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Edmonds board splits over how broadly to allow state-required coliving housing
Summary
Planning staff presented the state-required coliving-housing amendment and a range of local options; the board split on whether to adopt the state’s minimum threshold (lots allowing six multifamily units) or to allow coliving more broadly across RM zones.
Presentation and legal background
Planning staff briefed the board on Second Substitute House Bill 1998 (adopted by the state legislature and codified in 2024), which requires cities to allow coliving housing on any lot that allows at least six multifamily residential units and to limit off-street parking to no more than 0.25 spaces per sleeping unit. Planner Rose summarized the draft local code language and an earlier board decision to exclude short-term rentals from coliving definitions, noting two remaining open questions: whether to replace the 1964 boarding-house definition and whether to allow coliving only where local density permits at least six multifamily units or to lower that threshold to five or four units.
Data and options
Rose presented updated, manually scrubbed counts of existing RM (multiple-residential) lots and showed how eligibility would change by threshold: about 46% of multifamily lots would qualify at a six-unit threshold, roughly 54% at five units and 70% at four units (figures approximate; staff retained nonconforming lots in the new counts). She noted that certain commercial and mixed-use zones already allow coliving outright.
Board debate and procedural history
Board members divided on approach. Several members favored accepting the state-mandated minimum (six-unit threshold) and revisiting RM zoning in a future, broader code simplification, citing uncertainty about uptake and the potential to complicate later zoning reform. Others argued for simplifying the RM code and allowing coliving broadly in all RM zones now to expand options and reduce regulatory complexity.
A motion to eliminate the term "boarding house" and to allow coliving outright across all RM zones was made and brought to a vote; the board reported a tie on that motion and subsequently withdrew it. The board did not adopt a final local threshold at the meeting and tabled further action to the Oct. 22 planning-board meeting so staff can provide maps and decision-point materials requested by board members.
Quotes from the meeting
"Mainly, any lot, that allows at least 6 multifamily residential units is required to have a coliving housing, and then no more than 0.25 off street parking space per sleeping unit," Planner Rose said when summarizing the state requirement.
"If we're looking to use coliving housing as a method of making housing ... then it seems likely that we would do something on a lower higher density. In other words, select 4 or 5," Board Member Judy Gladstone said during deliberations.
What happened next
The board requested additional mapping and options analysis for Oct. 22. Staff said the draft ordinance will be introduced to City Council on Oct. 28 and must be adopted by Dec. 31, 2025, to meet the state deadline; the board will revisit its recommendation once it has the requested materials.
(Notes: numerical percentages and lot counts are staff calculations presented at the meeting and described by Rose; the transcript records those figures as approximate and notes data scrubbing.)
