Edmonds planning board approves cottage-housing option for large lots with affordability conditions

The City of Edmonds Citizens Planning Board voted to add “cottage housing” as an allowed middle-housing type on large low-density residential lots, but only under specific conditions, and sent more detailed design issues to a later round of work.

The board approved a motion to allow cottage housing in LDR-Large (12,000- and 20,000-square-foot) lots with a maximum of four units per development, with up to two additional units allowed only if they are affordable; the motion also set a 1,000-square-foot maximum finished floor area per cottage unit. The motion passed following an amendment that preserved the existing medium-lot cottage option without a density bonus for affordability.

Why it matters: the decision is part of Edmonds’ middle-housing code update, a state-directed effort to add more diverse housing types. The planning board’s vote narrows where higher-density cottage developments may be built…