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Planning Commission moves objective-design land-use code amendment to public hearing
Summary
Bellevue staff presented a draft LUCA to implement House Bill 1293’s objective-design requirements; commissioners asked for tightened language and voted to schedule a public hearing in January.
Bellevue’s Planning Commission voted to schedule a public hearing in January after staff presented a draft land-use code amendment to implement House Bill 1293’s requirement that design rules be clear and objective.
Staff said the project rewrites guideline and intent language into objective standards where possible, changes vesting for administrative design review to occur at the time of a complete application, and recommends moving much of the sign code into a separate code update with a delayed adoption date. "We are looking for input," said Nick Whipple, Development Services assistant director, as he outlined a three-stage method: review existing language, identify objective standards to retain, and revise intent statements into regulatory text.
Kirsten Mant, senior planner, summarized the approach to transform subjective guidance into ascertainable standards and stressed the team will keep non-regulatory intent language where useful. "We decided ... that things that were optional pathways for approval—departures, exemptions, amenity bonuses—would not be revised as part of this scope," Mant said. Commissioners repeatedly flagged residual "should" statements and urged staff to tighten language before the hearing.
Commissioner Farris moved to set the public hearing; the motion carried on a voice vote. Chair Gopal confirmed the Commission expects an additional staff pass to respond to commissioner comments and to provide clearer, enforceable standard text ahead of the hearing.
Staff said the project is tied to statewide requirements and that additional briefings and a forthcoming affordable-housing proportionality study will inform related LUCA work at the Jan. 8 session. The hearing will give the public a formal opportunity to comment on the proposed objective-design code changes.
The Commission’s next steps: staff will refine regulatory language, answer the commissioners’ detailed list of examples where intent still reads as subjective, and return with tightened draft language and supporting examples before the scheduled public hearing.
