Staff recommends brief preemption on state-mandated commercial-to-multifamily conversion rule

City staff told the commission the state requires local adoption by June 30 of rules governing conversion of existing commercial buildings into multifamily housing and explained the options for compliance.

Lance (staff) summarized the mandate and said the rules apply only to commercial buildings at least three years old and only in zones where multifamily is already permitted (R2, R3, M1–M3 and throughout the River District). Lance described drafting a "limited use standard" that mirrors the RCW but recommended allowing the state to preempt local control for up to about six months while the city prepares a fuller update to the development code later in the year. "So what I'm... recommending mostly is go along with preemption and then update it along with our development code," Lance said.

Staff noted that preemption would apply only to the RCW language and that the limited geographic applicability (much of the city is single-family) meant the immediate local effect would be modest. During public comment, Abby Sprague asked whether conversions would count toward the city's state-required multifamily capacity numbers; staff replied that conversions might be considered during the five-year check-in but that the city would need to confirm whether Commerce would accept such capacity counting.

Why it matters: The commission must acknowledge a statutory deadline that could limit local discretion on parking, additional environmental review and similar conditions for qualifying conversions. Allowing short-term preemption would meet the deadline while giving staff time to craft local standards and hold the fuller code update process required later in the year.

The commission voiced no objections to the staff recommendation; staff will proceed with the approach and incorporate the issue in the upcoming code updates.