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Council urges narrow, focused planning work on housing, walkability and neighborhood businesses
Summary
At the Jan. 13 joint meeting, council members said they prefer targeted fixes (for example, frontage or specific code clarifications) and asked commissioners to prioritize discrete items such as preapproved ADU plans, cottage housing incentives, neighborhood retail and pedestrian-safe streets rather than a broad, unfocused package.
Lake Forest Park council members used a Jan. 13 joint session with the Planning Commission to press for focused, achievable planning deliverables on housing and walkability, recommending targeted fixes rather than large bundled code overhauls.
Several council members said the city should define what it meant by "affordability" before asking the commission to tackle broad housing goals, distinguishing between capital-A affordable housing for low-income residents and smaller-scale, lower-cost housing options for first-time buyers. Commissioners agreed clearer direction from council would help them prioritize between incentives, code cleanup and potential partnerships with nonprofits or community land trusts.
On medium-density/middle housing, commissioners urged consideration of preapproved ADU plans and incentives aimed at producing housing types other than three-story townhomes. Vice Chair Goldman said rolling frontage rules into a broader affordability/code cleanup could help produce smaller, more varied housing while preserving open space on larger lots.
Council members also proposed exploring "distributed neighborhood retail" (corner cafes, small-scale infill retail and adaptive reuse of garages/ADUs for neighborhood businesses) to enhance walkability. Implementing Healthy Streets and taking advantage of a recent change in state law that allows lower speed limits were noted as complementary strategies to encourage walking and reduce vehicle miles traveled.
Commissioner Drew presented home-sharing as an additional tool to increase affordable housing options without new construction and supplied local statistics and packet materials for council review. Council members recognized multiple tools would be needed and suggested commission subgroups to advance draft proposals so full commission meetings remain efficient.
No new zoning changes or incentives were adopted at the joint session. Council asked the commission to return with prioritized, scoped proposals and to identify when consultant help or procedural changes (preapproved plans, permitting streamlining) would be required.
Next steps: the commission will consider subgroups, prepare draft scoped proposals (for example, ADU preapproved plans or a frontage fix), and report back with estimated staff/consultant needs and a recommended meeting cadence.
