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Sumner updates Town Center Plan: IDEA overlay, street typologies and HB 1491 walk‑shed rule drive revisions
Summary
City planners presented proposed updates to Sumner’s Town Center Plan to add an IDEA overlay for small makers and live‑work uses, refine form‑based development standards and street typologies, and ensure consistency with House Bill 1491’s transit‑oriented development (3.5 FAR) requirement within the station walk shed.
Sumner staff presented proposed updates to the Town Center Plan, form‑based code and related ordinances (Ord. Nos. 2939, 2940, 2941) at the Oct. 13 study session. The 2025 package includes: an IDEA (Innovative District Enterprise Area) overlay to encourage small‑scale makers, live‑work and flexible business spaces; refinements to allowed building heights and transition zones; clarifications to the form‑based code and development standards; new Exhibit language and updated planned action ordinance thresholds; and revisions to street typologies and when frontage improvements are required.
House Bill 1491 and FAR obligations: staff said House Bill 1491 requires jurisdictions with qualifying transit stations to allow, on average, a 3.5 floor‑area ratio (FAR) within a quarter mile walk shed of the train station for jurisdictions under 15,000 population (a half‑mile buffer applies when a jurisdiction exceeds 15,000). Krishanda Walker explained how the quarter‑mile walk shed requirement affects allowed heights and how the 3.5 FAR must be demonstrated across the walk shed. She told council the city is…
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