‘I don’t think this is really political’: Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson orders faster Seattle permitting as apartment reviews stretch past a year

Large apartment projects in Seattle currently spend about 374 days in city-controlled permit review, more than double the city’s own 180-day target. Middle housing — smaller-scale projects like duplexes and triplexes that Washington pushed cities to allow more of under 2023’s House Bill 1110 — takes nearly four months to permit instead of the city’s two-month goal.

In response, Seattle Mayor Katie Wilson signed an executive order requiring Seattle’s permitting, utilities, and housing departments to coordinate approvals, and is forming a housing production task force to identify other barriers slowing construction. The move follows a campaign promise from Wilson to speed up housing permitting citywide.

KIRO hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin discussed the order on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio.

“Great job, mayor,” Gee said. “I don’t think this is really political. This should be rules to get things done, not things in place for nothing to get done.”

Ursula pushed back on the idea that permitting delays are purely bureaucratic rather than the product of policy choices.

“There are many who believe that certain policies, whether it’s zoning laws, or having to go through all these steps, is based on policy that gets in the way of production,” Ursula said.

Unlike legislation passed by the Seattle City Council, an executive order directs how city departments operate under the mayor’s existing authority. However, it doesn’t change zoning code or other laws that may also be contributing to delays.

No one wants a slow permitting process

Gee said he hasn’t encountered anyone, including homeowners waiting on routine permits, who wants the process to move slower.

“I ain’t met nobody that was waiting on a permit to get a patio, an extended patio, or an addition on their house that say, ‘No, Gee, I want it to be slow because I want to make sure,'” Gee said.

Ursula said the slowdowns trace back to decisions made by city leadership rather than individual homeowners or contractors, and pointed to changes like reduced in-office staffing as one factor contractors have flagged to the show.

“These are not decisions that we make. These are decisions that people in power make,” Ursula said. “That’s the No. 1 thing that we see on our text line when we talk about construction: The number of contractors who say it takes forever because of all this bureaucracy, because of things like still not having all your city workers back in office five days a week.”

Despite recent criticism of Wilson on other issues, Ursula believes the mayor deserves credit for addressing the permitting slowdown directly.

“I’ll give her kudos for this, realizing, wait a minute, there are things that are bogging everything down, and we need to free that up,” Ursula added.

Both hosts said they support streamlining the process, with Gee inviting listeners who disagree to explain why.

“Who would be against streamlining and making sure that it is not as slow as it has been when it comes to permits in the city?” Gee asked. “Maybe you’re listening right now. Maybe you could text me and say, ‘Gee, here’s why I wanted to slow down.’ I just don’t see anybody being against that.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.