Anacortes planning commission recommends 2025 development-regulation package to city council, asks changes for Old Town, J Avenue and definitions

The Anacortes Planning Commission on Oct. 22 voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council adopt the proposed 2025 development regulation amendments and related zoning‑map changes, while adding several commission-directed revisions and clarifications.

The recommendation directs council consideration of staff revisions that were included in the packet and six specific items the commission asked be changed or reviewed before final adoption: (1) retain the proposed single‑family small‑lot allowance in the Old Town zone and make associated form‑and‑intensity changes; (2) remove the smaller “or” duplex lot‑size options from the density chart (table 19.42.020) used in the draft; (3) request a review and revision of the J Avenue collector exception between 20th and 29th streets to consider engineering options described in a public‑works memo (Sept. 25, 2025); (4) add the word “Planned” to the Active Transportation Network exhibit title (Exhibit A); (5) update a cross‑reference so the code’s local bonus‑incentive language points to the official affordable‑housing definition in AMC 19.12.020; and (6) make three procedural clarifications in the applications/decisions table to reflect that some project‑level decisions will be acted on by the City Council rather than the planning commission.

Why it matters: The amendments are part of Anacortes’s periodic comprehensive‑plan update and rewrite of Title 19 (development regulations). The package implements recommendations from the city’s Housing Action Plan and other code cleanups; if the City Council accepts the commission’s recommendation, the changes will affect minimum lot sizes, permitted housing types (including small‑lot single family, triplexes and townhomes in some zones), development incentives in marine mixed‑use areas, and project review procedures.

What the commission discussed and decided Libby Grange, planning manager in the Planning, Community and Economic Development Department, reviewed the public‑comment period and the staff table of proposed edits that had been added after the full draft was released for public comment on Sept. 17. Grange summarized numerous technical changes…