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City staff previews changes to cottage clusters and 'detached plexes' under new law
Summary
Staff told the Planning Commission the state intends to loosen footprint and orientation rules for cottage clusters and allow some attached/detached 'detached-plex' configurations; staff recommended adopting code amendments now to allow detached configurations and refine design standards later with state rulemaking.
City planning staff explained how the state's changes will affect the design and allowed configurations of middle housing. Eric Olson said the state wants more flexibility for cottage clusters'including allowing attached units in some clusters and replacing a local 900-square-foot footprint limit with a vaguer 'small footprint' or floor-area standard that will be defined through rulemaking.
On detached-plexes, Olson said the city plans to adopt code to allow those configurations as part of the 2026 annual code amendments and then follow with more detailed design standards in the code-audit project. "...we will be required by 01/01/2027 ... to allow, attached configurations for duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes," he said. Commissioners discussed market constraints such as lot size and parking, and staff flagged that some of the finer design constraints will be established in forthcoming state rules.
