We need your help. Please email the mayor and DPD and urge them to limit the developer in Benchview to 2 houses, not 3. DPD has the power to do this. (More on our background page and media page.)
The DPD can CHOOSE to side w/ the developer or the neighborhood, so they need to hear from as many people as possible. That’s how democracy works.
A short email is all you need. Below are templates. Your email has more impact if it’s in your own words, so please don’t just cut and paste. Feel free to edit and mix & match between templates.
We can win this, with YOUR help! Benchview neighbors thank YOU!
EMAIL RECIPIENTS
To: Mike.mcginn@seattle.gov; diane.sugimura@seattle.gov
cc: info@mcginnformayor.com; Darryl.smith@seattle.gov; richard.conlin@seattle.gov; tim.burgess@seattle.gov; mike.obrien@seattle.gov ; sally.clark@seattle.gov; Andy.McKim@seattle.gov; bryan.stevens@seattle.gov; Patrick.downs@seattle.gov
EMAIL TEMPLATES
1. Short email template —————————————–
Dear Mayor McGinn and DPD Director Sugimura,
I urge you to limit developer Duffus to two houses in Benchview, not three. The King County Court decision and City law give you the clear power to do this.
This would make the developer follow the same basic rules as everyone else.
Sincerely, [NAME, ADDRESS]
2. Medium email template —————————————–
Dear Mayor McGinn and DPD Director Sugimura,
We urge you to limit developer Duffus to two houses in Benchview, not three. You have the clear power to do this under the King Co Court decision and City law. Duffus needs to submit a new LBA, which can only have two houses on this property now.
- KC Superior Ct. reversed the City’s approval of the set of lot lines in the Jan. LBA, so the Jan. LBA is dead AND CAN NOT BE MODIFIED.
- City law 23.76.034 says DPD may revoke the LBA because “the permit was issued in error.” This will make it crystal clear that a new LBA is needed.
- And of course appealing the King Co. decision to the State of WA is unacceptable.
DPD has a clear CHOICE: allow this embarrassing plan and help developer Duffus OR use your power to revoke the permit and protect the neighborhood. The developer will still get to have one house per lot, just like everyone else in the neighborhood.
See more, including lots of media coverage at https://benchviewblog.wordpress.com/
Sincerely, [NAME, ADDRESS]
3. Long email template —————————————–
Dear Mayor McGinn and DPD Director Sugimura,
We urge you to limit Duffus to two houses in Benchview, not three. The King Co. Court decision and City law give you the clear power to do this. The January LBA is dead. Duffus needs to submit a new LBA, which can only have two houses on this property now.
1. JAN. LBA WAS NULLIFIED BY KING CO RULING. KC Superior Ct. reversed the City’s approval of the set of lot lines in the Jan. LBA, so the Jan. LBA is dead. Duffus must submit a new LBA. His Jul. 29 request to modify the Jan. LBA is dead on arrival. (Permit # 3015897)
2. DPD HAS AUTHORITY TO REVOKE THE JAN. LBA. City law 23.76.034 says DPD can revoke a Master Use Permit if “the permit was issued in error.” King Co ruled that the Jan. LBA was issued in error, so DPD has the power to CHOOSE to revoke the permit and make it crystal clear that a new LBA is needed. 23.76.034 also gives DPD the power to revoke a permit if “The permittee has developed the site in a manner not authorized by the permit.” Fencing off the fake, gerrymandered front yard from the rest of lot B is not authorized by the permit.
3. And of course appealing the King Co. decision to the State of WA is unacceptable.
DPD has a clear CHOICE: allow this embarrassing plan and help developer Duffus OR use your power to revoke the permit and protect the neighborhood. DPD can no longer say that it is bound by law to allow three houses here. The developer will still get to have one house per lot, just like everyone else in the neighborhood.
Two houses on this property is the limit under DPD’s proposed changes to small lot development rules. (See p. 4, Item #8, here.) If the City’s 2012 “small lot moratorium” had been more thorough, Duffus would have been limited to two houses on this property all along. Instead, the “moratorium” failed the Benchview neighborhood, making it a guinea pig to test the weak interim “moratorium” rules. This was wrong, and DPD can now fix this problem.
See more, including lots of media coverage at https://benchviewblog.wordpress.com/
Sincerely, [NAME, ADDRESS]
Benchviewblog 
