Date: July 12, 2007
Planning Department
City of Lake Forest Park
206-368-5440
News Release
Cottage Housing Demonstration Project Ordinance Background and Summary
Background
In December of 2005, the City Council adopted the City’s Comprehensive Plan Update which included the following policy:
Pol LU 4.3 Cottage housing is a land use mechanism that may provide opportunities for small, detached dwelling units within existing neighborhoods and increase the variety of housing types available for smaller households. Cottage housing developments support the growth management goal of more efficient use of urban residential land. Establish land development regulations that provide for cottage style housing while balancing the goals and policies of the Comprehensive Plan. Such regulations should consider the following provisions:
- Development compatible with existing neighborhoods with less overall bulk and scale than standard sized single-family detached dwellings;
- Opportunities for creative, diverse, and high quality infill development;
- Flexibility of site and building design if performance standards are met which give equal or better design and protection than the zone;
- Addressing characteristics including, but not limited to, building size and height, setbacks, landscaping, common open spaces, parking areas, detached homes and common amenities, such as garden plots, storage areas, play areas and/orchards;
- Opportunities for the public to obtain information and provide comment about any proposed cottage housing development.
The proposed Cottage Housing Demonstration Project Ordinance is the culmination of more than a year’s worth of meetings and work by the Planning Commission in order carry out the policy above. The Commission believes that cottage housing increases diversity of housing options in a manner that is compatible with the surrounding single family areas. As residents age or become empty nesters they may want to stay in Lake Forest Park but not want to maintain a large house on a large lot. Cottage housing gives such residents a viable alternative.
The Commission visited cottage housing developments in other cities and brought in planning staff from other jurisdictions in order to prepare a recommendation for regulating cottage housing that is the right fit. The Commission came to the conclusion that a demonstration project ordinance is most appropriate mechanism for Lake Forest Park since it does not allow create a perpetual approval process. If this interim ordinance is adopted, it will be in affect for one year and thereafter may be renewed for one or more six-month periods. If a renewal is considered, a public hearing will be required. In other words, a demonstration ordinance allows the City to try cottage housing on a limited basis.
Criteria for Successful Projects
As currently proposed, this interim ordinance would allow as many as two cottage housing developments to be built as demonstration projects. Each development must include at least four detached cottages arranged around a common open space with a possible maximum of twelve cottages per development. Cottage developments could be allowed in all RS (single family residential) zones, as proposed, with minimum lot size of 21,780 square feet (0.5 acres). The following is a list of some of the criteria that must be met for a proposal to be selected (not a complete list):
- Development Impacts are not greater than a traditional development.
- The proposed development is compatible with surrounding development.
- The proposal must adhere to the “Low Impact Development Technical Guidance Manual for Puget Sound”
- All cottages must obtain at least a 4 star “Built Green” rating from the Master Builders Association of King County.
- On lots larger than one acre, fifty percent of all significant trees on site must be retained
- A transportation study must be conducted by each applicant to ascertain the impacts to the existing transportation infrastructure in the City of Lake Forest Park
Selection Process
After adoption, Planning Department staff would publish a request for proposals and schedule a pre-submittal meeting with potential applicants. This meeting will commence the proposal selection process. Following the pre-submittal meeting, the applicants must submit completed proposals to the City within 180 days. A complete proposal includes but is not limited to a three dimensional projection of the project, an in-depth written report detailing the proposed demonstration project and a detailed site map.
When the 180-day period expires, the Planning Commission will schedule a meeting to review the proposals and select up to two demonstration projects that best fit the selection criteria.
Following selection of up to two demonstration project proposals, a Notice of Application will be published in the local newspaper and mailed to all properties within 500 feet of each proposed development.
Subsequent to the expiration of the public comment period, a public hearing will be held before the City’s hearing examiner on each project. At this hearing the applicant will have the opportunity to hear public comments and to demonstrate that the proposed development proposal corresponds to the expectations of staff and the community. The Hearing Examiner will then file a written report that includes a recommendation on the application.
A resolution will then be drafted by the Planning Department staff and sent to the City Council for consideration. The City Council will then hold a closed record hearing on the recommendation. The City Council can then approve, approve with conditions, remand the application to the hearing examiner for an additional hearing or deny the application. Notice of the Council’s decision will be published in the local newspaper and mailed to all properties within 500 feet of the development. The Council’s decision is appealable to the King County Superior Court.
