Staff to amend code to allow co‑living; committee reviews statutory deadline and technical changes

City planners told the Land Use Committee they must revise Port Orchard's land‑use code so it does not prevent co‑living residential arrangements, as required by a recent state law. Principal Planner Jim Pecan summarized the law's key requirements: co‑living structures have individually rented lockable sleeping units with shared kitchen facilities; the statute requires cities to allow co‑living wherever six or more multifamily units are permitted. "House Bill 1998 requires that we allow this wherever we permit 6 multifamily units or more," Pecan said. Staff identified several code sections to change: definitions (Title 20), use provisions, and the review table so co‑living is permitted by the same review process as comparable multifamily uses. Pecan noted building-code constraints cannot be altered (minimum room sizes set by state building code), and parking-related provisions the city adopted under the middle-housing work are likely to satisfy the state's parking limits for co‑living. Staff also flagged technical changes needed for public‑works and finance fees: the state counts each sleeping unit as 0.25 dwelling units for land-use density and limits ERU (sewer/water) charges to 0.5 of a dwelling unit per sleeping unit, so the city will need to update Title 13 and fee tables. Staff said they will draft ordinance language to (1) create a distinct co‑living use line, (2) repeal conditional-use requirements that currently apply to congregate-living uses where the statute requires otherwise, and (3) align permitting and utility charge tables with the law. The committee asked staff to return with draft code amendments for review.