Not Abundant: And thus SoDO Housing dies a quiet death

By Mike Merritt


-Last year’s bitter battle over former Council President Sara Nelson’s bill to open the area near Seattle’s sports stadiums to residential development ended quietly May 12. The City Council repealed Nelson’s signature initiative, which would have allowed several hundred residences and small business “maker’’ spaces south of T-Mobile Park.

The unanimous vote came after the state’s Growth Management Hearings Board, which enforces compliance with state land-use laws, faulted the ordinance last fall for comprehensive-plan violations and failure to timely submit the legislation for state review. The board ordered the city to revise the ordinance or face financial sanctions.

First-term Councilmember Eddie Lin, the repeal’s sponsor, said last week his measure “is not intended to review previous policy decisions,’’ but argued the city was compelled to act due to threat of state sanctions. He promised to work with supporters and opponents “to find a (land) use that everyone can live with.”

Despite Lin’s hopeful words, repealing the ordinance shows no signs of easing the decades-long conflicts over residential and commercial development near shipping terminals fiercely opposed by the Port of Seattle and longshore labor. Mayor Katie Wilson has already touched off controversy by siding with the Port on draft stadium-area zoning that would bar new housing altogether.

https://www.postalley.org/2026/05/28/not-abundant-and-thus-sodo-housing-dies-a-quiet-death/