Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Housing Policy topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Port Angeles wins APA implementation award after decade of zoning and program changes to spur housing
Summary
City officials presented a Washington chapter American Planning Association implementation award and outlined incremental zoning changes and local housing programs that city staff and local builders say contributed to a recent rise in housing production and diversity.
Port Angeles received the 2025 Implementation Award from the Washington chapter of the American Planning Association and the Planning Association of Washington in recognition of the city’s Pursuing Housing for All municipal-code amendments and related housing programs.
City planners told the council the award recognizes a sequence of zoning and program changes aimed at easing barriers to infill, accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and middle housing. Planning supervisor Ben Broderick and housing administrator Jalen Buato said the city combined regulatory changes with local grant and tax-incentive tools to produce measurable results in recent years.
The award “recognizes the city’s innovative and impactful work on the Pursuing Housing for All initiative,” Calvin, a city presenter, told the council. Broderick and Buato described a multi-year strategy: removing single-family-only zoning in many areas, allowing duplexes and ADUs by right, reducing minimum lot sizes, creating an infill-housing chapter in the development code, and adopting programs such as a multifamily tax-exemption, permit-ready plans and a fee-waiver program.
Why it matters: city staff and a local builder said the changes lowered the legal and procedural barriers that previously required conditional-use hearings and SEPA determinations for common infill types. That combination of code changes and financial incentives, planners said, helped diversify housing types and increase production in recent years.
City figures presented to the council cited housing-need data and program results. According to the presentation, in 2020 about 16% of Port Angeles households were “severely cost burdened” (defined in the presentation as paying more than 50% of income for housing and utilities); another 22% were cost burdened, and the presenters noted a separate “cost burden figure” of 30% in their slides. Staff also reported that in 2024 the city distributed about $1,200,000 in local housing grants and incentives and assisted in the creation of 30 new affordable units.
Builder Steve Luxon, shown on video because he could not attend in person, described how code changes opened practical pathways for smaller local builders and homeowners to add units. “When they said ADUs were allowed, I started — I did ADUs. When they said, OK, you can build a duplex, I’d build a duplex,” Luxon said, describing how incremental code changes enabled him to build multiple small projects and keep costs manageable for local homeowners and small contractors.
Staff traced the policy arc back to the mid-2010s: a first phase beginning around 2016 to remove barriers to infill; further code updates and a housing action plan between 2019 and 2021; and the Pursuing Housing for All updates completed more recently. Broderick and Buato emphasized that the city’s work paired regulatory changes with targeted programs — grants, tax exemptions and fee waivers — so that zoning changes translated to on-the-ground building activity.
The presentation closed with staff noting additional follow-up: a planned one-year review and a council work session in November to assess lessons learned and potential refinements to the short-term rental and housing programs.
The council thanked staff and accepted the presentation; no formal council action was required to receive the award.
