Tumwater planning staff presented required housing-related amendments to the city's development code and design guidelines at the July 9 General Government Committee meeting, saying parts of the update must be adopted by the comprehensive-plan periodic update due in December 2025.

Why it matters: The staff presentation said the changes will alter where and how "middle housing" and accessory dwelling units (ADUs) may be permitted in residential areas, limit local design-review restrictions, set minimums or ceilings for parking requirements, and implement new state SEPA exemptions intended to increase housing supply.

Erica, a city staff member who led the presentation, said the changes stem from multiple state bills and deadlines, and summarized the near-term obligations: "Senate bill 55 58 ... middle housing, ADUs and the design review amendments are now due with the periodic update for all jurisdictions." She told the committee the city must update its zoning, permit procedures and fees because "the city's role in development ' zoning regulations, permit procedures and fees ' directly influence the location, intensity and the type of uses that can be built."

Key proposed and required changes

- Middle housing: Staff said state law requires jurisdictions to allow a set of "middle housing" types in areas traditionally zoned single-family. Tumwater staff told the committee they plan to remove the single-family residential category and replace it with residential low, medium and high density zones, with minimum and maximum densities and a required menu of middle-housing types. The staff list of middle-housing types under consideration included duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhouses, stacked flats and cottage housing; five- and six-unit buildings would still be treated as multifamily under the current code.

- Design review: Staff said the city must limit design-review standards so they are no more restrictive for middle housing than they are for single-unit residences. The city will update its design guidelines and coordinate those changes with the development-code ordinance.

- ADUs: House bill language cited by staff requires Tumwater to allow two ADUs per lot in certain cases. "Through, house bill 13 37, we are required to allow 2 ADUs per lot," Erica said. Staff noted Tumwater's current code limits ADUs to one per lot, typically requires the owner to occupy the primary residence, and sets size limits that will need to be revised; staff said the city may no longer impose a maximum that makes an ADU smaller than 1,000 square feet a requirement.

- Ownership and utilities: Staff flagged unresolved implementation issues for ADUs if they are sold as separate ownership units, including how to calculate water and sewer connection fees when an ADU separates from the primary parcel.

- Parking: Staff said state direction constrains local parking standards. Among items noted: the city "can't require garages and carports" beyond certain dimensions, cannot require nonconforming parking to be upgraded except for ADA compliance, and must follow state limits on surfacing and design requirements for residential parking.

- Co-living and rooming-house definitions: Staff proposed modifying the rooming-house definition to explicitly allow co-living configurations (individual bedrooms with shared common spaces) and to remove a requirement that such dwellings have only one kitchen.

- Religious-sponsored housing: Staff described two state-directed changes for properties owned or controlled by religious organizations: (1) optional density bonuses for affordable housing located on such property if housing serves households earning no more than 80% of area median income and remains affordable for at least 50 years; and (2) limits on the city's ability to impose requirements on outdoor encampments, safe-parking efforts and temporary sheltering on religious-property sites, subject to objective design standards and non-reduction of density.

- SEPA categorical exemptions: Staff said the state has expanded categorical exemptions under the State Environmental Policy Act intended to accelerate housing. The examples discussed included exemptions for small single-family projects (up to four attached or detached units in some cases), larger thresholds for small multifamily developments, and flexible thresholds Tumwater can elect to use. Staff said the update will require outreach to the Washington State Department of Transportation when those exemptions are adopted locally.

Questions and local concerns

Committee members raised specific, real-world concerns about how the changes would affect homeowners trying to keep family members in town. Council member Althauser described a recent case in which a homeowner sought to subdivide a lot so a child could build a home, and said the owner was told the city's density rules did not permit a simple one-for-one division. Brad, a staff member, told the committee Tumwater must apply its rules uniformly: "I think our primary concern is under our law, we have to treat everyone equal, whether they are quote-unquote developer or just the owner of a property that wants to do a very specific thing for a personal reason." Staff said the code updates will also include more flexible lot-splitting options and a new 0-lot-line short-plat process to help address such situations.

Process and next steps

Staff said they are completing a gap analysis now, and that no ordinance text was yet available for council review. The timeline presented calls for staff to finish the gap analysis through September, begin the formal adoption process with the planning commission in September, and present ordinances to the city council in October and November (with a draft ordinance to be convened for council review in October). Erica invited questions and public comments and asked that comments be submitted to the comprehensive-plan update email address shown during the presentation.

What the committee decided

No formal ordinance was adopted at the July 9 meeting. Staff were directed to continue the gap analysis and to prepare proposed ordinance language and revised design guidelines for the fall adoption process. Staff also said they will coordinate needed technical work (utility-fee calculations, lot-splitting procedures and design-guideline updates) as part of the ordinance drafting process.

Ending note

Staff said they will return with draft ordinance text and proposed design-guideline updates for committee and council review in the fall adoption schedule.