Director of Housing and Urbanism @Sightline. Before that, worked as an urban planning consultant. Before that, was an electrical engineer. Views here just mine.
Joined November 2010
- Tweets 8,473
- Following 746
- Followers 3,812
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1,023 Photos and videos
Dan Bertolet retweeted
Apr 28
Now legal in Missoula: ADUs, townhomes, cottage courts, apartments, small-scale multiplexes. Mixed use on every parcel. Costly off-street parking mandates gone.
The new code doesn't just lead Montana... it sets a new standard for every city in the US. sightline.org/2026/04/28/mis…
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Mar 28
Thank you @GovBobFerguson, Sen. Alvarado, @davinaduerr, and many others!
Here’s Sightline’s writeup on WA’s bill to legalize housing in commercial zones and make ground-floor retail optional:
sightline.org/2026/03/11/was…
We need to get creative to build more housing, faster.
I requested a bill with Sen. Alvarado to allow residential development on land zoned for commercial uses, unlocking new development opportunities.
Today, I signed it into law.
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16 May 2025
One big reason Washington now leads the pack on statewide housing abundance legislation is that it just passed the nation's strongest parking reform bill.
Here's what made that possible:
sightline.org/2025/05/16/how…
15 May 2025
I'm calling it:
Washington has now accomplished more on statewide zoning reform than any other US state.
In the just ended 2025 legislative session, Washington lawmakers knocked out nation-leading parking and TOD bills, and more.
sightline.org/2025/05/15/was…
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15 May 2025
I'm calling it:
Washington has now accomplished more on statewide zoning reform than any other US state.
In the just ended 2025 legislative session, Washington lawmakers knocked out nation-leading parking and TOD bills, and more.
sightline.org/2025/05/15/was…
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23 Jan 2025
WA has a bill for that:
app.leg.wa.gov/BillSummary/?…
More about it over at the blue place
22 Jan 2025
Let’s get back to a time when we didn’t force developers to “break up the massing.”
📍 Reading, MA
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9 Jan 2025
If you followed this account to track housing bills in the Washington state legislature, I'm now posting over at the blue new place.
#waleg
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12 Nov 2024
A parking reform bill is in the works for WA's 2025 session.
We know parking mandates worsen affordability, climate, and sprawl.
On top of that, the parking rules in WA cities are an arbitrary, inconsistent cluster that begs for a state fix.
sightline.org/2024/10/01/was…
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12 Nov 2024
Ahoy parking policy nerds of Washington state!
Tommorow at noon @Citizen_Cate will give a rundown of just how bonkers and damaging local parking rules are in cities all across WA.
It's even worse than you thought.
lu.ma/un5mc0qz
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1 Nov 2024
This, legal on every city lot everywhere:
31 Oct 2024
Happy Halloween!
Here are some spooky single lot, single stair buildings.
3 to 6 storeys, 6 to 24 units.
33' and 50' lots, with (and without) on-site parking.
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1 Nov 2024
The important story here is that market-rate rentals can be affordable if enough new housing is getting built to meet demand.
The couple got a market-rate 1-bed for $1,500/month, which is cheaper than the 60% AMI housing provided by MHA.
seattletimes.com/business/re…
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31 Oct 2024
In WA, IZ can be funded with property tax abatements without reducing property tax revenue.
It's a relatively progressive way to fund affordable housing, because all property owners pay a little more tax to cover what's not collected on the IZ building.
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
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31 Oct 2024
WA state was way ahead of the game when almost 30 years ago it launched a program that grants tax exemptions on buildings that set aside a certain portion of affordable units.
Known as MFTE, this optional version of funded IZ has created thousands of affordable apartments.
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31 Oct 2024
Creating mixed-income communities around WA's transit investments is totally doable with funded IZ.
The state already has an optional version to start with. Apply Baltimore's method for basing the abatement on actual costs, make it mandatory in station areas, problem solved!
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30 Oct 2024
Ahoy inclusionary zoning nerds!
This table shows all the examples of mandatory IZ with significant funding that I could find. Any others out there?
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
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29 Oct 2024
TOD is a major piece of unfinished business on statewide zoning reform for WA and many other states.
One big reason: the policy and political pitfalls of inclusionary zoning that's typically also mandated by TOD bills.
There's a solution: Funded IZ.
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
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29 Oct 2024
The good news is there's a solution to the fatal flaws of unfunded IZ and it's up and running in Baltimore.
Baltimore mandates affordability but makes up for the forgone rent with property tax abatements.
A win-win: more housing overall, with a portion guaranteed affordable.
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29 Oct 2024
Baltimore's funded IZ also elegantly avoids the problem of relying on upfront fuzzy math to set IZ parameters.
The tax abatement is based on the actual rent that is forgone on the required affordable units, updated every year.
Read more about here:
sightline.org/2024/10/28/to-…
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