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Bellevue residents tell council staff draft middle-housing changes exceed state law
Summary
Multiple residents told the Bellevue City Council that the city's proposed "middle housing" code goes beyond what state bills require and could risk displacement and infrastructure strain.
Several Bellevue residents told the City Council on March 10 that staff's draft middle-housing code amendments go beyond the requirements of state law and risk harming established neighborhoods.
In public comment, long-time resident Chuck Dolan said Bellevue should not allow state policy to "ram-rod" the city into overbuilding and urged planners to be reasonable. "We are being ram rotted by the state to expand beyond what's reasonable," Dolan said, adding that some higher-density locations make sense but not blanket increases across single-family lots.
Pamela Johnston said the city's draft departs from the state's middle-housing model, describing an intent she attributed to the model code: "here's a house. And we could take that house and we could make it into 4 units. And that's a fourplex." Johnston said Bellevue's staff proposals go farther, with what she called a risk of "infinite number of cottages with no parking" in neighborhoods lacking infrastructure.
Anne Rittenhouse, who attended a staff briefing the previous day, told the council she was "absolutely appalled" that staff's recommendations did not address elements she said House Bill 1110 requires: preserving neighborhood character, identifying displacement risk and establishing anti-displacement policies. "Nowhere in the staff presentation were these important elements addressed," she said.
Nicole Myers said the draft 'released last week'appeared to "roughly double the density" required by "House Bill 11 10 and House Bill 13 37," in some cases directing nine units where the state indicated four would suffice. She warned the higher densities could increase property taxes and that some middle-housing forms in the draft could be placed far from frequent transit.
The speakers asked the council to direct staff to limit changes to the minimum required by the state and to provide more time for community outreach and analysis of infrastructure impacts such as roads, transit access and emergency response.
Council members did not take final action on the middle-housing code during the meeting. Speakers said they had raised the subject under the oral communications portion of the agenda; several referred to a staff briefing that had occurred the day before. No staff presentation or public hearing on the code was held during the March 10 meeting.
Closing note: The transcript records repeated public concern that Bellevue's draft would exceed the state-mandated floor. The council will consider land-use proposals and staff findings in future agenda items and hearings before any code amendments are adopted.
