Upper Queen Anne has three busy Saturdays left this fall, and all of them land on the same stretch of Queen Anne Avenue North that the Seattle Department of Transportation proposed metering on September 30. The draft wouldn't take effect until 2027. Still, it has started an argument on the hill over what free parking actually does for a business district where most visitors arrive on foot.
| Saturday | Event | Hours | Proposed rate during those hours, if the draft were in effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 31 | Queen Anne Farmers Market Halloween Harvest Market | 10am to 3pm | $1 per hour until 11am, then $4 per hour |
| October 31 | Trick or Treat on the Ave | 3:30pm to 6pm | $4 per hour |
| November 7 | Queen Anne Fall Wine Walk | 4pm to 7pm | $4 per hour |
| November 21 | Thanksgiving Harvest Market | 10am to 3pm | $1 per hour until 11am, then $4 per hour |
Parking stays free this year. The table shows where the proposed meter hours would line up with the neighborhood's own calendar.
What the draft would change on the Ave, and what it would leave alone
SDOT's Upper Queen Anne Curbspace Review proposes 2-hour paid parking from 8am to 8pm, Monday through Saturday, on these blocks:
- Queen Anne Ave N from W Galer St to McGraw St, both sides
- Boston St from Queen Anne Ave N to 1st Ave N, both sides
- Boston St from Queen Anne Ave N to the alley just west of 1st Ave W, both sides
- Crockett St from Queen Anne Ave N to 1st Ave N, both sides
The proposed starting rates are $1 an hour from 8am to 11am and $4 an hour from 11am to 8pm. The Ave already has a two-hour limit. The Urbanist points out that today the only rule is moving your car after two hours, which does little to encourage turnover. What the draft adds is a price.
Several nearby blocks would stay free and time-limited, with the limits extended to 8pm. Those are W Galer St between Queen Anne Ave N and 1st Ave W, 1st Ave N from Boston to Crockett, Howe St from 1st Ave W to Queen Anne Ave N, the north side of Blaine St from Queen Anne Ave N to the alley just west of 1st Ave N, and the south side of Garfield St from Queen Anne Ave N to 1st Ave N. The package also includes more load zones for deliveries, takeout and passenger drop-offs, more accessible parking, bike and scooter parking, and "daylighting" that keeps the space near crosswalks clear so drivers and pedestrians can see each other.
Sundays and anything after 8pm stay as they are. A Sunday coffee run or a late dinner would look the same in 2027 as it does now.
Nobody disputes that the curb is full
The case for meters starts with SDOT's own data, and the opposition doesn't really challenge it. SDOT had not reviewed Upper Queen Anne parking since 2008. Since then the neighborhood has added homes, restaurants, outdoor dining, and a lot more delivery traffic.
SDOT counted cars on Thursday, April 23, 2026. Midday, about 80% of blocks were mostly or very full. Between 5pm and 8pm, most of the blocks studied were more than 86% full. SDOT said demand had grown since 2022, mostly in the morning and early afternoon. In its October 5 report, The Urbanist found that 11 of the 22 Upper Queen Anne blocks in the study were more than 85% full, and that some were over 100%. That means cars were parked in spaces that aren't marked for parking.
The rates follow from those numbers. SDOT prices curbs so that about one or two spaces stay open on each block, and The Urbanist describes that as an occupancy target of 70% to 85%. In the SDOT blog post announcing the plan, the department says it adjusts rates two to three times a year based on demand and has run the program this way since 2010. The $4 afternoon rate is a starting point. If the blocks are still packed, it goes up. If they empty out, it can come down.
Businesses on the Ave described the same problem in SDOT's summer outreach. 61% said parking is hard for their customers, and 63% said customers often complain about it.
The argument is about who the curb is for
The two sides read the same data differently, and the reason is how people actually get to the Ave. The Urbanist cites SDOT surveys showing that 61% of Queen Anne respondents arrived by walking, biking or transit. SDOT's project page reports a separate figure: 44% of residents say they usually walk to the business district. Both numbers say the car trip is a minority on the Ave, and a group of business owners says that minority matters a lot to the shops. A September 23 letter asking the city to keep the Ave's parking free was signed by the owners of Queen Anne Book Company, Betty Restaurant, Aluel Cellars, Bounty Kitchen and Stuhlberg's giftshop, along with the director of the Queen Anne Farmers Market. The Urbanist quotes the letter:
"Free and accessible street parking is an attractive feature of the Queen Anne business district for visitors, customers, and neighborhood residents. It makes it easier to stop for a meal, run an errand, visit a local shop, attend an appointment, or spend time in the neighborhood."
The letter doesn't deny that parking is scarce. It argues that high demand "should not be interpreted as support from the business community for paid parking," and asks the city to try other tools first: better enforcement of the existing time limits, well-placed loading zones, short-term pickup spaces, accessible parking, and changes to current restrictions. KING 5 reported that the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce sent the letter to Mayor Katie Wilson, the City Council and SDOT. It also asks for better intersection visibility, a look at stop controls, larger loading zones and repainted curb markings. Susan Short of the Chamber told KING 5 that 43 residents and businesses had signed on.
Krijn De Jonge has co-owned Queen Anne Book Company with his wife since 2013. He told KOMO that the plan would affect some businesses more than others. "People here usually come because they want to browse or they want to pick something up," he said. "So, it may be worse for coffee shops where you just hop in and buy a cup of coffee." He supports the added load zones. On how the plan was developed, he said, "I wish they had come earlier to everybody and asked for more input."
SDOT released a similar plan the same day for the West Seattle Junction, and business leaders there responded differently. Chris Mackay of the West Seattle Junction Association told KING 5, "People park there and often for hours. What we need to do is create some turnover." The two districts have similar numbers and opposite reactions. Some of that may come down to how unusual meters are in neighborhoods. The Urbanist notes that fewer than 2% of Seattle streets have meters, mostly downtown, and calls the two proposals together the largest expansion of paid street parking in the city in at least a decade.
What October 31 would look like under the draft
Halloween is the clearest example, because the Ave hosts two events that day. The Queen Anne Farmers Market wrapped its Thursday season on October 8. Its Saturday Harvest Markets run October 31 and November 21 from 10am to 3pm. During the regular season the market sets up at W Crockett St and Queen Anne Ave N, which is one of the blocks proposed for meters. Later that afternoon, Trick or Treat on the Ave runs from 3:30pm to 6pm. The Seattle Thrillers Dance Group performs at 4:45pm at Queen Anne Towne Square, 1920 Queen Anne Ave, with a costume contest right after. The Chamber's listing for last year's event put the route on Queen Anne Ave between Galer and McGraw, the same stretch in SDOT's draft.
Under the draft, a family that drives up for the morning market would pay $1 an hour until 11am and $4 after that, with a two-hour cap. A family that comes back for trick-or-treating would be in the $4 window the whole time. The free, time-limited blocks on Galer, Howe, Blaine, Garfield and 1st Ave N would still be there for anyone willing to walk a little farther. The roughly six in ten visitors who already walk, bike or take transit wouldn't notice a difference.
The Queen Anne Fall Wine Walk on November 7 works the same way. It runs 4pm to 7pm along Queen Anne Ave N between McGraw and Galer, with check-in at Bethany Presbyterian Church, 1818 Queen Anne Ave N. Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at the door. Merchants host pop-up tastings from Pacific Northwest wineries, and the host locations hadn't been announced yet. All three hours fall in the proposed $4 window.
This year all of it is free. These are the last fall events on the Ave before SDOT's planned 2027 installation.
Where the plan stands now
SDOT has laid out the next steps:
- Fall 2026: SDOT staff tabled at the farmers market on October 1 and October 8, and the department says it will talk with businesses, organizations, residents and visitors about the draft this fall.
- Winter: SDOT revises the recommendations based on what it hears. The department's blog says the plan will be finalized in late 2026.
- 2027: Changes are installed. The project page's schedule says early 2027.
The project page doesn't list a comment deadline. Comments go through the online form on SDOT's project page, by email to [email protected], or by phone at (206) 684-7229. The page also links the full parking study and the September outreach summary, so anyone can look at the block-by-block numbers before weighing in.
At Stanford Group, we keep track of changes on Queen Anne Avenue like this one because they affect how the blocks around it work every day. If you own on the hill and want to talk through what a change like this could mean for your street or your plans, request a personalized market + renovation consultation and we'll go through it with you.
