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Central District slow growth activist will challenge Sally Clark for City Council seat

As Capitol Hill prepares to dive into its first-ever City Council District 3 election, remember that two at-large races will require some attention, too. One of those is shaping up around development and land use and could have big repercussions for Capitol Hill and Seattle’s Inner City.

Last week, Central Area activist Bill Bradburd announced he would challenge incumbent Sally Clark for the at-large Position 9 seat. Clark, who was appointed to council in 2006, is a policy wonk (some would say too wonky) who has spent several years on council trying to balance developer and resident priorities on various zoning and land-use issues. Bradburd, 57, is also a land use buff, but decisively of the community activist ilk.

“All the politics in the city really boil down to land use and zoning,” Bradburd recently told CHS.

As chair of the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition, Bradburd has been most know for his strong opposition to microhousing and the gentrification it’s been a part of. Specifically, he opposes microhousing that’s gone up alongside single family homes. Bradburd is also a member of the Central Area Land Use Review Committee, a group that has become formidable in shaping area development.

Clark sees herself as a moderating force in Seattle’s density battles, perhaps best symbolized by Capitol Hill’s growing number of preservation developments. She led the passage of the Pike/Pine Conservation Overlay District, the framework responsible for the facade-perserving projects. In Clark’s view, the conservation district embodies the sense that “there’s something cool about these building and we want to retain that, but we want new development to come in at the same time.”

his 5-story microhousing development in a Lowrise 3 zone at 11th and Republican is the type of development new zoning rules would attempt to restrict. (Photo: CHS)

This 5-story microhousing development in a Lowrise 3 zone at 11th and Republican is the type of development new zoning rules would attempt to restrict. (Photo: CHS)

Recently, Clark led the effort to adjust the multifamily zoning code to prevent developers from cobbling together various incentives to build five stories in lowrise zones.

“We need development and density to accommodate the folks that are going to come here after us, but it doesn’t need to be crummy,” she said.

Bradburd said the changes were helpful, but came too late.

Development and land use are polarizing issues in Seattle, and Bradburd is acutely aware of his burgeoning reputation as a NIMBY candidate. “I’m not a NIMBY, what I’m saying is we’re not doing development right,” he said.

The Artspace Hiawatha Lofts is one high-density project Bradburd thinks was done right. The project is a stone’s throw from his Jackson Place neighborhood, where he lives in a single-family-style home with his wife and two children.

“We need to make sure that what we’re building not only satisfies the developer’s bottom line, but conforms to the interests of the community,” he said.

Putting community forged growth targets at the center of new development projects is one step Bradburd supports. If elected, Bradburd said he would ensure DPD upheld community priorities when evaluating new projects.

Given another term on council, Clark said she would to continue to work on tweaking the Pike/Pine Conservation District. She also said rezoning north Broadway would become a major issue after Capitol Hill Station opens, but didn’t go into any details on what that might entail.

It remains to be seen how the council dynamics will play out in the new district/at-large hybrid system. If district-based council members are meant to focus on the broad range of issues found within each district, perhaps a door opens for at-large council members to champion specific policies. However it shakes out, expect this year’s Position 9 race to feature lots of land use talk.

Retired postal worker and artist David Ishii has also entered the Position 9 race. During his 2013 run for city council, the self-described “eccentric” told KUOW that he wanted to crate a publicly owned search engine to rival Google.

Meanwhile, three candidates have entered the Council District 3 race. Socialist Alternative Council member Kshama Sawant and marriage equality organizer Rod Hearne have both started early campaign activities around the Capitol Hill-centered district. Meanwhile, women’s rights advocate Morgan Beach has also joined the District 3 fray.

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RWK
RWK
9 years ago

The apodment pictured is actually 6 stories….or at least 5-1/2. One of the ways that unscrupulous developers have exploited the loopholes is to tack that extra space (called a “clerestory,” I believe, by architects) on to the top of what would be a 5-story building. I have no idea how they have gotten away with this….someone at DPD is in the developers’ pocket.

Bellinghammer
Bellinghammer
9 years ago

Well Bradburd’s entry in the race has done what I thought impossible: Clark getting my vote.

タイラーkun
タイラーkun
9 years ago
Reply to  Bellinghammer

Exactly my thoughts. I’ve began to think of her as turd, especially my interactions with her. If it’s just the two of them though, I’d have to elevate Clark to a dinosaur turd — the latter is worth preserving.

David Holmes
David Holmes
9 years ago

Oh god, I couldn’t wait to vote against Clark…and now I can’t.

Three opinions in a row is a win in tic-tac-toe!
Three opinions in a row is a win in tic-tac-toe!
9 years ago
Reply to  David Holmes

Such enlightening opinions. If I ask for reasons, will I get anything but excrement?

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[…] one of its driving members announces his campaign to join the Seattle City Council, the community group Central Area Land […]

Bingbangbom
Bingbangbom
9 years ago

NO to Sally Clark…..’She also said rezoning north Broadway would become a major issue after Capitol Hill Station opens, but didn’t go into any details on what that might entail’…..Capital hill has had enough re-deveolopment. Sally Clark is evil……….I think this is getting kick backs from the developers…..

Michael W.
Michael W.
9 years ago

If we could refrain from referring to candidates as digestive tract by products and/or actual human waste it would really make my election season.

Just a personal request from a concerned citizen…

Observer
Observer
9 years ago
Reply to  Michael W.

May we call them by their DSM-V diagnosis?

Lowell
Lowell
9 years ago

Would love to see some grown ups run, especially against Sawant. You know – people who actually represent the bulk of the people in the district, especially those who actually pay the freight for the welfare state of our city. Remember those who decry the most recent candidate – there is plenty of time for others to emerge and perhaps gain your confidence and vote.

juddy
juddy
9 years ago

I would hope we could control growth without electing a gadfly like Bradburd. I for one would welcome a Fred Meyer in central/south. Takes too much gas to drive to Ballard or West Seattle for family shopping. Call me bourgeois.
Bradburd was instrumental in keeping Dearborn Goodwill as a parking lot and quashing discussion about retail development on the site. Like SLU, central/south development is going to happen, and I’d rather the citizens who live here were involved, not just dragging our heels, kicking and screaming.

JohnS
JohnS
9 years ago
Reply to  juddy

The proposed project at Dearborn was a horrible, car-centric, piles of parking, big box retail dinosaur. There’s nothing stopping, say, 23rd/Jackson from getting a Target or Fred Meyer; do one such sized store, let it be the anchor for a bunch of smaller retail, but put it where transit connectivity and pedestrian and bicycle access work better. Dearborn had none of those things (and still has precious few). If you listened to Bradburd when that process was going on, it was not about any development, it was the nature of the development that was proposed. I’d say the CALURC has absolutely been involved with development, and a number of projects that are being built are better for it. It’s too easy to paint with the “for/against” brush, reflecting this country’s ongoing obsession with only two answers to any given question. Fly or drive. Black or white. SFH or 80-story skyscraper. We can do better.

Anandakos
Anandakos
9 years ago

Um, isn’t that an earlier incarnation of “microhousing” right down the street?

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[…] wrote about the slow growther and planning-focused Bradburd’s quest to take on Clark earlier this month. Bradburd’s boost didn’t last […]

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[…] well known for his slow growth activism in the Central Area, Bradburd is one of the biggest land use wonks in this year’s election. […]