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Bothell staff outline housing action plan priorities, set community engagement timeline toward 2026 completion
Summary
City staff presented the scope and priority topics for a Housing Action Plan update, seeking Planning Commission feedback. Staff identified five top priorities, said public engagement will begin in spring 2025 and the plan aims for completion by summer 2026, and noted work already underway with renter/landlord focus groups and consultant support.
City of Bothell planning staff briefed the Planning Commission on Feb. 19 on the scope and engagement approach for a Housing Action Plan update and asked for commissioners’ feedback; no formal action was requested.
The housing action plan is an update to the 2018 housing strategy component and an implementation step stemming from the 2024 Imagine Bothell comprehensive plan. Senior Planner Ray Salazar and Long Range Planner Jacqueline Sampson said the city aims to complete the plan by summer 2026 and divided the work into four phases: scoping, preliminary community engagement, a working draft, and finalization for adoption.
“Community engagement will be an ongoing effort throughout the housing action plan,” Ray Salazar, Senior Planner, City of Bothell Community Development, told commissioners. Staff emphasized they would use both traditional outreach and targeted engagement and noted the city plans to provide financial compensation where appropriate for longer‑term participation.
Top priorities and background Staff described five top priorities (not ranked): develop a comprehensive incentive program, refine multifamily tax exemption (MFTE) regulations, support renters and tenants, manage the affordable housing fund, and set a regulatory reporting frequency to measure outcomes. Sampson said the housing strategy was last updated in May 2018 and that the 2024 comprehensive plan and recent state legislative activity (for example, a state bill discussed by commissioners, HB 1110) influence the scope.
Commissioner input and staff responses - Prioritization: Several commissioners urged prioritizing the affordable housing fund and a comprehensive incentive program. Commissioner Jones said those two items felt most likely to yield early housing production results. - Reporting and transparency: Commissioners recommended a public dashboard or regular reporting on housing production and policy outcomes so residents and council can track whether adopted measures are producing units. Staff noted other cities (for example, Kirkland) maintain dashboards that track housing production. - Near‑term action: Commissioners asked whether any “low‑hanging fruit” could be advanced before the plan’s final adoption; staff said renter/landlord focus groups and tenant‑rights work are already underway and that the city is collaborating with a consultant (ARCH) to refine MFTE regulations. - Renter population: Staff estimated that roughly 35% of city households are renters, based on 2023 data used for the comprehensive plan; Sampson cautioned figures were approximate.
Next steps Staff said preliminary engagement would begin in spring 2025, with targeted outreach, collaboration with community organizations and a consultant‑assisted regulatory review. No specific regulatory changes were proposed at the Feb. 19 meeting; instead the session sought commissioner priorities to shape outreach and draft policy options for later review.
