AN ORDINANCE relating to land use regulation of home occupations; adopting interim regulations to allow home occupation businesses to operate with fewer limitations during the COVID-19 civil emergency, amending Seattle Municipal Code Section 23.42.050, and adopting a work plan.
Hey part of the land use the Neighborhoods Committee Agenda Item 13 Council Bill 120001 relating to land use regulations of home occupations adopting interim regulations to a home occupation businesses to operate with fewer limitations during the COVID 19 Civil Emergency. Amending the Code Section 23.40 2.0 and adopting a work plan. The committee recommends the bill passed as amended with the DIVIDED report with Councilmember Strauss, MACHEDA Morrison, Lewis in favor and Councilmember Peterson opposed. Thank you, Madam. Claire. Councilmember Strauss, you are the chair of the committee, and I'm going to hand it over to you to provide the committee report. Thank you. Council president. And thank you both. You council president and Councilmember Mesquita for your co-sponsorship of this legislation in the past year. Small businesses have been hurt badly by COVID 19, the pandemic era restrictions, and our economic recession to business. Too many businesses have been forced to shut their doors for good, and this past year has also shown us how creative and nimble business owners, entrepreneurs and innovators can be when they're faced with these challenges. And we know that the land use code was not written for life in a pandemic, and when you use code has not kept up with our changing environment, especially when we're doing more than ever from our Homes Council President Gonzalez, Councilmember Mesquita and I all introduced bringing business home to provide small business owners and entrepreneur entrepreneurs with the flexibility they need for these challenging times. Bringing business home will make it easier to open or operate a home based business for the next year. Time limited year. By easing some of the onerous code restrictions on these small businesses, home based businesses are still regulated by other levels of government and public entities such as Department of Health, Liquor Control, Board, City, Seattle, Department of Finance, the State. There are many, many, many layers of government still regulating businesses, and specifically for businesses that occupy either in food or in beverage or in health care. This does not change any of those regulatory or licensure oversights as well as there would still be many requirements of home based businesses, including they must be operated by a resident of the home, that the business will be clearly accessory. So secondary to the main use of the home is residents that the commercial deliveries are limited to one per day and on weekdays early. And I can tell you some of my neighbors get more on Amazon then than that. Just again, that's an aside. Lastly, it's also very important to understand that home occupancy businesses still must abide by the noise, odor, white or smoke impacts that are currently written in the code that they cannot be noticeable beyond the property by now. Also, you've heard the story of Yonder Cider and Greenwood, which was forced to close after they were found in violation of current code again when Yonder brought their situation to my attention with colleagues as well, I'm sure what opened my eyes is that we have many different businesses, home occupancy businesses operating in the community that are not operating to the letter of the code and could be shut down if they were cited again. Once a citation is in the queue, it cannot be undone even by the person that submitted that citation. And that again is why we need to create this level playing field and why we need to provide this time limited flexibility as an exception to the norm. This bill is more than just about yonder. It's about the opportunity to start and grow a business that can soon fill a vacant storefront down the block, or by giving a struggling small business the chance to move home for the moment to weather the storm and then come back in full bloom on . In our business districts, some of the most successful businesses in the world were founded in garages. I heard about one at committee last week. That sounds very delicious. Now it is time for the city to make life easier for these entrepreneurs. Rather than shutting down the small businesses that make up the fabric of our community, we must make our neighborhoods. Our land use code should not be a barrier to making our neighborhoods more vibrant and having a strong economy. Thank you, Council President and thank you, Councilmember Mosqueda, for partnering with me on this effort and for everyone who has helped get this bill along, including V, Wynn and Noah on and Quito. Freeman of course. Thank you, people. Council President That is my report, colleagues. Thank you. Thank you so much, Councilmember Strauss. I know that we have one amendment to consider on this bill. That amendment is from Council Member Herbold. My my suggestion. I know I have remarks. I'm I'm almost certain that Councilmember Mosqueda has some remarks also as our partner on this legislative effort. And so my suggestion is that we address the amendment first and then we can open it up to to comments on the bill as amended from those who would like to to speak on the bill is an amendment. If that sounds agreeable to folks, I propose that that is how we should move forward. Okay. I'm not hearing any objection to that. So let's go ahead and hand it over to Councilmember Herbold to allow her to move her. Yes. Oh, I can hear you now. Okay. Oh, it's council member Ward. Thank you so much. I'm at a different location, on a different phone, trying to do three different things. It's a tailored health ward. So I just wanted you to know that on the last item that we voted on regarding the Pike Place Market Preservation, that I had voted yes, but I didn't do the statistics. So I hope the clerk to note that I voted yes on that and and I am here for the Council Bill 120001. So thank you. Yeah. Unfortunately, Councilmember where is the record? Can't reflect that unless we take up a motion for reconsideration, which means we've got to go back in time on the agenda start. Nope, nope. No. I appreciate you, but you know I'm here. Thank you. Okay. I appreciate your. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. Okay. So Councilmember Herbold and I hand it over to you to make your motion on Amendment one to council Bill 120001. Thank you, Madam President. I move to amend Council Bill 12 0001 as presented on Amendment One, which was recently distributed. Second rate. Okay. It's been moved and seconded. Sorry. I'm having my own technological issues over here with words disappearing off the screen. Give me just a minute. There we go. Okay. It's been moved and seconded to amend. The bill is presented on Amendment one. Councilmember Herbold, back to you in order to address the underlying amendment. Thank you so much. This is a single amendment that has two components. The amendment requires, first, that a home occupation not have a drive in business component. And secondly, it requires that home occupations that are permitted, but that are related to automotive sales and service. Not cause a substantial increase in on street parking or vehicle traffic. As discussed this morning, this amendment would not prohibit automotive sales or services it would prohibit, as is now the case, a substantial increase in vehicle traffic or parking. The amend would also prohibit a drive in or drive thru type of business. Thank you. Thank you so much. Because remember, herbals. Are there any additional comments on Amendment One? I know we also had a discussion about this in the council briefing, so there may not be any questions this afternoon, but that doesn't mean that we didn't have a conversation about it. Cause more stress, please. I think he counts prison. Thank you, Councilmember. Well, just to note that I did connect with staff in the interim. Having that conversation and briefing was very helpful. This is a very narrow amendment, much like the bill being a very narrow change. So I appreciate that. Thank you. Councilmember Verbal. Great. I also had a time I had an opportunity to take a closer look at at this amendment and had a conversation with with my staff as well. See, it is very technical and narrow to that particular type of business. So appreciate that the proposal here will be supporting it. Colleagues, any other comments on Amendment One? Hearing that will the clerk please call the role on the adoption of Amendment One? Lewis I. Morales Mike Skinner, i. Peterson. Yes. So what? Yes. Strauss Yes. Herbold Yes. Whereas. Yeah. President Gonzalez I nine in favor nine opposed. Great. Thank you so much for that. Now I'm going to make a call for any additional comments. And I see that Councilmember Peterson has his hand up and then we will hear from Councilmember Mosqueda. Plus, Mr. Peterson, please. Thank you. Council President. During the two committee meetings, I was able to articulate my strong track record of supporting small businesses, as well as my concerns about this bill. I also posted my concerns with the bill on my city council websites. My constituents can see a detailed rationale for my no vote. The benefits and concerns the bill have recently been reported in the media as well, so I don't want to go through them here, but I really do want to thank the committee chair and original sponsor, Councilmember Strauss, for providing the time to raise and discuss the concerns in this committee. That was really helpful, I think, for everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Next is Councilmember Mosqueda and then Councilmember Morales. Thank you, council president. I really appreciate the council. The council's consideration of this and this bill today as amended. Happy to be a co-sponsor. Thank you very much, councilmember strauss and council president. I know you've been working on this for a while and very excited to be part of the team as we get this over the finish line. To me, this is really about what's good for the economic resiliency of Seattle. And as you think about how many people have lost their job, their employment prior to the pandemic and folks who are being innovative and creative. I talked to Ventures just last week to hear more about how, you know, some of our smallest businesses are faring during this time. And what I heard is that many entrepreneurs are doing everything they can to try to be innovative and change their business strategies so that they can survive. And allowing for this type of code change is really critical right now as people think about either opening a business for the first time or modifying the type of businesses that they had originally engaged in and doing it in a way that actually reaches people where they're at right now. People are staying home. They're staying in their neighborhoods, they're staying in their local communities, and they're walking more and making it more accessible for people to be able to purchase goods and services in their neighborhood, allow for those entrepreneurs to be able to open the front of their shops or their garages and be able to sell to the pedestrians and the bikers. And, you know, potentially the folks who are going through the neighborhood as they get out and start to enjoy spring and hopefully are vaccinated and actually get a chance to walk around our neighborhoods more. This is an economic stimulus bill. I think it's important to reiterate what we talked about last week as well. This is not just about helping those entrepreneurs who need additional assistance and cut helping to cut through the red tape. This is also about how we create more dollars in the pockets of residents across the city who are then able to spend that money in existing local businesses. This is not going to be a detriment to existing small businesses. In fact, this has a multiplier effect that is beneficial every time we allow for there to be more finances, for more financial stability for residents in the city, it pays forward. People spend that money in local shops and in local restaurants and vendors. So this is truly one small way, a very important way for us to help our smallest employers and future entrepreneurs in this city and whether that's the next Microsoft or the next tasty taco or what have you. And so what that bread councilmember was, I think it's really important that we're making these changes today, because I don't think anyone could argue that having to do appointment only and not more than two people working for the vendor and not having signage on the street, that is not a good way to start a business. So we're making it easier for folks to do that. And we're also addressing the traffic concerns, I think, appropriately in this bill. I want to thank again the council president, staff and customer Strauss's staff and my staff. Andrew Houston did a lot of work on research on this bill, so thank you very much for the ongoing work and part of that research. As we thought about the ways that we clear curbside to make more opportunities for folks to be able to see small businesses was to think about how this isn't just about access to parking in front of businesses. This is about how do we make it a more walkable, thriving and vibrant neighborhood. So looking forward to what we can do to learn from this experience in the long run. I think this is an important interim measure and I think that there's a lot to be gained from this as we think about creating resiliency in the out years. Look forward to working with all of you, and I'm looking forward to passing this. Thank you. Thank you so much, former Mouseketeer. And next up is council member Morales. You council president? I am really excited about this bill. So I want to thank Councilmember Strauss for the work that you've been doing to bring this forward. I think it really speaks to the fact that we need to fundamentally change the way we offer opportunity to our neighbors. We know that micro-businesses play an important role in generating income for some families. In my previous life, I provided technical assistance to food based businesses who were trying to get started, trying to expand. And very often these are shops that are owned by just family members. There aren't a lot of employees. It is, you know, mom and pop, maybe one or two of the kids. And it is very important revenue that they are bringing in for their families. Through that process, I learned how hard it is for these family. Businesses. To expand into brick and mortar. Commercial space is often too big for some of these very small startups or too expensive, or the tenant improvements that would be required are cost prohibitive. So we have a lot of work to do to make it easier for those who don't have easy access to capital to get their foot in the door, into entrepreneurship, into supporting their families, and really expanding the kinds of goods and services that we're able to offer in our community. And I think this is a really important first step to make sure that that happens. So I look forward to what we can learn through this process. And I want to thank the sponsor and cosponsor for starting this conversation for us. Thank you. Thank you. Councilmember Morales, are there any additional comments on the bill? Okay. I'd like to make some some comments on the bill as well. I am really enthusiastic about being able to support this legislative efforts in partnership with Councilmember Strauss and also with the support and Councilmember Mosqueda, I do want to thank Noah on and the Nguyen from my office. Noah, from your office. Councilmember Strauss For all the hard work that they've done on this legislation, both in terms of reaching out to impacted small business owners, but also the good policy work that they've done on behalf of our offices. And big thanks to Cato Freeman as well for all of his good, good work in this space as well. And I believe that this bill is going to be just one of many strategies that will help us with our economic recovery from COVID 19. We know that we need flexibility and innovation, and this is local government meeting innovation happening on the ground by our entrepreneurs who want to try out ideas and provide needed income for their households. This bill will help lower barriers like access to capital or commercial affordability that keep many women and bipoc entrepreneurs in particular from starting a business. The Bringing Business Home bill will strengthen neighborhoods and get us closer to complete neighborhoods with amenities for Seattle residents and families. At a time when it's not just important to support our local small business to ensure they'll still be with us on the other side of the pandemic. It's also important to create flexibility and options that will help entrepreneurs during this period of time. This bill will help lower barriers like access to capital that keep many, especially bipoc entrepreneurs and women, from starting a business with many out of work during a pandemic. This change can help Seattle residents start a small business to add much needed income to their household. This will only help us to get that much closer to economic recovery while adding vibrancy and amenities to our neighborhoods. In addition, this bill helps us get to better connected neighborhoods, which means we don't need to go far when when services and amenities are within a 10 to 15 minute walk or bike ride. This bill means that it will be easier for people to start their dream of being a small business owner and help us get back to a city of vibrant small businesses all across the city. It will support innovation and provide a pathway for people to build their business clientele and grow capital in hand for their business. We want every single business to grow out of their garage and into a storefront. You need a lot of money to do that. And this bill allows businesses to build at home first before they can take the next big step. And lastly, the reality is that our neighborhoods are the center of our universe as this pandemic continues. And while we recover, this bill will allow us to continue to limit our travel outside of our homes to say, stay safer under pandemic protocols, by increasing amenities right in our back yard. So I am really excited about this bill, and I know that there has been some conversation about the need to ensure that this is not too broad of a legislative fix. I don't think it's too broad of a legislative fix. As Councilmember Straus likes to correctly remind us, this is a narrow bill to address a narrow issue within the structure and the context of the land. So I did want to take an opportunity to read two testimonials into the record from impacted small business owners. The first is from Caitlin Brant. We've heard of Caitlin a lot these days. She is the founder of Yonder Cider and she is a big supporter of Council Bill 120001, which we are calling the Bringing Business Home Bill. And she wrote to us just this afternoon, quote, In August 2020, I launched Yonder Bar our retail to go only space in my garage. We launched in the time of COVID, and when launching a full tasting room with a 5 to 7 year commercial lease was not possible for us. Launching in my garage, allowed for the incubation of our business, helped us to determine its viability and eventually lead to the signing of a commercial lease just last month. I hope this bill allows this opportunity for so many other hopeful small business owners. In the past week alone. I have received calls, emails and messages from more than a dozen people who, like me, have dreamed of opening their business only to be faced with hurdle after hurdle. I believe this bill will open opportunities for small businesses across the city now and into the future. And in my opinion, this bill doesn't take away from people signing commercial leases. It makes them possible. Furthermore, since the comments at the last Land Use Committee, I have gone into my local community to talk to business owners on Greenwood Avenue, from those who I talked to. They welcome businesses like Yonder Bar because what they see is more traffic coming to their neighborhood. To the neighborhood, more potential exposure to their business and more connected by communities that benefits everyone. Many of these businesses also carry our products now and see growing sales with the existence and exposure of yonder bar. Launching on our garage made our big dreams possible and we hope this bill will allow the same for others. That's testimony from Caitlin, who is the founder and president of Yonder Cider. And I want to thank her for for her support and for really important comments on this legislation. A second constituent wrote to our office the following about this bill. I'm about a friend or a voter in District two and the owner of Emerald City Flowers. I started Emerald City Flowers during the pandemic as a part time job to bring joy to people during this difficult time with the pandemic and gain additional income. I'm writing in support of the Home Occupation Bill. During the pandemic, many businesses had to close their storefronts. People were laid off from their jobs. Had their hours reduced. Hiring freezes and freezes on salary increases. However, cost of living remains high. In Seattle, small business owners and residents need to have more avenues to gain income, and this legislation can help make that possible. Current land use laws around operating a business without your home are too restrictive, including having customer schedule appointment times, which doesn't work well for many business models selling goods and services. During this time, many people are at home thinking about how they want to spend their time and what they want to do. For some, that is starting a new business or venture. Our local economy and small business owners have been devastated by the COVID 19 pandemic. By suspending some of these restrictive conditions, it will enable more small businesses to operate and thrive. Seattle is a city of innovation. Many successful businesses were started out of someone's garage. Passing this legislation will help existing and new small businesses as as well as aid the economic recovery of the COVID 19 pandemic with a more vibrant small business ecosystem. So I will conclude my comments there. I think those are two really great testimonials from the north to the south end of our city, and look forward to being able to continue to support this legislative effort. That being said, I want to I want to give Councilmember Strauss the last word before we I call the roll on is still. Thank you. Council President Thank you. Colleagues, just want to again and thank you for reading those words that were brought in for public comment today. Council President. This is about incubating innovations and businesses to fill our vacant storefronts. As you just heard in the case of yonder, they would they used their money that they have raised from opening in the garage to fill a vacant storefront. That is the trajectory that we are talking about in their neighboring business association. If any neighborhood association also expressed their support to me for this legislation. This is about being silly. This bill is about being solution oriented and creating outcomes for everyday Seattleites. If you want to take a look at the last two committee meetings for some great questions, good conversation and more information on how narrow this bill is and what other government regulations and licensors are required be on the land use code. There are hours of discussions there. Again, the land use code, not zoning, is what we are partially amending for a time limited period to. To provide flexibility for our small business entrepreneurs. Again, want to thank everyone who worked on this, including Andrew and Councilmember Musk and his office and to Caitlin for bringing this issue to our attention that impacts so many home occupancy businesses throughout Seattle. I have a Ballard patch glass full of water and I would say let's raise our glasses to making big dreams possible for our local entrepreneurs. Thank you, Council President. Thank you, colleagues. Thanks so much, Councilmember Strauss, for those comments. We're now closed out debate and I'm going to ask that the clerk please call the role on the passage of the amended. This. Yes. Morales. Councilmember Morales. Yes. Mosquito I. Peterson. No. So what? Yes. Strauss. Yes. Herbold. Yes. Suarez. By President Gonzalez. I Edson favor one opposed. Thank you so much. The bill passes as amended and I will sign it. Will the piece of fixed my signature to the legislation on my behalf? Well, the quick please read items 14 and 15 into the.