Urban density options bill adds more options!

The trailer bill to last year’s HB 1923, the voluntary and incentive-based approach to increasing urban land use density, saw significant changes as it passed out of its policy committee in the Senate.

Although HB 2343 had major amendments in committee, the bill retained the items that we reported on at the start of session. In addition to those changes, the bill allows cities to choose from these additional options:

• Allow quadplexes, sixplexes, stacked flats, and townhouses in one or more single-family zoning districts or in zones they are not currently authorized in;
• Adopt maximum allowable SEPA exemptions for certain types of new minor construction;
• Adopt standards for administrative approval of final plats;
• Create ordinances authorizing administrative review of preliminary plats;
• Adopt permit process improvements;
• Update use matrices and tables to eliminate conditional use permits for all housing types, except for essential public facilities;
• Allow flexibility for on-street and off-street parking standards when private roads are proposed;
• Develop local programs that offer financing, design, permitting, or construction for homeowners to build ADUs, with the option for the city to impose an affordability requirement for home ownership or when renting the unit;
• Develop local programs that offer financing, design, permitting, or construction for homeowners to convert a single-family home into a duplex, triplex, or quadplex where such housing is authorized, with the option for the city to impose an affordability requirement for home ownership or when renting the unit.

The newest version of HB 2343 also modifies the requirement that the Washington Center for Real Estate Research produce a report every two years. The report reviews housing supply and affordability metrics for certain fully planning cities under the GMA and requires a series of reports that will also include:

• An analysis of the private rental housing market; and
• City-specific median income data for cities implementing the multifamily tax exemption program.

HB 2343 has made it past the hurdles so far but must get voted out of the Senate by Friday, March 6 to advance. Let your legislators know you support this important bill to get it across the finish line!