Case study: Seattle fast-tracks housing—SV cities could, too

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Seattle’s mayor wants to cut subjective design reviews and greenlight code-compliant housing without endless back-and-forth. As the City of Seattle reports, this trims months off construction starts. San Jose, Mountain View, and Palo Alto could follow suit.: SB 330 already lets cities exempt qualifying multifamily projects from Architectural Review Board purgatory.

The proposal would eliminate most design review board meetings for new multifamily and commercial projects, replacing them with an administrative process based on clear, objective design standards. City staff would review plans for compliance, skipping the public comment and discretionary decision phases that can delay approvals by many months.

“The current process has become a bottleneck,” Mayor Harrell said. “We can maintain quality design without adding unnecessary time and cost.”

The changes also aim to make the process more predictable for developers. By clearly defining what’s acceptable and ensuring staff decisions are consistent, the city hopes to reduce uncertainty and legal risk: two factors that often push up housing costs.

Go Deeper:

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For projects that do still require public input, timelines would be tightened and meeting requirements simplified, ensuring review happens quickly and doesn’t become an open-ended obstacle.

Harrell’s office estimates the reforms could cut permitting time by as much as 4–6 months for many projects.

[Editor's note:In the Silicon Valley context, SB 330 already provides a framework for similar streamlining. Mountain View and Palo Alto could codify exemptions for code-compliant multifamily housing, rely on objective design standards, and skip discretionary design review entirely,unlocking new housing while keeping architectural quality.]

Read the full article here.

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