Mill Creek staff outline state-mandated 'middle housing' code changes, timeline for updates

At the Feb. 4 Mill Creek City Council meeting, Jeff Ryan, director of community development and planning, gave a housing policy primer and described specific code changes the city must adopt to comply with state laws that expand “middle housing.” Ryan said the city must update its municipal code to meet requirements in several 2023–2024 state laws and aim to complete that work before the June compliance deadline.

Ryan told the council the objective of his presentation was to explain housing terminology, supply-and-demand basics, and how recent legislation affects local review, parking and unit types. “Housing is kind of at the center of almost all municipal problems in a lot of ways,” Ryan said. He described “middle housing” as accessory dwelling units (ADUs), duplexes, townhomes, fourplexes and sixplexes and said many of those types already exist in Mill Creek.

The presentation laid out four state authorities that drive the changes: the state Growth Management Act (1990) and three more recent bills discussed by Ryan as HB 1110, HB 1337 and HB 5258. According to Ryan, the state requirements that will…