It’s probably because I am a geek, but I love seeing “Seattle for Growth ET AL” at the top of our appeal. Because we filed first, the case has our name on it. Even better, a group called the Seattle Mobility Coalition has filed an appeal too and they have a top notch attorney. I’ve already shared the appeal language in another post. But now the appeal is officially underway. Rather than copy the schedule you can see an image of what we came to agreement on yesterday.

The actual hearing will begin on the 18th. The City is being a bit aggressive in their defense, at least in my view. They’ve suggested they want to depose (interview) our witnesses. This is a bit unusual.

I maintain that this is purely a political effort on the part of Councilmembers up for election. This whole effort seems rushed and is being led solely by the City Council. Usually this kind of proposal originates from the the Mayor and includes everything, comp plan amendments, legislation, and the Determination of Non-Significance (DNS). This has all the hallmarks of an election year effort, not unlike President Trump’s promise of a “a beautiful wall,” to convince angry neighbors that the Council is working on building a wall…I mean, imposing fees on new housing to prevent it from being built.

Anyway, we’ll sort all that out next year. As Trump also says, “We’ll see what happens.”