House-based companies have extra freedom to function underneath new Seattle guidelines

Companies like Yonder Cider in Phinney Ridge can now operate from home with fewer restrictions during the pandemic.

SEATTLE – Seattle City Council on Monday approved a measure to adjust certain land use codes that have negatively impacted private businesses during the pandemic.

Councilor Dan Strauss sponsored the Bringing Business Home bill, which passed 8: 1 on Monday. The bill aims to allow home businesses, including those that may once have operated from a store, to operate with fewer restrictions during the COVID-19 civil emergency.

Under Seattle’s previous land use code, homeowners had to be able to put a car in the garage, couldn’t have a big sign outside, and it couldn’t look like a business from the outside, and they had to offer an appointment – just customer visits.

This new legislation eliminates these requirements. Private companies are also allowed to work in the parking lot or garage of an off-street home and have an unlit sign with the company name on it.

The legislation came up after Yonder Cider, a Seattle-based company in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood of Seattle, shut down after an anonymous person filed multiple complaints about the company.

“It came to a head in December when we received violations from the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI), the zoning division of Seattle, that said we, as a private company, had violated several different things,” he said over there, cider founder Caitlin Braam.

The SDC’s code enforcement case with Yonder Cider is still open, but the company was allowed to operate while the city council discussed the proposed changes. Now these changes are final.

“Our land use code cannot be the obstacle to vibrant neighborhoods and a strong economy,” Strauss said in a statement on Monday. “It is important that we meet our companies where they are: whether outside their homes or garages.”

“The land use code was not written for living in a pandemic,” Strauss continued. “This temporary legislation allows us to respond to our small businesses and make our neighborhoods more vibrant.”

The new legislation is expected to come into force in the next two months and remain in force for a year.

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