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Why Are Seattle's Land Use Signs Hard to Understand?

KPLU

They’re flat, they’re white and they’re popping up all over Seattle.  No, they aren’t the latest coffee drink.  They’re “Notice of Proposed Land Use Action” signs, posted to notify the public of coming changes. But for the average person, the notices aren’t always easy to decipher.

No matter where you stand on growth and development, the wording on these signs can seem cryptic. Abbreviations abound, and it helps if you know a thing or two about zoning. Alice Poggi has spent years as a community organizer in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, and coaches neighbors on how to read the signs.

“The normal person who sees a sign and says I want to check this out – it would be very difficult,” said Poggi.

But the city maintains the signs aren’t meant to shut the public out of the process. 

“What we try to do is give a broad brush of this is what’s being proposed out here and hopefully get people to look further into it,” said Sue Putnam, Public Resource Manager at Seattle’s Department of Construction and Inspections.  

But Putnam acknowledged, the boilerplate language on the signs hasn’t changed in 30 years.

“And in fact, sometimes having someone like you call and say, ‘Well look at even your standard language…’ because I’m looking at the standard language right now and, we didn’t tell them where they could go look at the stuff," said Putnam.

"We’ve just been using the same thing since long before we went to electronic review and they had to come in to look at everything,” she added. 

Detailed plans of each project are available on the city’s website.  But critics, including Poggi, say finding the documents online can be difficult for the average person. Plus, the jargon used can be hard to decipher.  Those factors make it difficult for people to submit meaningful comments. This is especially true for people who don’t read English, or don’t have time to understand and respond with comments.

Putnam says this can be fixed by adding a line to the signs, directing people to the city’s web site.

“That might help people in being able to feel they are included in the process which is definitely what we need to have,” said Putnam.

Putnam said a project manager reviews every public comment. In July, the city received 493 such emails. And while comments might not, for example, stop a bungalow from being torn down, they could lead to changes, like adding extra parking spaces.