Lakewood staff previews half of 2025 comprehensive plan amendments; April 2 hearing set

Planning staff briefed the Lakewood Planning Commission on five to six of 12 proposed 2025 comprehensive-plan amendments at the March 5 meeting and confirmed a public hearing on the full docket scheduled for April 2.

Staff said the docket includes changes required by recent state law and city-initiated updates: a co-living (single-room-occupancy) ordinance to be allowed where multifamily developments have six or more units, updated definitions for multiunit residential buildings, residential parking regulation updates aligned with state law, civic-use and religious assembly clarifications, a commute trip reduction plan, two rezones (one private, one city-initiated to create a downtown park), a proposal to revisit minimum sizes for accessory dwelling units, and a state-driven amendment to allow housing in certain existing commercial or mixed-use buildings.

“Twenty twenty-five-01 is talking about making sure that the city allows co-living housing,” Ms. Spear, planning staff, told the commission. She said the co-living amendment incorporates a regional template ordinance and would include the operating and development conditions state law requires.

On parking, staff noted new state rules that in some cases will prevent the city from requiring off-street parking where tree-retention or other factors would make on-site parking infeasible. Staff also said projects needing ADA compliance or existing paid parking lots would be handled differently.

The proposed changes also include a reconciling of municipal code language with state definitions for smaller multiunit buildings (three stories or fewer and fewer than 12 units) and edits to the city’s civic-use tables to clarify where community centers and daycare centers owned by religious organizations are allowed. Staff told the commission these civic-use changes affect roughly 1% of the city’s acreage.

Staff described the commute trip reduction plan as required for employers inside the city with more than 100 employees; the draft plan was developed with Pierce County and has received preliminary state technical review. A transportation-system analysis funded by a pending federal grant is expected to shape future mitigation and fee decisions.

Two rezonings were introduced: a privately requested reinstatement of split zoning on a parcel that was changed to industrial-only in a prior action, and a city-initiated rezoning of a recently acquired parcel near Colonial Plaza to open space and recreation for a proposed downtown park. Ms. Spear said the park rezoning implements a city-council goal to create at least one downtown park and potentially a community center.

Staff also flagged a mid-year deadline for several items: Seattle-area and statewide timelines were cited by staff and the commission as reasons to pace the process. Ms. Spear told commissioners the April 2 public hearing will be followed by a potential April 16 action by the commission; staff noted the council must complete final action by June 30 for some state-driven items.

Commissioners asked for more detail and public outreach on the downtown and mixed-use elements — several asked that the city consider additional visual design outreach or overlays so residents can see alternatives for heights, setbacks and street design before definitive boundary or code changes are recommended. Ms. Spear said the city expects to tie some of that work to the pending transportation analysis and to an update schedule that may extend into late 2026 depending on federal grant timing.

The commission will take the remainder of the comprehensive-plan amendments as introductory items at the March 19 meeting and hold the April 2 public hearing on the 2025 docket. No votes were taken on substantive amendments at the March 5 meeting.