Kimberly Madrigal's Blog

Seattle has proposed new legislation that will amend its Land Use Code (LUC) and eliminate parking requirements for some urban apartments -- if it makes it through public hearings and becomes law. Responding to the Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) and tree regulations, the City Council has proposed several important low-rise development zoning changes. The legislation will not affect any single-family zoning areas, but it could have a very positive impact on multifamily in these highly urban locations.

In addition to clarifying and organizing regulations, the Committee’s proposal will eliminate parking requirements for multifamily properties in urban villages within walking distance of mass transit stops. Rebecca Herzfeld, a supervising analyst on City staff well-versed on the proposed amendments, offered a specific definition of this particular zoning change.  She explained it this way:

According to Wikipedia, 'walkability is a measure of how friendly an area is to walking'.  While that may seem simple enough, recent concern over the rise in carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere has made walkability a buzzword for sustainable neighborhood design and an important asset for existing urban multifamily properties.

The problem is that the rise or build up of CO2 is forming something akin to a blanket in our atmosphere and like a blanket it is keeping the planet warm.  Since most of the CO2 in the atmosphere is produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal in power plants and gasoline in cars, we can stop the blanket from getting thicker and further warming the earth by (among other things) using less electricity and walking instead of driving.

Paris, Stockholm, Vienna, Brussels, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Montreal, Lyons and even Washington, D.C. all have them with more cities on line to follow.  A concept gaining traction with urban planners is bicycle sharing.  The experience of several cities has produced enough data to show it’s popular with riders as well as another sustainable people transport strategy for cities.  Whether your city does or does not have a bicycle sharing program, however, consider one for your own property.

With vacancies up, tenant attraction and retention are an on-going challenge for most multifamily managers. Why not be the first in your neighborhood to implement a bike sharing program? Bike sharing has been used to reduce the traffic and congestion crippling the arterial infrastructure, but it can also reduce the number of cars you need to accommodate in your parking structure.

People have become accustomed to signs that ban smoking at work and in other public buildings, but it gets dicier when landlords start to restrict smoking inside and outside residential buildings.  If current trends continue, however, they will be getting some assistance from their local municipalities.  City officials across the country are attempting to address threats to public health and smoking cigarettes is on the hit list.

Who smokes?  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the most recent figures available show about 46 million adult Americans were smoking in 2008.  That is about one out of every five people, with gender divisions at 23.1% for the men and 18.3% for the women.