State legislature could eliminate single-family zoning in Renton and many other cities

Renton single-family zoning would be a thing of the past under House Bill 1110

House Bill 1110 would eliminate much of the single family zoning in our state in an effort to create more housing.  It’s the latest in a series of attempts by legislators to supercede zoning by cities because the legislators feel cities have not been aggressive enough in solving the housing crisis.  The bill would allow fourplexes in all single family neighborhoods in cities with more than 75,000 residents like Renton, and allow six-plexes in certain locations near parks and public transit.  Cities between 25,000 and 75,000 population would have to allow duplexes on all single-family lots.

In this article/video on KIRO TV , the Mayors of Everett and Federal Way offer opposite perspectives on the bill.

I understand why the legislature is trying to help, as we really do have a shortage of housing in our state.  I’ve personally worked toward allowing more building flexibility in our city.  But overruling cities, instead of working with them, will lead to many negative impacts.  Obvious areas of tension will be parking, traffic, noise, overburdened parks, loss of tree canopy and greenspace, and conflict between neighbors.  Less obvious will be the engineering issues that underlie neighborhoods, like limited sewer lines, undersized water lines, fire-fighting infrastructure, and stormwater management.

The legislature is overtly trying to get more of what they call “missing-middle” housing, small multiplexes that  offer more space than apartments but less than detached homes.  Renton has more of this housing than most jurisdictions, having zoned hundreds of acres for duplex and fourplex in our World War II era, “Victory Housing” neighborhood (now known as Sunset neighborhood). Perhaps other cities could copy what we are already doing, with dedicated zones for these uses. If the state instead worked with cities, I could imagine some willingness by Renton City Council to even consider more duplex options in some  neighborhoods, but I would be surprised if fourplexes would ever seriously be considered in single family areas if left to local officials.  Fourplexes can really demand professional management, as there is lots of opportunity for residents to experience conflicts in parking, shared-use space, and other daily-living issues.

My daughter points out that building fourplexes instead of houses will not be a path to homeownership for young families, but instead offer corporate landlords more purchase opportunities.

All Washington cities have a state-approved growth management plan that establishes “concurrency” between critical infrastructure needs (utilities, transportation, schools, hospitals, transit, etc) and city zoning. This bill throws those plans to the wind, at least until the plans can be retooled.  In a democracy, that requires repeating the countless public meetings and thousands of hours of dedicated work by residents, volunteers, consultants and city leaders that went into these plans the first time.

I would like to hear your comments on this bill.  I would enjoy a lively conversation in the comments, and I will engage with you.  Please let me know your feelings below.

Note: For those of you who want to study House Bill 1110,  you’ll find the four-plex requirements on page 9.