Expanding Housing Options Text Amendment

At a glance

Based on auto-generated captions; names and details may be misheard.

What: a council-initiated proposal to amend Title 21A for the R1, R2, SR1 and SR1A zones: a new by-right "small lot dwelling" use, revised height, setback, coverage and lot width standards, and easier flag lots. Public hearings are tentatively November 10 and 17, with council action tentatively December 1 (from the agenda).
Where it stands: briefed in detail October 20 after Planning Commission hearings September 9 and 23 and a recommendation to approve. The longest discussion of any item that day (about two hours).
Next: staff will draft an owner-occupancy requirement and the other changes; members may adjust the hearing timeline.

Small lot dwellings: 2,000 square feet of lot per unit, up to four units, one parking space per unit, 850 to 1,000 square foot footprints, 1,200 to 1,700 square feet of floor area (1,700 only up to 17 feet tall), 10-foot front yard. A bonus unit is allowed if an existing house is kept, protected by a covenant of at least 30 years.
Base zones: height up to 30 feet pitched and 24 flat; front yard 20 feet or equal to the abutting yard (block-face averaging removed); side yards 4 and 10 feet; coverage up to 50 percent; no cap on duplexes per block in R2.
Flag lots: permitted by right, 20-foot access subject to fire official approval, lot area 100 percent of the base zone, any permitted use.
No rezoning, and no change to historic districts.
Capacity estimate: about 35 percent of parcels in the affected zones (roughly 12 percent of city land); about 130 properties at 1 percent uptake. A 3,000 square foot minimum would roughly halve that.

Wharton: institutional buyers could stack units with no affordability or owner-occupancy requirement; concern about displacement in his district.
Carlsen: ownership was the legislative intent; start more restrictive and loosen with data. She also asked about trees and smaller setbacks (see Tree preservation legislative action).
Petro: zoning is asked to solve too much; down payment help is needed; supports an incremental approach.
Napier-Pearce: new homes should look like one neighborhood; front yards matter. Dugan asked about shared flag lot driveways.

Straw poll support for an owner-occupancy requirement (for example, at least one unit in a project); staff to work out administration.
Flag lot changes: a second straw poll drew a fire-access (turning radius) concern; no clear result in the captions.
Accessory units: internal allowed on small lot dwelling lots, detached not.
Keep the 2,000 square foot minimum for now; explore porch and carport encroachment into front setbacks and a distance rule from neighboring structures.

About 124 minutes across 1 meeting (from transcript timestamps; approximate).

Meeting	Minutes
2026-10-20 - City Council Work Session	124

2026-10-20 - City Council Work Session - Detailed briefing and discussion; straw poll favored owner occupancy; front-yard and flag lot questions raised.
2026-10-22 - Page created from a posted agenda; no meeting transcript processed yet.

In open forum a commissioner asked whether Council changes would return to the Commission; staff said it is entirely in the Council's court.