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Pasco planners warn city must add zoning capacity for 6,200 apartment units to meet state target
Summary
Planning staff told the Pasco Planning Commission that Washington’s latest 20‑year housing allocation requires room for about 18,000 units citywide and — after a land‑capacity analysis — Pasco lacks roughly 6,200 apartment‑style units (low‑/mid‑rise and ADUs). Staff recommended raising multifamily density in mixed‑use zones and targeted height increases as the first steps.
City planning staff told commissioners and members of the public on Feb. 9 that Pasco’s zoning and vacant‑land inventory must be adjusted to show capacity for roughly 18,000 housing units the state expects the city to plan for over the next 20 years. The planning department’s land‑capacity analysis identified a 6,200‑unit shortfall concentrated in multi‑family building types — low‑rise and mid‑rise apartments and accessory dwelling units — even while the city shows a surplus of single‑family and moderate‑density housing.
Kim Lairman, Pasco’s community and economic development director, described the technical steps the department used to reach the shortfall figure: classifying city parcels as undevelopable, vacant, under‑developed or pipeline; computing net buildable area per zone; and modeling units per acre for each zone under current municipal code. The exercise, she said, also broke capacity down by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) / state income bands (AMI), which is required under the state’s growth framework.
The gap, staff said, is a product of both market outcomes and regulatory settings: “Pasco has a surplus of single‑family homes and townhouses, but the state now requires a wider mix that includes housing which typically serves households earning up to 80% of area median income,” Lairman said. “That’s where we are short.”
Commissioners discussed four policy responses staff outlined: (1) increase multifamily density in areas where apartments are already allowed, especially mixed‑use and R‑4 zones; (2) allow more “missing‑middle” housing — duplexes, triplexes and cottage clusters — in targeted, strategic locations; (3) raise allowable heights in commercial and mixed‑use corridors to enable stacked residential over ground‑floor retail; and (4) expand the map of mixed‑use zoning in targeted areas. Several commissioners favored a cautious, staged approach focused on density increases in existing multifamily and commercial zones, and using height and design standards (stepbacks and transitions) to protect nearby neighborhoods.
Staff and consultants emphasized this is a planning exercise, not a directive to build: the city must show on paper that the land exists and the code permits the range of housing types the state requires; actual construction will follow market decisions. Lairman said the department will return with detailed policy and map changes — and with public outreach plans — before any code amendments are adopted.
What’s next: Planning staff will refine the policy options and mapping, run more focused capacity models based on council direction, and bring draft comprehensive‑plan and zoning amendments back for public hearings and formal council action over the coming months. The department also signaled it will consider developer incentives and infrastructure constraints — including water, sewer and roads — as it refines recommendations.
