Planning commission reviews outcomes of Affordable Housing Demonstration Program as city eyes a development‑agreement process

The Burien Planning Commission on Feb. 26 received a recap of the city’s Affordable Housing Demonstration Program and heard that staff will use lessons from the program to shape a permanent process for development agreements.

Senior planner Chaney Skadsen said the demonstration program, created in 2019, produced three council‑approved projects that together were intended to yield 162 income‑restricted housing units; staff said 95 of those are permanent supportive housing units and that roughly 67 units were proposed as homeownership opportunities. Two projects are in construction or permitting and one has completed building permits or construction stages at varying levels.

Why it matters: The demonstration program allowed Council to approve departures from prescriptive zoning standards (density, setbacks, allowed housing types, parking and open‑space standards) in exchange for a public benefit, in this case affordable housing. Staff said the city will repeal the time‑limited demonstration code and incorporate the lessons and thresholds into a development‑agreement process that the commission and council will later consider.

Program outcomes and examples

- Project outcomes: Staff described three projects approved under the program: a Habitat for Humanity middle‑housing project (attached units), DESC Bloomside (a six‑story supportive housing project with about 95 units), and EcoThrive (an affordable homeownership project in permitting). The combined approvals total 162 affordable units, with about 40 percent planned as homeownership units across two projects.

- Typical code departures used: Applicants leveraged the program to request higher density, reduced parking, modified open‑space or recreation standards, adjustments to yard setbacks, and height and floor‑area flexibility. Staff noted such site‑specific flexibility made some projects feasible on constrained lots, particularly where critical areas or freeway sound walls are present.

Commissioner discussion and next steps

Commissioners asked whether the program met original expectations; staff said the ordinance anticipated up to five demonstration projects and three were approved. Commissioners noted the program produced a mix of deep affordability (permanent supportive housing) and homeownership opportunities but observed a gap in “missing middle” or workforce housing targeting 60–80% area median income (AMI). Staff said the forthcoming development‑agreement procedure could include criteria tying city flexibility to defined public benefits (for example, a set share of units at a target AMI) and that thresholds and fees will be part of the forthcoming draft.

Staff cautioned that development agreements require a significant city staff commitment to negotiate and administer; staff noted other cities apply application fees (example cited: $30,000) or minimum project size thresholds to ensure the effort matches project scale. Staff said the city will prepare draft language for a development‑agreement process (to live in Burien Municipal Code procedures) and will bring options back to the commission for guidance.

Ending

The commission asked staff to use the demonstration program’s outcomes to draft possible criteria, scale thresholds and administrative procedures for a future development‑agreement process that can be evaluated alongside the middle‑housing and zoning updates scheduled this year.