Planning staff outline housing needs assessment, project 350 dwelling-unit target

Joshua, the town planning director, presented the housing element of Coupeville's draft comprehensive plan and described how the state now requires jurisdictions to plan by income brackets rather than a single population target. He said the town and neighboring jurisdictions allocated projected growth so Coupeville would plan for about 350 dwelling units.

"That is further broken up into whether the household makes a certain percentage of the area median income," Joshua said, and walked the commission through the state tool that divides needs into income bands such as 50 to 80 percent of AMI for workforce housing. He said the office of financial management population projections and a land-capacity analysis informed the numbers.

Joshua also detailed how zoning and the future land-use map affect which types of housing can meet each bracket. He said Coupeville has roughly 1,050 housing units, about two people per household on average, and an owner-occupied share of roughly two-thirds. "If we are to set this plan and do nothing else for 20 years, that's our target," he said of the 350-unit projection, while noting the target will be refined with future updates.