Staff: First-year middle-housing rules produced dozens of applications; city staff seek code clarifications and process changes

Planning staff presented the first annual report on the city's middle-housing standards, saying the rules adopted after Planning Commission review in December 2023 and formal adoption by City Council on Feb. 6 have produced dozens of applications and several implementation issues.

The report, delivered by Lindsay Lanoi and Michelle Portier, shows 50 middle-housing applications submitted between March 2024 and Jan. 31, 2025. If all were built as proposed, staff said those projects would add 43 dwelling units to the city's housing stock. Planning staff told commissioners that 97% of applications were approved and 3% denied; two denials were appealed to the Planning Commission and staff decisions were upheld. Staff also reported 45 pre-application consultations during the same period and said average review time for most projects was three to four weeks, although some cases took less than a week and others up to eight weeks.

The report assessed how the new Article 4.6 middle-housing standards have been used and identified recurring problems that staff recommends the zoning code amendments should address. Key issues include confusion about the…