Seattle shows love for backyard cottages: Today So Far

• There has been a surge in new accessory dwelling units in Seattle within just a few years.
• We are three years past the initial surge of Covid in our region. Now, some things are fading away, and other aspects linger.

This post originally appeared in KUOW's Today So Far newsletter for March 9, 2023.

There has been a surge in new accessory dwelling units in Seattle within just a few years. What is an "accessory dwelling unit?" That is fancy city hall speak for "backyard cottage" or a simple apartment in a home. For decades, you have likely heard of these units referred to as "mother-in-law apartments" (my ma-in-law lives with me, so I can say that). These days, you're more likely to hear them called "ADUs."

City leaders had been discussing backyard cottages for years, but little was ever done aside from committee meetings and some studies. Under Mayor Jenny Durkan, the city encouraged and fast-tracked this form of housing, partially by creating 10 pre-approved ADU plans. A homeowner could pick from the plans, which would skip over the time and cost of many permits and processes.

According to a new city report: Since 2019, Seattle has issued almost 1,000 permits to build ADUs in the city, which is more than four times the amount in 2018. Last year, 437 attached ADUs (attached to a house, like the conversion of a garage), and 551 detached ADUs (like backyard cottages) were permitted. A third of these were on property where a new single-family residence was built. Half were on properties with multiple ADUs. And only 11% were used as Airbnbs instead of normal housing.

This all isn't just happenstance, and it all isn't solely because of the former mayor's pre-approved ADU plan (only 130 of the city's pre-approved ADU plans have been permitted since they went active in 2020). Back in 2016, I reported a story about how Seattle had been running pilot programs for about a decade, looking into backyard cottages. The topic only made it as far as those committee meetings and studies I mentioned above. It all spurred criticisms from locals facing costly and lengthy permits, and also pushback from neighborhood groups. The issue evolved at City Hall. In 2019, the City Council approved a series of updates to Seattle's rules and regulations around ADUs. For example, at the time, Seattle did not require developers building massive apartments to provide any parking for the new residents. Yet, the city required a homeowner with an ADU to provide off-street parking.

It took a lot of years leading up to the changes passed by the City Council, but it seems that, after a much shorter period of time, we know the results — a lot more ADUs. The initial success doesn't mean that there aren't more fixes and improvements for the city to undertake. KUOW's Joshua McNichols has that story.

Another outcome I hope emerges from all this is that a lot of residents living in what I have called "speakeasy housing" will not be so worried about city regulations. I previously have lived in such a place, where I'm sure a few city boxes weren't checked (like off-street parking). One year, the city of Seattle held a citywide event where neighborhoods would host block parties for people to get to know each other. I checked out my local meet up and was surprised to discover ... other neighbors on my own street who were also living in ADUs! You'd never have known we were there. But there we were, making it work in an expensive city like Seattle.

We are three years past the initial surge of Covid in our region. A lot has happened since then. These days, cases are trending down, and vaccines are as widely available as toilet paper (phew!). Some final, lingering pandemic measures will fade out in April and May. This means that the free ride is over for Covid vaccines. The shots will still be free for kids. But once the government's supply for free doses is gone, Covid vaccines will come through the private market. Officials still recommend wearing masks in crowded settings.

Despite such measures going away, another aspect of the pandemic will continue to linger — Covid. More specifically, long Covid. About 8% of people who come down with Covid suffer from ongoing symptoms that can range from headaches to chest pain, fatigue, and brain fog. Along with the fact that severity of these symptoms can vary, it's proving difficult to get a diagnosis, or to get into a facility that can treat it. There are now long wait lines at clinics that specialize in long Covid. The people hit hardest by the pandemic are also hit hardest by this lingering condition.

AS SEEN ON KUOW

Boeing continues to store large numbers of undelivered 737 MAX jets at Grant County International Airport in Moses Lake. When the MAX was grounded in 2019 after two deadly accidents, Boeing kept manufacturing the airplane. Today, 100 or more undelivered MAX’s are still parked at the airfield in Moses Lake, awaiting modifications. The work is lasting so long that some technicians and machinists who were sent there from Boeing's Puget Sound facilities are now buying homes and putting down roots. (Northwest News Network)

DID YOU KNOW?

Today is Billy Frank Jr. Day. He is known for his work in the Fish Wars, an activist effort that basically reminded the state of Washington that it had signed a contract that stated Native American tribes could fish as they always had. Washington had been ignoring that contract for a few generations. But this issue is not the first time Frank's family had run into problems with local governments.

Frank was born on March 9, 1931 in Nisqually, Wash. His father, Willie, originally lived on the Nisqually Reservation, but in 1917, Pierce County gave reservation land over to the United States Army to expand Camp Lewis. At the time, there was a local desire to establish a larger military base in the area with the goal of spurring more economic activity. Pierce County voters approved a bond that would purchase 70,000 acres of land which would be donated to the military. Within that 70,000 acres, however, the county included 3,350 acres of plots on the Nisqually Reservation. At the time, tribal members were not allowed to vote on such decisions. The reservation originally straddled parts of Thurston and Pierce counties. Pierce wanted to hand over all the land from the reservation on its side of the county line, which was about two-thirds of the entire reservation. Fort Lewis eventually expanded over all the donated land, including the reservation plots. In 1918, Nisqually property owners were paid a portion of the land value and told to move. The U.S. government gave more compensation in 1921. In 1924, the United States passed a law establishing that Native Americans were U.S. citizens and could therefore vote.

Frank's father was among the tribe members who had to move. He established a new home along the Nisqually River, where Frank grew up. At age 14, he was arrested for fishing on the river. At 21, he joined the Marines and spent two years serving. When he returned, he kept fishing, which partially led to the Fish Wars in the 1960s.

ALSO ON OUR MINDS

Global declines in democracy may be slowing, Freedom House says in a new report

After nearly two decades, the global decline in democracy may be bottoming out, according to a new report by Freedom House, a nonprofit research institute in Washington, D.C. The report, "Freedom in the World 2023," finds that the gap between the number of countries where freedom has improved and where it has declined is at its narrowest in 17 years.

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