The City received a Middle Housing Planning Grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce for $75,000, authorized under Resolution No. 2023-128. The City hired Kimley-Horn and Associates, a planning, design, and engineering firm, to execute the scope of work, which included a gap analysis report with recommendations and policy considerations related to middle housing code amendments, and draft and final development regulation amendments related to middle housing requirements.
"Middle housing" means buildings that are compatible in scale, form, and character with single-family houses and contain two or more attached, stacked, or clustered homes including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, fiveplexes, sixplexes, townhouses, stacked flats, courtyard apartments, and cottage housing. (House Bill 1110)
In 2023, the Washington State Legislature passed House Bill 1110, which requires cities across the State to adopt development regulations allowing for middle housing on all lots zoned predominately for residential use. The City of Walla Walla is required to adopt new zoning and development regulations in compliance with these new requirements by June 30, 2026. If no action is taken, the legislation will become effective.
Brief project history/ timeline:
January 2024: City receives a middle housing grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce and enters into a contract with Commerce.
March 2024: City contracts with consultant, Kimley-Horn, to execute the scope of work for this project.
May 20, 2024: First City Council work session to introduce the project.
June 3, 2024: First Planning Commission work session to introduce the project.
July 25–August 30, 2024: Community survey available for residents to fill out. The survey was posted to the City website, posted on the City's social media accounts, a press release was sent out, flyers with the survey QR code were distributed at the Public Library, City Hall, and the Service Center. Almost 400 responses were received.
October 7, 2024: Second City Council work session and Planning Commission work session. The project team also met with city staff to discuss the project, the requirements of House Bills 1110 and 1337, and potential impacts to city departments.
October 2024 to January 2025: Drafting of the proposed code amendments based on discussions with Planning Commission, City Council, and city staff, as well as the community survey results.
February 3, 2025: Third Planning Commission work session to review draft middle housing code amendments.
February 2025: Revisions of the proposed code amendments based on Planning Commission's feedback at the February 3 work session.
March 11, 2025: The 60-day Notice of Intent to Adopt Amendments Notice was sent to the Washington State Department of Commerce.
April 1, 2025: Project update provided at the Housing Ad Hoc Committee meeting.
April 8, 2025: Notice of application and notice of public hearing issued. Notices were posted on the city's website, published in the Union Bulletin newspaper, posted on the City's social media accounts, a City press release was sent out, sent to community survey respondents that supplied their email addresses, and uploaded to the Washington State Department of Ecology's SEPA register.
April 25, 2025: Public comment period end date. Four public comments were received.
May 5, 2025: Planning Commission held a public hearing and unanimously recommended the code amendments as written. There was one member of the public in attendance, who had submitted written comments during the public comment period. Staff and project consultant, Clay White with Kimley-Horn, addressed the public comments, noting that they were outside the scope of what this project was contemplating. The comment letters have, however, been added to the staff’s working list of code amendments and will be considered at a later date.
May 8, 2025: A comment letter was received from the Washington State Department of Commerce, recommending a few additions to the middle housing code amendments. Staff are proposing to add language for a middle housing definition consistent with state definition of middle housing (RCW 36.70A.030(26)), based on one of the recommendations in the comment letter. The other recommendations from Commerce have been added to the staff’s working list of code amendments and will be pursued at a later date.
May 12, 2025: A City Council Work Session was held. Linked reports below were available for review:
The proposed code amendments would primarily apply in the Neighborhood Residential (RN) zoning district, with some applications throughout the City of Walla Walla. Updates to the following chapters and sections of the Walla Walla Municipal Code are being proposed:
Chapter 13.03 Sewer Utility – Regulations and Rates. 13.03.645 Schedule of miscellaneous sewer-related fees and charges. Adds clarification of sewer connections for accessory dwelling units, depending on the situation, and adds middle housing types to the code section, clarifying that they shall be assessed capital facilities charges for each residential unit.
Chapter 19.06 Construction and Definitions. 19.06.020 Definitions. Adds definitions relating to “unit lot subdivision”.
Chapter 19.16 Unit Lot Subdivision – NEW CHAPTER. 19.16.010 – 19.16.060. Per House Bill 1110, the City of Walla Walla is required to include procedures for “fee simple unit lot subdivision”, allowing the division of a parent lot into separately owned unit lots. See image below, courtesy of WA State Department of Commerce, depicting some examples of how unit lot subdivision could work.
Chapter 20.06 Construction and Definitions. 20.06.030.C C Definitions, D Definitions, F Definitions, M Definitions, S Definitions, and T Definitions. C Definitions: Amends the definitions of “cottage housing” and “courtyard apartments” to match the State’s definitions in the Revised Code of Washington (RCW). D Definitions: Adds a definition for “detached accessory dwelling unit”, simplifies the definition of “duplex”, and removes the definition of “dwelling, two family”. Adds a definition for “dwelling unit, primary”. F Definitions: Clarifies the definition of “fourplex”. M Definitions: adds a definition for “middle housing” to match the State’s definitions in the RCW. S Definitions: Adds a definition for “unit lot subdivision” and references the new Unit Lot Subdivision chapter, 19.16 as well as the RCW. T Definitions: Adds a definition for “triplex”.
Chapter 20.50 Land Use Zones. 20.50.020 RN Neighborhood Residential. Adds references to the new “cottage housing” chapter for yard setbacks specific to cottage housing. Adds an allowance for rear yard setbacks to be reduced when certain conditions are met.
Chapter 20.100 Table of Permitted Land Uses. 20.100.040.F Residential. Adds asterisks to land uses that are defined in the municipal code and adds a reference to the new cottage housing chapter.
Chapter 20.102 Site Design, Density and Dimensional Regulations. 20.102.020 Setbacks and yard requirements. Adds clarification in 20.102.020 that the setback requirements are for primary dwelling units. In subsection C, Residential Covered Rear Patios, adds clarification that the patio is no closer than five feet to the rear property line.
Chapter 20.106 Landscaping and Screening. 20.106.020 Applicability. Clarifies that the Landscaping and Screening requirements of this chapter would not apply to residential development where four or fewer dwelling units are proposed on a single lot, and when the development is not part of a short plat process.
Chapter 20.117 Cottage Housing – NEW CHAPTER. 20.117.010 Cottage housing standards. Adds a new chapter relating to cottage housing. The intent is to incentivize the building of more cottage housing, as cottage housing was ranked as a top housing type by respondents of the project community survey, which ran the month of August 2024.
The cottage housing chapter includes a density bonus, a maximum unit size, a maximum cottage height, cottage housing setbacks, gentle design requirements, a maximum garage size, parking standards, and open space requirements.
Chapter 20.118 Residential Accessory Standards. 20.118.030 Accessory dwelling units. Removes the requirement that accessory dwelling units (ADU’s) may only be permitted as accessory to a single-family residence or duplex, to comply with House Bill 1337. This bill states that ADU’s must be allowed on any residential lot that allows for single-family homes. Code updates also include amending the number of ADU’s per lot from one to two and adding clarification that ADU’s count towards the total number of dwelling units per lot.
Chapter 20.216 Off-Street Parking and Loading Standards. 20.126.070 Location of required spaces. Clarifies that within the Neighborhood Residential zone, parking facilities and driveways shall be located on the same parcel as the building/s, and clarifies that for multifamily dwellings, parking spaces shall be served by a driveway.
Chapter 20.127 Table of Off-Street Parking Standards. 20.127.010 Table of Off-Street Parking Standards. Amends the parking table to clarify that no off-street parking is required for accessory dwelling units. Per the House Bill 1110 requirements, this code update adds that one space per middle housing unit is required on lots less than 6,000 square feet.
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