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Council reviews design-review objectives: walkability, ''eyes on the street' and streamlining standards
Summary
Planning staff briefed council on design-review goals and state requirements for clear, objective standards. Staff emphasized walkability, building scale and active street frontages; the planning board will draft specific code recommendations to meet state streamlining requirements.
City planning staff presented the Edmonds City Council on March 20 with objectives and key issues for the 2025 design-review update, emphasizing walkability, "eyes on the street," neighborhood-scale building design and a need to streamline review processes to meet state legal clarity requirements.
Planning staff reminded council that state legislation (including recent streamlining measures) encourages clear and objective design standards so that review processes do not arbitrarily reduce development capacity. Director Hoppe said design standards must balance specific, enforceable rules with local character goals: "If you have rather vague standards, they might sound good, like make it look charming, make it look attractive... that's not enough for people to go on," Hoppe said.
Staff listed core objectives for a revised design-review framework: reinforce walkable streetscapes; require active street-level frontages and windows to improve public safety and engagement (the so-called "eyes on the street" approach); provide landscaping and open-space expectations; and scale building form to neighborhood context rather than producing monolithic facades.
Existing code elements were noted as a starting point: the city's current streetscape-zone graphics and activity/pedestrian-zone language offer a template for more detailed standards. Staff also discussed review pathways: continuing staff-level reviews for clearly objective items, and a hybrid model for more complex projects that may require advisory board input without multiple public hearings, to comply with state streamlining guidance.
Council and planning-board coordination was discussed. Council member Dasch urged staff to include landscape professionals and the Architectural Design Board's volunteers in drafting multifamily design standards to avoid narrow (architect-only) views. Several councilmembers asked staff to return with prioritized design areas and options for implementing design standards without creating loopholes that allow developers to circumvent open-space or landscaping requirements.
Why it matters: design standards influence how future housing and commercial projects look and function on the street, affect walkability and safety, and can affect development feasibility. Staff said work on design review will proceed alongside comprehensive-plan and code updates already scheduled for 2025, and that more-detailed proposals will return for planning-board review before council action.
Ending: Staff will coordinate with the planning board, ADB members and other stakeholders to draft objective, implementable design standards and a streamlined review pathway; the proposal will be brought back to the council in coming months as part of the 2025 code-update sequence.
