Edmonds planning board holds public hearing on middle housing; board confirms state minimums and that ADUs count toward unit density

The Edmonds Administrative Citizens Planning Board held a public hearing on the city’s middle housing code update and heard more than two dozen residents urge the board to adopt only the minimum changes required by state law while staff reviewed the rules the city must implement.

Planning Department presenter Brad Shipley (planning staff) summarized the state requirements enacted in 2023 and the board’s role in drafting local regulations. “By definition…middle housing is small-scale house-scale housing types that were pretty much made illegal post World War II,” Shipley said, explaining that state law requires cities to allow at least two units per lot and, in certain cases, up to four units per lot.

The meeting’s nut graf: residents said they feared increased heights, greater lot coverage and loss of tree canopy and neighborhood character if Edmonds goes beyond the state’s baseline, while staff and board members said the city must adopt a code that meets the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) requirements and that some local choices — such as where larger building types are allowed and what design standards apply — remain to be decided.

What the state requires and what staff told the board Staff read key points of the RCW applying to cities of Edmonds’ size: municipalities must allow at least two housing units per lot in predominantly residential zones; permit up to four units per lot within one-quarter mile of a major transit stop;…