industrial and Maritime Strategy, meant to preserve the city’s factories, rail yards and shipyards while freeing up some land for new homes, offices, small businesses and laboratories.
The strategy would create several new land-use zones, tailoring developments to areas’ needs. If approved by the City Council, the new zones would largely replace the current industrial zoning in the city.
While the package had a 85% acceptance rate among more than 60 groups with a stake in industrial land that were part of a city-mediated advisory group, the plan did not come about without compromise, said Councilmember Dan Strauss, who mediated discussions and is the chair of the Land Use Committee.
“There are stakeholders that want to see no changes in industrial lands, and then there are other stakeholders that want to see full-blown allowances for housing and office space that does not include industrial uses,” Strauss said.
To move forward, he said, the groups had to accept trade-offs.
For example, if the plan is entirely approved, zones in Ballard and Interbay will loosen “some of the definitions around industrial lands to accommodate businesses that suit the rest of the Ballard-Fremont area,” Port of Seattle Commissioner Ryan Calkins said. “We can live with it in order to get that kind of stability and certainty around the rest of the industrial zone.”
“Some certainty”
The largest of the new zones, called Maritime, Manufacturing and Logistics, would put a hard stop on debates around the use of those industrial lands. It would protect areas of core industrial and maritime uses, such as manufacturing, warehousing, shipping and freight logistics.
The package would also create new zones — called Industry and Innovation, and Urban Industrial — meant to buffer industrial land from office spaces and Seattle’s residential areas. Some residential and commercial development would be allowed in areas that receive either zoning.
“We are able to better protect critical industries and add flexibility to offers of these zones that encourage more office and housing space,” Strauss said.
For years, developers have been pushing into industrial areas in North Seattle and Sodo, said Eugene Wasserman, president of the North Seattle Industry Association, a trade group representing maritime and manufacturing businesses.
That’s especially true in Sodo near T-Mobile Park and Lumen Field, where real estate interest is high, Commissioner Calkins said.
In June, the city halted a 900-housing unit development in Sodo, known as “Makers District.” The Makers District’s backers planned to build housing, hotels and commercial spaces for artists and brewers close to the stadiums. Proponents included the public agencies managing the stadiums, the Housing Development Consortium and the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council.
The city halting the Makers District was good news for the port, which was concerned housing developments would impede the flow of trucks moving to pick up cargo from arriving ships.
Calkins welcomed what he sees as a lasting solution to encroachment on industrial spaces.
“It creates some stability,” Calkins said. “For a long time, this conversation has created uncertainty for business partners, for the port, for landowners and Sodo. And I think for the first time in a long time there’s going to be some certainty around zoning.”
Still, an environmental study of the Industrial and Maritime Strategy found some housing would “not cause adverse impacts on nearby industrial activities … if carefully implemented.”
South of Sodo, in the city’s Georgetown and South Park neighborhoods, the Industrial and Maritime Strategy would allow for housing next to manufacturing and industrial centers, as well as commercial and city-owned open spaces. Deputy Mayor Tim Burgess said the Urban Industrial zoning would lead to 3,000 housing units, mostly in those neighborhoods.
Residential development on Urban Industrial-zoned land would be required to have half the units with rent at 80% of the area’s median income, a level considered affordable for workers. Seattle’s median household income is $105,391. Since it is next to industrial land, the buildings must also be built to mitigate noise and air pollution.
Increasing housing can help develop those neighborhoods without eroding Seattle’s industrial footprint, Rico Quirindongo, the Director of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development, said.
A workforce pipeline
The plan’s supporters hope protection of industrial land in Sodo will lead to more investment there by manufacturers. Seattle-based First Mode, which retrofits trucks for hydrogen fuel, recently announced construction of its first manufacturing plant in Sodo, a $19 million investment. According to the company, it will employ 120 union workers during factory construction and 80 full-time employees once fully operational.
The city expects the Industrial and Maritime Strategy will result in 35,000 new jobs over the next 20 years. These jobs, many of which are unionized with competitive wages and benefits, may incentivize people of color and women to pursue careers in industrial occupations.
Strauss said that there is more work to be done on developing this pipeline for workers from marginalized groups. But he added that the Industrial and Maritime Strategy provides protection for the zoning that supports these jobs.
Another new land-use zone, Industry and Innovation, would encourage industrial development, especially near light-rail stations within the industrial areas. It would also allow for office space, using upper floors of buildings for nonindustrial uses if the lower floors were used for industrial activity.
Industrial and Maritime Strategy planning manager Geoff Wentlandt said the option to have office space in the Industry and Innovation zone would be another source of investment because “it encourages major new buildings and development that would include some industrial space.”
The City Council will vote on the package on Tuesday. It may adopt the rezone legislation in its entirety, or adopt most of it and refine it over the next year. City Council could choose to retain the existing zoning rules until another vote in 2024.
