Sammamish planning panel backs Title 21 code cleanups, narrows upper‑floor cap with exception for main‑entry floors

Sammamish Planning Commission on Dec. 4 recommended that the City Council consider a package of code cleanups to SMC Title 21 that staff say correct minor errors, clarify intent and remove redundant language. The package also retains a debated cap intended to limit the bulk of new "middle housing" but directs council to consider refined language developed by staff and the commission.

Avril Beatty, planning and permit center manager, led the presentation of the package and said the most substantive change under discussion was a 3,000‑square‑foot limit applied to floors above ground level. "Anything that's within 3 feet of the exterior grade is part of that ground floor, would not be limited by the 3,000 square feet," Beatty said, explaining the intent is to limit massing above grade while allowing modest…