Sherwood staff warn new state housing bills will limit design controls, public hearings and require code updates

Sherwood City staff told the City Council they will need a significant code update after the 2025 legislative session because new state laws restrict cities’ ability to require design standards and public hearings for a subset of housing projects and create preapproved site-plan pathways.

Eric (city staff) opened the presentation and introduced Planning Manager Sean Conrad and Carrie Richter, the city’s land-use attorney, who outlined four passed bills and their likely local effects. Conrad and Richter said the most urgent item for local code work is SB 974, which imposes waiver provisions that will prevent applying certain design standards to subdivisions and multifamily projects of certain sizes and that will shorten or eliminate public hearings for some land-use actions.

Key takeaways: SB 974 — design-waiver and process limits - SB 974 requires cities to waive certain building-design standards (facade materials, roof form, window design and similar requirements) for some multifamily…