Middle housing bill passes fiscal committee

The famous middle housing bill continues to move through the House of Representatives, passing out of the Appropriations Committee on Friday, February 24. We have had hours of productive discussions with the sponsor, Representative Bateman; we appreciate the willingness to engage and the improvement that has happened with the bill as it worked its way through the committee process. Despite that work, we are still not in alignment with key aspects of the bill. 

The primary concern remaining in HB 1110 is the state application of minimum zoning standards to almost all residential lots, with limited exceptions, in affected cities. We continue to press for more flexibility and means for local decision-making to shape where these upzones would occur. We believe that this combination of state direction with flexibility would provide a framework that most cities can make work.

Legislators are continuing to move forward with a broader preemption. If this is concerning to you, please communicate those concerns with your delegation. You can also comment directly on the bill to your delegation by using this page.

Key components of the bill as it passed out of its fiscal committee are as follows:

• Cities with a population of between 25,000-75,000 who are not within a contiguous, unbroken, chain of urban growth areas (UGAs) with a city over 200,000 would be required to authorize:
  • Duplexes on every residential lot
  • Fourplexes on every lot if one is affordable
  • Fourplexes on every lot within ½ mile walking distance of a major transit stop, public K-12 school, and community park
• Cities with a population over 75,000 or within a contiguous UGA of a city over 200,000 would be required to authorize:
  • Fourplexes on every residential lot
  • Sixplexes on every lot if two units are affordable
  • Sixplexes on every lot within ¼ mile walking distance of a major transit stop, public K-12 school, and community park

We continue to seek further improvements to the infrastructure sufficiency, parking restrictions, and approval for substantially similar local action provisions.

Please take another look through the bill and update your feedback to AWC.