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Tumwater planning commission reviews draft housing element, discusses affordability tools and implementation priorities
Summary
City staff presented draft housing goals, policies and implementation actions as part of Tumwater’s comprehensive plan periodic update. Commissioners and stakeholders discussed housing supply targets, incentives such as multifamily tax exemptions, preservation of manufactured-home parks and the need to prioritize attainable actions and funding.
City of Tumwater housing staff presented a draft housing element for the city’s comprehensive plan periodic update during the Planning Commission meeting Tuesday, March 25, 2025, outlining goals, policies and implementation actions to address an estimated shortfall of housing over the next 20 years.
The draft sets six goals including increasing the supply and variety of housing, expanding permanently income-restricted affordable housing, maintaining existing housing stock, improving access and stability for households, strengthening partnerships to implement housing strategies, and exploring a permanent funding source for low-income housing.
Erica Smith Erickson, Housing and Land Use Planner for the City of Tumwater, told commissioners the city’s current housing supply within the city and its urban growth area is roughly 12,000 residential units and noted a projected need of a little over 9,000 additional units over the next 20 years. Smith Erickson said the draft breaks needs down by area median income (AMI), with market-rate, middle-income (80–120% AMI) and income-restricted (under 80% AMI) categories, and includes proposed implementation items ranging from changes to development code to creation of local funding mechanisms and partnerships with nonprofit housing providers.
Commissioners pressed staff on which actions are state-required versus discretionary for Tumwater and urged clearer prioritization. Commissioner Gary Kirkpatrick and others emphasized the gap between planning and execution, noting that many projects in capital plans require outside funding and that a long list of goals does not guarantee implementation. Commissioners suggested adopting a short-term implementation program (for example, a 3–5 year action plan) that highlights “high-impact/low-effort” items while identifying longer-term, grant-dependent efforts.
Discussion addressed specific policy tools in the draft. Smith Erickson described options to expand the city’s multifamily property tax exemption (currently a 12-year option) and noted a state-level 20-year option exists; she said the city council had not scheduled an update to the local exemption program for 2025 but that the option could be reconsidered in future work programs. Commissioners and participants also discussed planned-unit developments that mix market-rate and permanently income-restricted units, demonstration projects that temporarily relax some development standards to test affordability approaches, and land-trust or revolving-fund models to support homeownership.
Commissioners raised concerns about how condominium conversions and rental ownership can affect neighborhood stability. Commissioner Kirkpatrick warned that when condominiums become predominantly rentals, maintenance can decline because fewer owners live in units and may be reluctant to fund repairs. Commissioners suggested the city consider registration or licensing for rental properties and expand landlord resources and tenant education to reduce code and maintenance problems.
Panelists and commissioners discussed manufactured-home parks as an important existing source of affordable housing and asked staff to preserve those sites where feasible. Smith Erickson also noted ongoing work on a displacement study, being led by consultants in partnership with the city, and said staff expect to present findings after the consultants finalize the analysis.
No formal legislative actions or amendments to the draft were taken at the meeting. The commission did adopt short procedural motions during the session: two successive five-minute extensions to allow further discussion and a motion to adjourn at the meeting’s close; each motion was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote.
The housing element draft will move forward for continued public review. Smith Erickson asked commissioners to submit written feedback to staff; she said the city will use the commission’s input to refine the draft goals, policies and implementation actions and to prepare materials for future council review and public outreach.
