Inventory

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 to update their development and permitting codes that implement the comprehensive plan.

At Seattle King County REALTORS®, our continuing advocacy efforts are focused on ensuring those changes will help to bring more housing inventory to the market as soon as possible.

We are making progress, for example:

• KENT: The City’s housing goals include removing governmental constraints, and implementing strategies to overcome barriers to housing production and affordability. Action items are focused on review of development standards, permitting processes, incentives, density bonuses, impact fee reductions, and other actions to remove barriers while encouraging the development of homeownership opportunities and long-term affordable housing, especially in areas near transit, employment, and educational facilities.

• FEDERAL WAY: The City’s Environmental Goals include balancing the protection of environmentally critical areas with the rights of property owners, and ensuring new regulations do not unreasonably hinder private property rights. The action is consistent with state law which gives equal priority to all of GMA’s goals. For more than a decade after the act was passed, courts and hearings boards elevated the environment above all other aspirations. Finally, the legislature passed bills on two occasions repudiating that approach in favor of more balance in land-use planning.

• MAPLE VALLEY: We continue to be successful in supporting new code changes in Maple Valley to authorize duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, townhouses, stacked flats, courtyard apartments, cottage housing and single-family housing. Additionally, a variety of development code revisions will allow narrower (12’ wide) driveways, lower driveway vertical clearance, not count single-family dwellings towards density limits, increase maximum building height, and increase maximum lot coverage. Proposed changes to Maple Valley’s housing goals also address the needs of historic identity-based disadvantaged populations, and affordable housing options for all income levels.

• BURIEN: SKCR requested the Planning Commission recommend the City Council modify the city’s housing demonstration ordinance to include ownership opportunities for households up to 80% AMI, rather than maintaining an unworkable and unproductive 50% AMI limitation. The Planning Commission made the recommendation, and the City Council approved. REALTORS® also supported more Transit Oriented Development in the city’s Ambaum Corridor. We are hopeful that too will occur, and we will continue to advocate for even higher levels of mixed-use density in that area.

• NORMANDY PARK: The city is largely built-out, and has many homes on septic. As result, it does not have the land or infrastructure available to accommodate new Middle Housing under HB 1110. City staff and the Planning Commission correctly assessed that meeting the city’s housing targets was likely to be accomplished primarily by construction of new accessory dwelling units. SKCR’s lobbyist (who was the only member of the public to testify at the Planning Commission’s public hearing on proposed changes to the city’s comprehensive plan and development regulations) supported the approach, which was approved unanimously and forwarded to the City Council.