Planning commission studies 2025 housing code amendments to implement middle housing and ease street-improvement burdens

Ian Lefkort, a senior planner with Long Range Planning, presented the Redmond Planning Commission with a 2025 housing amendment package at the commission’s March 12 study session that staff said is aimed at implementing "middle housing," aligning the zoning code with the Redmond 2050 comprehensive plan, and complying with recent state law changes.

The amendments, Lefkort said, mostly consist of code cleanup and modest changes to make middle housing legally explicit and easier to build. "Some of the amendments are literally just adding the phrase ‘middle housing,’" Lefkort said, and other changes focus on reducing ambiguity in calculations such as gross floor area and on expanding options for private streets and reduced right-of-way requirements so adding a duplex or triplex does not automatically trigger costly street upgrades.

Why it matters: staff and commissioners said the package is intended to increase housing choice and diversity without changing the city’s overall comprehensive-plan vision. Lefkort told the commission the edits are intended to reduce regulatory barriers that can make smaller infill projects financially…