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Land use committee favors negotiating McCormick Village overlay relief for parking, façades and storefront rules
Summary
City staff indicated conditional support for a set of technical reliefs to the McCormick Village/McCormick North overlay district—allowing pervious paving not to count toward hard‑surface lot coverage, adjusted ADU parking layout, a small porch setback encroachment, relaxed facade and storefront transparency rules—and the committee asked staff to draft a development‑agreement amendment.
Port Orchard staff told the Land Use Committee on Nov. 19 that they will draft changes to the McCormick Village overlay district to clarify or relax several standards the developer says are difficult to meet.
Nick Bond said the developer is seeking several narrow clarifications and reliefs so that future phases can be built without repeated interpretations of the code. Items discussed included treating pervious paving for nonrequired parking so it does not count as hard‑surface lot coverage, allowing narrower stalls or parking between garages where building separation is tight, a one‑foot additional porch encroachment into the setback, narrowed facade‑variation requirements, allowance of cement‑fiber siding similar to T1‑11 and reduced masonry at foundations, relief for a very small number of nonstandard lots, and reduced commercial transparency requirements for four‑sided village buildings.
Staff and the committee largely viewed the requests as technical and manageable. On porous paving, staff noted the city’s hard‑surface definition focuses on imperviousness and that porous concrete, while pervious, may still be treated as a hard surface; staff indicated an interpretation or narrow code change could resolve the ambiguity. On ADU parking, committee members asked about standard stall dimensions; one participant cited a 9‑by‑20 standard and staff confirmed some current stalls exist and that additional on‑street or shared parking has been provided in the right of way.
Drainage and stormwater capacity were raised: Bond said the developer’s engineers have analyzed capacity and that permitting would require further engineering review before construction of any new surfaces. The committee also confirmed existing design standards require covered dumpsters/enclosures in visible locations and that recent local projects have complied with that standard.
Committee members expressed broad willingness to have staff and the city attorney draft an amendment; Nick said he would ask the city attorney (Jennifer Robertson) to prepare the agreement and that McCormick Communities will cover attorney drafting fees. Staff projected the item would return for public hearing and council action in January or February.
Because the requested changes apply only to the McCormick Village overlay district, staff said they would not expand those adjustments citywide. The committee’s support at this stage was procedural—authorizing drafting and negotiation—not a final vote on any code change.
