Planning commission reviews housing element revisions; staff proposes rules for co-living housing and outreach schedule

City staff presented revisions to Liberty Lake's housing element and an associated outreach schedule at the Planning Commission meeting April 23.

The presentation summarized edits made after prior commission feedback and a recommendation from the Washington State Department of Commerce to add a policy to protect existing households from displacement. Staff said the packet includes new graphics comparing Liberty Lake and Spokane County and corrected tables based on commission input.

Staff described next steps: a city-council workshop tentatively scheduled for May 20, a working draft posted to the comp-plan website, and a town-hall public meeting planned for June or July depending on scheduling. Staff also outlined an extended public engagement schedule for comp-plan topics including parks, transportation and housing.

On code changes, staff outlined a required amendment to add a definition for "co-living housing" and proposed limited-use standards. The draft definition describes co-living as residential developments with independently rented, lockable sleeping units where residents share kitchen facilities; the staff memo noted co-living is also commonly called congregate living facility, single-room occupancy, rooming house or lodging house.

Proposed limited-use standards presented to the commission: allow co-living housing in zones that permit multifamily units of six or more (R-2, R-3, M-1, M-2, M-3 and River District SAP), subject co-living to multifamily architectural design review, and require 0.25 off-street parking spaces per sleeping unit. Staff said no parking requirement would apply for co-living housing located within a half-mile of a major transit stop (defined as fixed-route service every 15 minutes for at least five weekday hours or a bus-rapid-transit/high-performance route).

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about shared bathrooms and unit configurations; staff replied the statute permits a range of designs and the city cannot impose more restrictive standards than those applied to multifamily housing. Commissioners also discussed whether the housing town hall should be moved if the council schedule changes; staff said dates are tentative and will be coordinated with volunteers and council availability.

Staff said they will submit a working draft of the housing element for early review by the Department of Commerce and continue public engagement at farmers markets and other events through the summer. A hearing on code amendments related to housing is slated for August in the current schedule.