The East Design Review Board at a 2009 meeting (Image: CHS)

There is major turnover on the East Design Review Board responsible for evaluating proposed developments across Capitol Hill and nearby neighborhoods with the city looking to fill all five of the body’s seats for the new term starting next spring.

With each of the East board’s volunteer positions open in 2025, the city is seeking a business or landscape design profession representative, a design profession representative, a development profession representative, a local community representative, a local residential representative to complete the panel, one of eight empowered across the city to “evaluate the design of new buildings based on citywide and neighborhood-specific design guidelines.”

The five openings on the East board are part of 21 openings for terms starting in April 2025 across the city. It is the only board that will start completely fresh in April.

The Central Area Board is seeking only a business or landscape design profession representative to round out its mix.

The turnover isn’t entirely unusual. Volunteers should be available “roughly 15 hours a month attending and preparing for two evening board meetings a month.”

“Board meetings have transitioned to an online platform and board members are expected to attend at least 90 percent of them,” the city says.

With the shifting economy and the build-up of much of the neighborhood’s core around Pike/Pine and central Broadway, Capitol Hill’s design review pipeline has slowed to a trickle after an era in the mid-2010s when there were sometimes two reviews per week.

The system is also being massively reformed in attempts to reduce costs and do more to help address the ongoing affordability crisis in the region.

CHS reported here on the city’s ongoing efforts to strip back the review program and streamline its design approval process with new reforms that could cap the total number of meetings any project will go through, create a quicker, cheaper process, and let more buildings go without review.

Applications for the board positions must be received by December 31st. To learn more about volunteering for the East Review Board, visit buildingconnections.seattle.gov.

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