Planning Commission reviews draft code changes to allow emergency, transitional and supportive housing across city zones

Planning staff presented draft changes to Anacortes’ development regulations on July 9 to implement state House Bill 1220 and to define four housing types — emergency shelter, emergency housing, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing — and to clarify where each would be allowed in the city.

The proposed amendments would allow indoor emergency shelters and emergency housing in zones where hotels are permitted and would require transitional housing and permanent supportive housing to be allowed in any zone that permits residential dwelling units or hotels, planning manager Libby Grage told the Anacortes Planning Commission. "The law requires the city to plan and accommodate affordable housing that's affordable to all income levels," Grage said.

The change aims to align city code with HB 1220 (2021) and with the city’s Housing Action Plan recommendations. Grage said staff also reviewed guidance from the Washington State Department of Commerce and proposed using existing multifamily development standards and form-and-intensity rules for most STEP housing types to reduce regulatory uncertainty.

Commissioners focused substantial discussion on off-street parking. Staff proposed that emergency shelters be subject to a director decision on parking that typically would require a parking study, while the other STEP housing types would default to the parking standards of the underlying dwelling form (single-family, multifamily, etc.) unless a reduction is…