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Updating Seattle’s Multifamily Code
PUBLIC HEARING & NEXT STEPS
The "multifamily code" (MFC) is the part of our Seattle Municipal Code that defines how development can occur in zones focused on higher density residential uses – the rules that apply to building anything from a duplex or townhouse up to a 40-story condo high-rise. We last comprehensively reviewed the code in the 1980's before Seattleites created neighborhood plans, before the state created the Growth Management Act, and before we adopted Seattle's Comprehensive Plan. It’s time for an update.
In February 2009, the Mayor delivered a 277-page MFC update proposal to the City Council to suggest how we might go about updating the code. The proposal has been years in the making, and the Council’s Planning, Land Use & Neighborhoods Committee (PLUNC) has taken a pretty sizable chunk of this year to analyzing it, breaking it open, and putting it back together again.
Over the past few years I’ve heard strong concerns about townhouse designs, livability and neighborhood character (particularly at June 2008 ’s PLUNC workshop, “Townhouses: Can the Patient be saved?” at the Capitol Hill Arts Center). As we look for ways to stop the bad and encourage the good, the comments and feedback I’ve heard from you has been invaluable.
As we update the MFC I intend do more than just stop the bad. I hope we can use this as an opportunity to appeal to our better angels of architecture and planning and try to craft a code that helps us achieve really great outcomes. I’ve seen inspiring examples from some talented architects and heard great ideas from regular citizens. In the months ahead we will work together to develop a code update that results in great homes and great neighborhoods.
The MFC consists of Lowrise Duplex Triplex (LDT) Lowrise 1, 2, 3 and 4 (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-4 – the townhouse zones), Midrise (MR) and Highrise (HR). If you live in one of these zones, the MFC update may impact the way development occurs in your neighborhood. These zones comprise approximately 10% of the City’s total acreage and 36% of the city’s housing stock.
These zones shouldn’t be confused with our Commercial (C) or Neighborhood Commercial (NC) zones, which traditionally allow businesses in the bottom floor. The City Council comprehensively overhauled development standards in those areas in late 2006, so the Commercial Code won’t be a part of the MFC update discussion.
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Common MFC Acronyms:
- C - Commercial
- DPD - Department of Planning and Development
- HR - Highrise
- LDT - Lowrise Duplex Triplex
- MFC - Multifamily Code
- MR - Midrise
- NC - Neighborhood Commercial
- PLUNC - Council’s Planning, Land Use & Neighborhoods Committee
Do you know what zone you live in? Click here , enter your address into the search bar, and click the “Detailed Zoning” button.
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DPD’s list of objectives for the MFC update includes:
- Create high quality multifamily neighborhoods
- Support Comprehensive and Neighborhood Plan objectivesPromote sustainable development
- Encourage investment in a variety of housing types, including affordable housing
- Recognize special location characteristics (urban centers and villages and light rail station areas; adjacency to single family zoned areas)
- Foster creative design through development flexibility
- Make the code easier to use and understand
To implement these objectives, in short, DPD has proposed the following recommendations:
- Maintain the current overall scale and density in most Lowrise zones
- Modify the criteria that support the designation of multifamily zones
- Establish an incentive zoning program in L3 and MR zones that provides additional height and floor area when affordable housing units are provided.
- Encourage landmark preservation and public open space through floor area bonuses and transfer of development potential in the Highrise zone
- Replace prescriptive development standards with more flexible standards
- Improving appearance of townhouses through specific development standards
- Require green construction in Lowrise, Midrise and Highrise zones through incentive zoning
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- Eliminate parking requirements for multifamily development in urban centers and station area overlay districts
No additional land would be zoned multifamily via this proposal, nor would any existing zone boundaries be modified.
The Planning Land Use and Neighborhoods Committee will review these objectives and recommendations, likely determining different objectives to add to the list and amending the proposed recommendations based on careful analysis and public input.
Process Moving Forward
After thorough review, the Planning, Land Use, and Neighborhoods Committee (PLUNC) has decided to split the proposed Multifamily Code Update into two pieces of legislation. The first piece of legislation (Multifamily Bill #1) would:
- Revise the standards for Midrise and Highrise zones
- Change the parking requirements for all multifamily zones
- Add rooftop height exceptions in all multifamily zones to encourage sustainable features, such as wind energy power generators
- Simplify the Code by combining the rules for small institutions (such as schools and child care centers) for single family and multifamily zones into one chapter, consolidating the use provisions in multifamily zones into a chart, and making similar improvements
- Add incentive zoning options for Midrise and Highrise zones, including affordable housing, public open space, green street setbacks, and landmark preservation
- Clarify the provisions for measurements
- Amend several other parts of the Land Use Code to maintain code consistency
- Other minor changes
A draft of the proposed legislation will be available on November 9, 2009. Note that the City Council may make additional changes to the proposed bill before it is adopted.
A public hearing on this legislation will be held on Monday, November 30, 2009 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 2nd floor of Seattle City Hall, 600 Fourth Avenue. You are also welcome to submit your comments via mail, telephone, or email.
The second piece of multifamily legislation, which will address standards for Lowrise multifamily zones (including townhomes), is scheduled to be adopted in 2010. Administrative Design Review for townhomes would also be considered on this timeline. A separate public hearing will be held on that legislation next year (sign up here to receive meeting agendas to be notified of upcoming meetings and hearings).
Over the duration of our discussion about the update, please contact my office if you have any questions or feedback about the code update. The multifamily code issues get pretty technical, but they are also incredibly important to people because what goes in the code ends up affecting the character of our neighborhoods. A lot has changed over the last 20 years. I hope this update will improve the look, sustainability, affordability of multifamily development over the next 20 years.
Upcoming Planning, Land Use & Neighborhoods Committee Meetings to discuss the Multifamily Code (MFC) Update
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