Exploration of Higher Lot Coverage Allowances in Medium Density Zones for Housing

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Snohomish County Explores Higher Lot Coverage Allowances in Medium Density Zones for Housing


February 10, 2021

By Stephen Fesler

Read More: https://www.theurbanist.org/2021/02/...s-for-housing/

Land use reform in Snohomish County could bring increased lot coverage to multifamily and commercial zones in unincorporated urban growth areas. Increasing the development standards in those zones would enable more housing to be built in areas of the county that have been in particularly high demand in the past decade.

- County planners principally hope that the code amendments will solve lot coverage mismatches between zoning types, allow more flexible building and site design, and help development proposals reasonably achieve allowed zoning densities. Under a proposal endorsed by the planning commission in the fall, the county would raise lot coverage allowances on some 3,367 acres of land to levels found in similar zones of nearby jurisdictions. --- Lot coverage is a common bulk regulation found in development codes. It is typically used in residential zones to control how much area of a lot may be covered by structures. When paired with setbacks and height limits, lot coverage can be a powerful form of control on how much effective buildable square footage is possible on a centrally located portion of a lot. This can lead to the relatively uniform building patterns found in suburban areas.

- Zones that would get lot coverage boosts include the Townhouse (T), Low Density Multiple Residential (LDMR), Multiple Residential (MR), Neighborhood Commercial (NB), Planned Business Commercial (PBC), Community Business (CB), and General Commercial (GC) zones. Generally, lot coverage would use a uniform 50% maximum in these zones for residential development, raising from lot coverage maximums of 30% to 40%. --- For planned residential developments (PRDs) in LDMR and MR zones, the maximum would be raised for multifamily projects to 55% consistent with single-family and townhouse development using the PRD process; currently, the maximum is 40% for multifamily PRDs. The proposed changes, however, would not affect cottage housing projects and projects using lot size averaging subdivision provisions or special development bonuses in a segment of the SR-99 corridor.

- Whether or not the legislation passes as recommended remains to be seen, but comparable jurisdictions like Clark County, Nevada and Los Angeles County do not even have universal lot coverage limitations for similar zones. Anyone familiar with those areas knows that developers are not usually seeking to do 60%, 70%, or even 80% lot coverage in most suburban medium density residential areas. So, it is an open question as to what level of lot coverage most developers in the Snohomish County region would even pursue if the lid were taken off altogether rather than only set to a modest 50%. Ultimately, marketing and return on investment of a development is what drives site utilization by most developers, but a higher lot coverage would ensure that more projects fully use allowed zoning densities. --- Other land use reform legislation that could be headed to the county council soon is a proposal to encourage more accessory dwelling units in the county, particularly in urban areas, and farm worker housing on agricultural lands.

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Zoning map of the Snohomish County Southwest Urban Growth Area. Dark brown areas are MR and light brown areas are LDMR. Purple, pink, and orange areas are commercial zones. (Snohomish County)

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It's worth noting that this is for portions of unincorporated Snohomish County. It's basically Seattle's northern suburbs. This is land that should probably be annexed by the adjacent municipalities.

It's also worth noting that the State requires urban counties to accept growth and plan for it, including every municipality or equivalent in those counties.