Edmonds outlines 2025 middle‑housing requirements; warns state model will apply if city misses deadline

Shane Hoepp, interim director of Planning and Development Services, told the Edmonds City Council’s committee of the whole on Feb. 18 that the city must finish several land‑use code updates in 2025 — most urgently middle housing rules required under recent state law — and that failure to meet the deadlines would let the state’s model ordinance take effect locally.

Hoepp said the state law (House Bill 1110) codified in the cited RCW language requires cities of Edmonds’ size to allow at least two housing units per single‑family lot and in certain cases four units per lot. "If Edmonds does not adopt middle housing regulations by the due date, state's model ordinance will take effect," Hoepp said during the presentation.

The city framed the changes as compliance tasks with significant local implications. The state model ordinance would allow taller and denser development than Edmonds’ current single‑family rules: Hoepp said the model sets a 35‑foot maximum height versus Edmonds’ existing 25 feet in single‑family zones and suggests up to 45% lot coverage rather than Edmonds’ 35%. He also warned the model would reduce front‑yard setbacks to roughly 10–15 feet compared with the city’s 20–25 feet in single‑family zones.

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