The Planning Board presented a recommended permanent Neighborhoods, Centers and Hubs (NCH) code to the Committee of the Whole, proposing new design standards, ground-floor commercial overlays, open-space and amenity-space requirements, and a limited program for bonus floor area in return for defined community benefits. The committee scheduled a public hearing on the draft for July 22 and set an adoption target for Aug. 12.

Planning staff and board members said the permanent ordinance replaces an interim zoning rule that came into force during the comp-plan update. Navushya (staff) and Planning Board Chair Lee Hankins explained the approach: orient commercial overlays where street-facing ground-floor retail supports walkability, require a 15% minimum open space on lots, require private amenity space equal to 5% of residential floor area, and require at least 10% of a building footprint as public amenity space for qualifying sites. The planning board recommended a seven-foot street setback with build-to expectations and zero or 10-foot side/rear setbacks where adjacent to low-density residential (LDR) zones; the board also recommended preserving existing single-family rights by removing interim prohibitions on expansion or new single-family development in specified NCH areas.

Why it matters: The code governs where and how the city allows denser, mixed-use development outside of downtown. It affects building height, ground-floor commercial presence, open-space commitments, and incentives intended to capture community benefits (indoor community rooms, plazas, public art, or affordable housing) in exchange for additional floor area.

Key policy elements discussed:
- Ground-floor commercial overlay: In four subareas (including parts of Westgate, 5-Corners, the Medical District and Seaview), the draft requires active ground-floor commercial uses for roughly the first 45 feet of building façades on key streets, applying to at least 60% of the street-facing façade to support pedestrian activity. Planning staff noted this is a minimum requirement; developers could still provide more commercial space if economically viable.
- Amenity and open-space rules: The proposal requires a minimum of 15% open space per lot. Private amenity space is set at 5% of total residential floor area; public amenity space must be at least 10% of building footprint where required. The planning board recommended bonus floor area of 5 square feet for each qualifying square foot of outdoor public amenity space and 10 square feet for each qualifying square foot of indoor public community amenity, subject to location and design standards.
- Bonus floor incentives and MFTE: The bonus incentives apply in MU-4 and MU-5 areas (marked NCH-4 and NCH-5 overlays in the draft). The draft sits alongside the city's existing Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) program, which already requires a portion of units to be affordable. Councilmembers raised the affordability metric and suggested the MFTE thresholds (80% AMI) may not provide deep enough affordability given Snohomish County AMI levels; staff said MFTE details could be revisited separately.
- Steep-slope protections: The planning board recommended retaining a protected steep-slope line in the Westgate area and made a technical adjustment to the map where the slope designation conflicted with parcel boundaries.

Councilmembers asked detailed questions about how the NCH standards align with other city regulations: how open-space can or cannot include critical-area buffers, how transition setbacks to single-family neighborhoods compare to other zone rules, whether rooftop decks can count as private amenity space, and how to ensure the ground-floor commercial overlay does not unintentionally reduce commercial capacity. Planning staff and Planning Board Chair Hankins said critical-area protections remain in the city's critical-areas code (Title 23) and that the open-space minimums are intended to be additive to those protections rather than a replacement.

Planning Board Chair Hankins said the board tried to balance predictability and flexibility so new projects can respond to market conditions while still delivering public benefits. He said the board avoided overly prescriptive rules in some areas to allow design innovation.

Next steps: The committee will hold a public hearing July 22, continue discussion on Aug. 4 if needed, and target adoption Aug. 12. Staff noted comp-plan amendments and related mapping items (for example, Grandview/North Bay) may require additional code tweaks later in the year.