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Kent staff brief council on phase 1 housing code update ahead of June 30 vote
Summary
City planning staff summarized a large ordinance to implement recent state middle-housing laws, explained outreach and limits of local discretion, and told council members a formal vote will be held at a special meeting on June 30.
Kristen, a city planning staff member, told the Kent City Council Committee of the Whole on June 17 that the city will present a phase 1 housing ordinance for adoption at a special council meeting on June 30. The ordinance incorporates new state middle-housing requirements and other recent state legislation and is intended to prevent the automatic application of the state's model ordinance to Kent.
The ordinance restructures zoning nomenclature and consolidates zones to reflect new per-lot unit rules; it implements state-mandated allowances (including middle housing types and accessory dwelling units), revises parking requirements, streamlines some permitting timelines, and adds incentives for retaining existing homes and trees. Staff said the city will update the zoning map before the ordinance becomes effective; if council adopts the ordinance on June 30, a 30-day standard effective date is planned so new permits can be accepted beginning July 30.
Kristen said the draft was released in May and described a targeted outreach program. Staff reported meetings with the Master Builders Association, the state Department of Commerce, the Land Use and Planning Board and two public commenters at the planning-board public hearing. Commerce reviewed the draft and provided comments that staff incorporated where required. Kristen said most of the public comments related to issues the city plans to address in a later phase (phase 2) rather than in this regulatory, deadline-driven first package.
On several policy points, staff said state law constrained local choices. For example, Commerce required the city to allow emergency shelters, transitional housing and permanent supportive housing wherever housing is allowed, which required the city to permit those uses in agricultural zones as well (though staff noted such development would be heavily constrained by existing acreage-based density rules). Staff also described an approach to a statutory bonus for affordable housing co-located with religious institutions: rather than adopting a numerical unit bonus, staff proposed an extra story or 10-foot height bonus, citing inconsistencies across zoning districts and the absence of maximum densities in some zones.
The Land Use and Planning Board recommended adoption of the ordinance subject to minor city-attorney edits. The board also asked staff to remove a perceived requirement for window shutters from the design options; staff replied that shutters are one of several options for meeting design standards and recommended retaining the option now and addressing design standards more holistically in phase 2. Council members asked clarifying questions about outreach, the limited ability to change state-mandated provisions, and the practical effect of design options such as shutters.
No formal council vote on the ordinance occurred at the Committee of the Whole. Staff and the city attorney's office will present the final, approval-as-to-form draft at the special June 30 meeting, when council will have the opportunity to adopt the ordinance. If council does not adopt local code by that deadline, the state's model ordinance provisions would apply to Kent until a local ordinance is adopted.
