Port Orchard committee advances draft MFTE framework, narrows map and recommends Hidden Hills addition

The Economic Development & Tourism Committee reviewed a draft multifamily tax exemption (MFTE) framework that would expand the city's proposed target area and require developments to meet one of four standards to qualify, with an additional four years (a 12‑year exemption) available only if projects reserve deeper affordability. Councilmember John Morrissey, chair of the committee, led the discussion.

Committee members said the proposal is intended to encourage infill and higher‑value projects while ensuring the city gets long‑term tax value. Nick Bond, the city's community development director, said: "State law says that residential target areas under the MFTE statute have to be within designated urban centers." Bond also told the committee the city started with comprehensive‑plan centers and expanded boundaries around downtown and Tremont where a gridded street network makes infill more feasible.

Under the draft ordinance described by Bond, a project would qualify for any MFTE (8 or 12 years) if it meets one of these four options: a mixed‑use shopfront building with a minimum of 4,000 square feet of ground‑floor commercial space or 40% of the building footprint (whichever is less); a multifamily project of at least four stories or 40 units per acre; a middle‑housing redevelopment on lots smaller than 15,000 square feet that creates between four and 12 units; or a…