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Senate committee hears bill to ease rules for passive-house retrofits, solar and affordable housing
Summary
A Senate Local Government Committee hearing reviewed House Bill 1183, which would allow limited exterior insulation into setbacks, increase roof height allowances for rooftop solar, and prohibit certain local requirements for affordable, modular, mass-timber and passive-house projects.
House Bill 1183 would change several local land-use and building-code practices to facilitate energy-efficient retrofits and certain types of housing, committee staff and the bill sponsor told the Senate Local Government Committee.
Committee staff said the bill applies to cities and counties planning under the Growth Management Act and would allow exterior wall insulation for qualifying retrofits and new construction meeting passive-house standards to project up to 8 inches into required setbacks and to allow roof height to exceed municipal maximums by up to 48 inches to accommodate rooftop solar panels.
“Passive house is a very, very energy efficient way of building,”…
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