Clyde Hill News: Condos and 3+ homes per lot — the local impact of new state housing laws on Clyde Hill
Also: local response planned if WA's drug possession law expires July 1, and city asks residents about park plans
This week, we look at the state’s new housing laws from a resident’s point of view. Tuesday night’s city council meeting will include a “State Legislative Actions Update.” What do the changes in state law mean for our community?
More information about the local impact of the new laws, below, including an update about housing the homeless in Clyde Hill, legal uncertainty around drug possession, and plans for Clyde Hill’s parks.
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Disclaimer: while I am a councilmember on the Clyde Hill City Council, I write this newsletter in my capacity as an individual resident. Any opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily the position of the City. City information and references here are from public sources. I welcome email responses — and if the topic is about City business I will respond from my City email account.
Local impact of new state laws
From “single family” to “condos and 3+ homes per lot”
The very short version of what to expect locally from the new state laws:
» Clyde Hill would be required to permit three homes per lot, possibly more in some cases.
» Condominiums would become legal, as the city could not prohibit the purchase and sale of housing units on a lot separately from the lot.
» Even as density of housing goes up, the parking requirements on new developments would go down.
There are many caveats to keep in mind here…
The governor needs to sign these bills to make them laws; according to some reports, Gov Inslee is expected to sign the bills this week.
There could be legal challenges or an effort at a referendum to repeal the law.
Cities are waiting on guidance and disambiguation about the new laws from Washington State’s Department of Commerce as well as the Association of Washington Cities.
Before getting into the details, there are many good sources to read for additional context. The packet for Tuesday’s city council meeting has a write-up here (link), a Seattle architect offered a point of view here (link), and this news article (link) has an overview of the ~20 new laws coming online.
Details: HB 1110 and 1337
The gist of House Bill 1110 (link), for Clyde Hill, involves requiring the city to permit two dwellings per lot. While Clyde Hill’s residential zoning is “single family housing,” the city already permits a single ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) on each lot. At first glance, the difference between “two dwellings per lot” and “a house + ADU” doesn’t seem like much.
The gist of House Bill 1337 (link), for Clyde Hill, involves requiring the city to permit two ADUs per lot.
One thing that’s not clear right now is how these two new laws interact.
One possible read is that “three dwellings per lot” is the required minimum. Another is two dwellings and two ADUs, or four dwellings per lot.
Another interpretation is that ADUs are associated with each dwelling, and each of the two dwellings per lot could in turn have two ADUs. That would mean that each lot in Clyde Hill could have six dwellings.
HB 1337 also appears to:
prohibit the city from requiring off-street parking for ADUs within a half-mile of the 92nd Ave transit “kiss n ride” stop.
prohibit the city from requiring (for ADUs) that the owner occupy either the home or the ADU. Clyde Hill currently requires owner occupation (Clyde Hill Municipal Code 17.29.030E, link).
enable condominiums, by prohibiting the city from prohibiting the sale of a dwelling on the lot as a condominium separately from the lot:
Residents with questions, concerns, or suggestions can come to Tuesday night’s meeting to offer public comment, or can email them to the city ask that they be included as public comment. Send email to cityhall@clydehill.org and council@clydehill.org.
The city has a bunch of work ahead to revise and update the city’s municipal code and policy to accommodate the new laws and reflect local community preferences at the same time. Some of that work will need to wait on guidance from the Department of Commerce and other groups.
Local HOA efforts
Local efforts by residents continue across Clyde Hill, Medina, Hunts Point, and Yarrow Point to form HOAs to limit housing density. I wrote more about this effort last week here (link).
If you’re interested in connecting with people involved in that effort or an update, please send me mail and I will follow up with you. Out of respect for the privacy of the people involved, I am not publishing that information publicly. As I wrote last week, I am not endorsing or sponsoring that effort or making legal claims about its possible efficacy.
Details: Proposed ordinance on Permanent Supportive Housing and Transitional Housing
Tuesday night, the city council will consider passing a law setting some limits on permanent supportive and transitional housing facilities in Clyde Hill.
As a result of a 2021 state law, Clyde Hill must permit permanent supportive and transitional housing facilities anywhere it permits residential development.
(“Permanent Supportive Housing” refers to subsidized rental housing with no limit on length of stay; “Transitional Housing” is similar, just temporary.)
From the council meeting packet (link, emphasis from original):
HB 1220 requires that Clyde Hill allow permanent supportive and transitional housing facilities to be built in residential zones. Cities can put parameters in place to limit the occupancy, intensity, and spacing of the facilities to the extent that these laws do not hinder accommodation of the city’s projected needs as established by the Washington Department of Commerce. Even without changing the City’s code to put such parameters in place, permanent supportive and transitional housing facilities are able to be built right now in residential zones in Clyde Hill due to HB 1220.
Over several months, Clyde Hill’s Planning Commission extensively reworked the administration’s original proposal for the law. The draft law is available here (link, section 8.1). As this issue of the newsletter is getting long, I’ll offer one sentence from the proposed bill to illustrate the detail and thought they put into their work:
Anyone who is required to register as a sex offender may not be a permanent or transitional resident at any facility.
As a resident, I will offer an opinion that the Planning Commission did strong work in developing the draft ordinance.
For reference, the Planning Commission consists of five residents, appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the council, who serve “in an advisory capacity to the City Council on matters involving zoning, land use, and long-range planning” (link).
Drug possession law set to expire
Washington state is on the verge of having no laws regarding drug possession. As a local police officer explained to me, police would find themselves unable to take action in response to finding heroin or other drugs on someone in Clyde Hill.
Here’s the shortest, clearest explanation I could find on this topic (often referred to as Blake, after the legal case State v. Blake), from MRSC (link):
One of the surprises of the 2023 legislative session was that the legislature did not adopt a long-term replacement for the current laws prohibiting public drug use and possession that are currently set to expire on July 1, 2023. The current state laws were adopted as a temporary measure response to the State v. Blake case…. The expectation was that long-term legislation would be adopted in the 2023 regular session, but the bill was voted down in the closing hours of the session.
On May 2, 2023, Governor Inslee announced that he will call a special session of the legislature to address this issue to start on May 16. In the meantime, many Washington cities and counties have adopted or are considering local ordinances to address prohibition of drug use and possession in the event the special session does not result in legislation that takes effect on July 1, 2023.
If the Legislature does not pass a drug possession law, residents can expect Clyde Hill to adopt a local ordinance to fill the gap. There are many groups spending time drafting and refining legislation, and the city is tracking progress here.
Park plans: resident feedback
The city posted a survey intended for residents about Clyde Hill’s parks. You can take the survey here: link.
For context, Clyde Hill has about $230K to spend on parks from its share of King County’s Parks Levy; see this previous newsletter issue (link) for more detail.
The survey is great progress worth celebrating! I’ve heard from readers who ran across the survey on NextDoor (link) as well as on a sign while walking near the tennis courts.
While there are some issues still to be worked through (for example, reaching more of Clyde Hill’s residents, confidence in which responses are really from residents, multiple votes from a single resident, and so on) — if you’re a resident, please thank the administration and fill in the survey!
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Dean Hachamovitch