June 24, 2015

Mayor splits up DPD, adds new department

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray is forming a new cabinet-level department called the Office of Planning and Community Development to manage future growth.

It will take over some of the functions of the Department of Planning and Development, but permitting, code compliance and other regulatory functions will be split off to a new unnamed department led by Nathan Torgelson, who is now DPD deputy director.

Murray said the goal is to better coordinate public spending on transportation and parks with the ongoing construction boom.

Murray pointed to Ballard as an example of how the city has succeeded and failed in managing growth.

Ballard is one of the neighborhoods where the city wants to focus growth, and it has seen a lot of new development in recent years, but Murray said the city didn't get transit right in Ballard.

“In the past when we have talked of rezones too often we have focused only on building heights, and that is not enough,” Murray said. “We need to integrate planning for playgrounds and bus stops, and we need to think more holistically about where folks will work and whether they will have a grocery store to walk to.”

Diane Sugimura, the current DPD director, will retire this fall after 37 years with the city. The city is searching for someone to lead the new planning office.

The planning office will take employees from other departments, specifically planners with experience in housing, transportation, parks and infrastructure.

“Cities tend to plan things in silos,” Murray said, “with parks over here and transportation over there, and as we looked across the country for best practices, one of the ways you get over that is to make sure all those people are actually in the same place making those decisions jointly.”

The new planning office will also be a single point of contact for residents with comments or concerns about city planning. The Department of Neighborhoods will work on a new approach to community engagement.

Murray said he will release more information about the new office this fall when he presents his budget.