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Kent staff propose zoning changes to allow more housing in community commercial areas
Summary
City planners want to remove barriers in the Community Commercial zone to encourage infill housing, raising site coverage from 40% to 80% and increasing allowable height from three to five stories (up to seven with incentives); staff aim to adopt the interim changes by March 17.
Daja Mitchell, the city’s Long Range Planner, told the Kent City Council Committee of the Whole on Tuesday that staff are proposing interim revisions to the Community Commercial (CC) zone intended to clear regulatory barriers to residential redevelopment.
The changes would permit multifamily housing types such as fourplexes through larger multifamily buildings within the CC zone (previously limited to the CC mixed‑use overlay), remove the minor conditional‑use permit requirement for residential facilities within a quarter mile of 100th Avenue and 4th Avenue, allow live‑work units, increase site coverage from 40% to 80% and update height allowances from three stories to five stories — with an additional two stories (seven total) allowed for developments that include structured parking or commercial space. "We are increasing site coverage from 40% to 80%," Mitchell said during the presentation.
Nut graf: The interim changes are designed to implement the city’s comprehensive plan goals and environmental review while responding to stalled infill opportunities in the Benton Corridor and other CC areas; staff say the rules aim to reduce vacant ground‑floor commercial space and make redevelopment more financially feasible.
Mitchell used three local examples to illustrate the issue: a recently built residential project in the General Commercial zone that remains saddled with vacant required commercial space, and a larger retail lot (the former Top Foods site, now occupied by retailers such as Burlington) that has sat underused for years because current CC rules restrict residential development. Staff said the requirement that ground‑floor commercial be permanently occupied or established before residential permits adds carrying costs that deter housing projects.
Council members pressed staff for an estimate of how many housing units the changes might produce; Mitchell said staff do not have a firm unit projection at this time. A staff member clarified the height change: the base allowance would be five stories, with an incentive for structured parking or mixed use that could add two additional stories. One councilor noted pending state legislation that would likely prevent local governments from forcing ground‑floor commercial, a factor staff said informed the narrower scope of this interim update.
Mitchell said staff are targeting an adoption date of March 17 and that the interim change focuses only on CC zones in the Benton Corridor; broader code updates elsewhere in the city will follow after further review of the state rulemaking. The committee did not take a final vote on the code changes during the meeting; the item was presented for information and will return for adoption following outreach and review.
Provenance: Presented by Daja Mitchell (Long Range Planner); topic introduction SEG 476: "Daja Mitchell, Long Range Planner here." Topic end SEG 714: "So that is all I have for you all tonight."
