Clyde Hill News: Making sense of new state housing laws in Clyde Hill
Also: Election results in new mayor, councilmembers; Clyde Hill’s newest police officer; city assists residents with stormwater problems after heavy rains
Clyde Hill residents have elected Steve Friedman as the city’s next mayor and Steve Sinwell and Ryan Olson as councilmembers, based on preliminary results posted by King County Elections:
King County Elections is scheduled to certify official and final election results on November 28th. So far, King County has counted 44% of the ballots it sent to residents, matching the final turnout for the most recent election in 2021.
At next week’s city council meeting, Police Chief Kyle Kolling will swear in Clyde Hill PD’s newest officer, Jeff Adolfson.
A discussion of the impact of new state housing laws on Clyde Hill is also on the agenda for next week’s meeting. More detail on that discussion below, along with other possible items of interest to residents at next week’s meeting.
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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.
State laws and Clyde Hill housing
Clyde Hill’s administration published an overview of recent state legislation related to housing that the city will need to take action to accommodate. The full list is here (link). Below, a recap of the most significant changes, and the path from here to changes in Clyde Hill’s laws.
Key changes
The most significant changes residents can expect are related to housing density and affordability:
density changes reflect mandates related to townhomes and accessory dwelling units, or ADUs (secondary housing units on single-family residential lots), and
affordability changes reflect mandates involving separately owned units within a multi-family structure, like a condominium or townhouse.
Today, Clyde Hill’s residential zoning is entirely “single family” with a limit of one attached ADU per lot (link).
According to the administration’s overview, to comply with HB 1110 and HB 1337, Clyde Hill will need to allow at least two ADUs per lot and not restrict whether they are attached or detached. To comply with SB 5258, it appears that Clyde Hill will need to permit the “division of a parent lot into separately owned unit lots” in order “to increase the supply and affordability of condominium units and townhouses.”
Back in May 2023, as an initial response to HB 1220, the city council approved a new ordinance concerning Permanent Supportive and Transitional Housing in Clyde Hill by a 4-0 vote (with one abstention). HB 1220, according to the administration’s document, mandated that “Cities must plan for and accommodate housing at all income levels.”
The path ahead
Briefly: complying with these state laws will involve changing Clyde Hill’s city code related to land use.
Changes to the city code require a council vote on proposed changes. That vote can happen only after the city’s Planning Commission provides advisory feedback on draft ordinances and the city holds public hearings for residents and the community to provide feedback.
It’s not clear when the Planning Commission will get to this work. Other proposed changes to Clyde Hill’s land use code have been in the Planning Commission’s queue since January, untouched, while it slowly works its way through drafts of the Comprehensive Plan. (For context, Clyde Hill’s comprehensive plan provides the “big picture” goals and policy framework for how it “develops and manages its land as well as how it provides services to the public” (link). The city is several years into its state-mandated periodic update of the plan.)
The administration has also been waiting on additional guidance and interpretation from the Department of Commerce and other organizations before it drafts local ordinances.
Most of the state deadlines for local compliance are in 2024 and 2025. Nine of the eleven mandates from the state in the administration’s document are marked as both “mandatory” and “high priority.”
Making this effort to catch up and come into compliance even more complicated is the likelihood that the state legislature will pass more housing laws. For example, “transit oriented development” laws (link) from last session are likely to return next year. These laws limit local authority in order to encourage higher density housing with no parking requirements near transit stops (like the one on 92nd Ave lid above 520).
Heavy rains and stormwater, and more
Clyde Hill’s Department of Public Works reports continued stormwater drainage problems around the city after the recent heavy rains (link). Public works “assisted owners along 17th with sandbags and straw wattles for property protection and stabilization,” and crew members worked over last weekend to clear and unclog stormwater drains.
Other items of potential interest on the agenda for next week’s city council meeting, from a resident’s point of view:
A public hearing on the proposed budget.
An update on Comprehensive Plan progress. The city has spent over $175,000 to date on consultants working on this plan.
Also, related to negotiating a maintenance agreement for the 520 highway lid with Washington’s Department of Transportation, the administration is seeking authorization from the city council to:
update the existing SR-520 facilities ILA [Inter-Local Agreement] with the Points Communities to include confidentiality language as proposed by our Attorney.
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Dean Hachamovitch