City Planning
Back to News Center Seattle King County REALTORS® (SKCR) continues to work throughout the region to encourage cities to adopt flexible and bold comprehensive plan policies and related development regulations to encourage ADUs and middle housing in their cities. REALTORS® are encouraging policymakers to view increased housing supply through zoned…
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Back to News Center Currently, Renton’s city code provides that decisions on land-use-related development applications are made by a professional Hearing Examiner. Once the Examiner’s decision is made, the City Council acts as a “quasi-judicial” appellate body for appeals of most land-use decisions. Seattle King County REALTORS® are making good…
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Back to News Center Currently, when a property owner wants to utilize the city of Tukwila’s Binding Site Improvement Plan (BSIP) process to develop their property, the property owner must also enter into a Development Agreement with the city. The two processes are redundant and add unnecessary expense and delay…
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Back to News Center This month, Seattle King County REALTORS® has launched REALTORS® + Housing, a new website dedicated to tracking the changes to housing policy mandated by two pieces of legislation passed by the Washington Legislature in 2023: HB 1110 and HB 1337. These bills are set to transform…
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Back to News Center All 39 cities in King County are continuing their work to meet the Legislature’s December 31 deadline for each city to update its 20-year comprehensive plan, including new requirements to accommodate middle housing and more ADUs. In addition, cities must meet a June 30, 2025, deadline…
Read More Back to News Center The cities of Duvall, Lake Forest Park, and Bellevue are in the process of revising their sign codes. SKCR continues to guard against any changes that would constrain the use of on-premises for sale signs and off-premises open house A-boards. Sign codes updates are complicated and…
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Back to News Center Tiny Villages The city of Tukwila has been embroiled for more than a year in disputes and litigation with King County regarding housing for asylum-seekers, including the tent encampment at Riverton Park United Methodist Church (RPUMC). Recently, that dispute spilled over into the city of Kent.…
Read More Back to News Center Homeownership Demonstration Ordinance Seattle King County REALTORS® have requested the Planning Commission recommend to the City Council, and the City Council adopt, an ordinance making the Affordable Housing “demonstration” code provisions (regarding affordable housing homeownership) a permanent ordinance in the city code. As a result of…
Read More Back to News Center House Bill 1220 requires cities to plan to accommodate housing that is affordable to households that typically need government subsidies to obtain housing. It allows cities to collect a small sales tax to help fund those efforts. Recently, state law was amended to provide cities with…
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Back to News Center Seattle issued 987 permits for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in 2023, twice the volume in 2020 when the city issued 482 ADU permits. Officials point to an easing of regulations in 2019 as a key factor, according to a newly released ADU progress report. The report,…
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