The Port of Seattle has filed an appeal in King County Superior Court to overturn the Seattle City Council’s decision to permit residential development in the industrial area surrounding the deepwater port.
In a statement, the Port said the rezoning “appears that substantially all of the developable land covered by the Council’s action is controlled by one property owner.” The Seattle Times identified the property owner as Chris Hansen, who owns the parcels near the adjacent T-Mobile Park. The newly passed law rezones underutilized parcels south of the baseball stadium for the construction of up to 990 apartments.
Council President Sara Nelson, the sponsor of the new law, said rezoning the area would help address Seattle’s housing shortage. But the Port argued having housing in an industrial district would be disruptive.
“The Port feels we must take these actions to defend industrially zoned lands critical to our economic development and job creation mission,” said Port of Seattle Executive Director Steve Metruck. “The harmful impact to maritime and industrial operations caused by this spot rezone were not dutifully considered and there are many inconsistencies with state, county, and local land use regulations.”
What makes the developer think that residents want to live next door to industrial? The Residents would “wine” the city of Seattle and the city of Seattle would end up disrupting the port operations sometime in the future. One of the worst real estate ideas I’ve ever heard.