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Bothell staff outline menu of possible affordable-housing incentives; commissioners urge outreach and attention to implementation costs
Summary
Staff presented draft incentive concepts — density flexibility, height increases, reduced parking, permit expediting and MFTE — to rouse developer interest in creating income-restricted housing. Commissioners urged clearer case studies, simplification for small developers and attention to hidden costs such as frontage and utility work.
Ray Sosa, senior long-range planner with the City of Bothell, and Jacqueline Sampson, long-range planner, presented May 7 on draft affordable-housing incentive concepts the city is considering to implement a March City Council directive and meet multi-decade housing targets.
The proposals are designed to produce dedicated affordable units by making development options more attractive to private builders; staff emphasized the concepts are preliminary and that "no actions are required tonight." The menu under consideration includes density flexibility, additional height, reduced parking, impact-fee relief or deferral, permit expediting and expansion or marketing of the city’s MFTE (multi-family tax exemption) program, Sosa told the commission.
Sosa and Sampson placed the work in context: regional housing targets from the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) call for large numbers of homes over the…
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