Bellevue Planning Commission recommends HOMA LUCA with height, grocery covenant and office incentive amendments

The Bellevue Planning Commission on Jan. 28 recommended that City Council advance the Housing Opportunities in Mixed Use Areas (HOMA) land use code amendment, sending the mandatory-affordability option (attachment A) to council with three substantive changes the commission adopted during deliberations.

The commission voted to (1) revise the draft so the mixed-use ‘‘MU7’’ category can allow up to 85 feet (effectively permitting an eight‑story podium form where appropriate); (2) limit grocery‑store FAR covenants tied to bonus floor area to 25 years while allowing a post‑term transition to other exempt uses or a compensation mechanism (such as fee‑in‑lieu) to recoup public benefit; and (3) direct staff to include a modest 3% floor‑plate increase for nonresidential downtown projects to offset affordability fees and encourage office participation. Those amendments were incorporated into the recommendation the commission forwarded to council.

Why it matters: the LUCA is the city’s primary land‑use tool to unlock housing in neighborhood mixed‑use centers and downtown while trying to preserve ground‑floor amenities and grocery anchors. Staff told the commission the draft HOMA balances housing production goals with design and infrastructure limits and that the draft represents the sixth major iteration of the proposal since March 2025.

‘‘The proposed affordable housing requirement is well calibrated,’’ said Brady Nordstrom, representing the Housing Development Consortium and the Eastside Affordable Housing Coalition, which voiced broad support for option A and urged pairing the code with MFTE and other economic tools. ‘‘City analysis shows the cost of providing the affordable housing is offset by the value provided to landowners through an up‑zone,’’ he said.

Developers and grocers pressed staff and commissioners for stronger incentives tied to grocery anchors. ‘‘Grocery is materially more expensive to build in mixed‑use projects due to loading, venting and structural needs,’’ said Mark Mowitt, speaking for Northtown Shopping Center interests. Mowitt advocated a 3:1 FAR bonus and shorter covenant terms to reduce the risk of ‘‘stranded space.’’ Several commenters and downtown stakeholders backed a modest 3% floor‑plate bonus for office projects so nonresidential projects have an economic offset to new fees.

Staff presentation and technical changes: Nick Whipple, the city’s code and policy director, and Matthew Menard, senior planner, reviewed edits made after the Dec. 10 public hearing. Staff reported they had addressed 16 of 36 PLUSH committee requests directly in the draft and had routed other items to director’s rules or future Downtown Livability work. Notable technical changes in the draft presented to the commission included increasing impervious‑surface and hard‑surface limits in certain districts, relaxing strict pedestrian‑oriented fronting requirements by adding departure options (including limited plaza frontage), clarifying nonconforming‑use triggers (with exemptions for demolition and environmental remediation), and proposing a 25‑foot setback with a 45‑degree daylight plane above 60 feet for transition areas adjacent to lower‑rise neighborhoods.

Public engagement and neighborhood concerns: Newport Hills residents and community coalition representatives praised the draft’s support for neighborhood mixed‑use redevelopment but warned of insufficient outreach in some areas. ‘‘The planner didn’t inform the Newport Hills Community Club until Friday when the opportunity to get comments into the packet had already passed,’’ said Heidi Dean of Newport Hills, urging more targeted engagement and caution about citywide rezones that could functionally rezone neighborhood centers.

Grocery covenant compromise and other amendments: Commissioners debated multiple possible approaches to preserving grocery anchors while recouping the public benefit of FAR bonuses. Staff proposed—and the commission adopted—a compromise that limits grocery covenants to 25 years and allows the owner, at the end of that term, to either transition the space to another exempt public‑benefit use or provide compensation (for example fee‑in‑lieu) to the city for the FAR benefit. A separate motion to set a 3:1 grocery FAR bonus failed in the meeting.

Height adjustment and rationale: Architects and developers had urged alignment of land‑use heights with building‑code limits for podium Type 3A wood construction (85 feet). ‘‘Under the Bellevue building code... the maximum height for podium wood‑frame Type 3A buildings is 85 feet, but the new MU7 zone in the land use code draft allows only 80 feet,’’ said Amanda Keating, an architect with Weber Thompson. Commissioners voted 5–2 to raise the MU7 threshold to 85 feet (renaming it informally MU8 for consistency), a change staff said would affect a limited set of parcels and help make podium housing economically feasible.

Next steps: The commission’s recommendation, including the adopted amendments and any accompanying direction to staff, will go to City Council for further review and potential adoption. Staff indicated they expect to coordinate with the Office of Housing on MFTE‑related questions and to bring a recommendation packet to council in the spring. The commission also flagged remaining items for future Downtown Livability work and director’s rules.

What to watch: Council consideration and any council‑level adjustments to covenant terms, FAR bonuses, floor‑plate rules and the scope of downtown floor‑plate flexibility; staff rulemaking on affordable‑housing splits and implementation details; and ongoing community engagement on neighborhood center impacts.

The Planning Commission adjourned after the recommendation vote.