Council designates a parcel for multifamily tax exemption, adopts code amendment to add a 12-year option

The City Council held two related public hearings Oct. 20 on the multifamily tax exemption (MFTE) program. Kristen, a city staff member, presented the ordinance to designate Parcel 192350000 as a residential target area for the MFTE program. No members of the public offered testimony during the hearing on the parcel designation. Deputy Mayor Bowman moved to adopt Ordinance 2025-13 (target-area designation) and the motion passed on a roll-call vote 5–2.

Staff then opened a second hearing on proposed amendments to the Battle Ground Municipal Code (title 3, chapter 3.45) adding the parcel to the residential target-area list and adding a 12-year exemption duration as an option in the code. After the public hearing closed with no public testimony, the council voted to adopt the code amendments as Ordinance 2025-15 by a roll-call vote of 4–3. During deliberations one council member said the downtown Main Street area would be a preferable target area for MFTE and explained opposition was not to the concept but to the specific parcel.

Both ordinances amend the city’s MFTE program: the first identifies the parcel eligible for developers seeking the local tax exemption, and the second modifies the MFTE code to permit a 12-year exemption duration in designated target areas. The adopted actions are procedural steps necessary to make the parcel available for developers to request MFTE on qualifying multifamily housing projects.

Ending: The ordinances take effect as adopted; staff will update program materials and the municipal-code listings to reflect the newly designated parcel and the 12-year exemption option.