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.