Auburn planners lay out 2025 agenda: housing rules, battery storage, SEPA thresholds and downtown plan

Alexandria Tighe, planning services manager in Auburn’s Department of Community Development, told the City Council at its Feb. 10 study session that the department’s 2025 work program will emphasize implementing state housing law changes, producing critical-area updates, drafting local rules for battery energy storage systems and advancing a downtown plan and design standards.

Tighe said the city will revise use tables and definitions required under the state law often referenced as House Bill 1220 (cited in the presentation as RCW 35 21 6 83) so that permanent supportive housing (PSH) and indoor emergency housing cannot be prohibited in zones where residential dwelling units or hotels are allowed. “We cannot prohibit permanent supportive housing in any zone in which residential dwelling units or hotels are allowed,” she said, noting the code changes will include reasonable standards for occupancy, spacing and intensity of use.

The work program also includes drafting supplemental standards to implement recent state guidance about religious…