New Bellevue

News and Analysis

  • Paths toward more housing in Bellevue

    The Middle Housing Implementation effort will apply to areas that have single family homes and add density in the form of duplexes to sixplexes, cottages, courtyard housing, flats and townhomes. This Land Use Code Amendment (LUCA) is required by HB 1110, which passed in Olympia in 2023, and will add about 100,000 housing units to Bellevue based on the state requirements. Bellevue has created a special implementation proposal that goes above and beyond and will add roughly 100,000 more units. The implementation draft also includes changes to setbacks, building height, lot coverage, rules for ADUs, the definition of multi-family housing, Tree Code, and more.

    The HOMA (Housing Opportunities in Mixed Use Areas) effort is also a LUCA, but entirely separate and happening in parallel. It will add apartments and affordable housing in areas like Downtown, Factoria, Eastgate, and the Neighborhood Centers. It is part of Bellevue’s Next Right Work effort and will help us align with the Comprehensive Plan, but is not being done to meet any specific state requirement. 

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  • Timeline Constraints

    From a letter sent to the Planning Commission:

    In the Staff Report issued on March 20th, it was noted that a notice and a copy of the strike-draft was provided to Commerce that day for their comment. 

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  • Please email the Planning Commission!

    Hello! 

    There were some surprises in the February/March meetings about Missing Middle Housing. Bellevue is planning to go above and beyond the requirements of HB 1110. In many places where HB 1110 requires that we allow 4 units, the planners are hoping to increase that to 6 middle housing units.

    The state law allows us to count ADUs toward the 4 or 6 unit total, but Bellevue’s current proposal does *not* count them. That means a location “near” Major Transit (within a 1/2 mile radius) would be able to have 6 + 2 = 8 units. You should know that developers are writing in and making oral comments to the Planning Commission asking that the cap on ADU size be increased so that they each can have 3 bedrooms (over 1500 sq ft), and some commissioners seem amenable to that. 

    Anywhere that 6 units are allowed by right is a place where the developers will not be required to provide affordable housing in exchange for that density.  It will also allow co-housing/boarding houses/SROs as large as the lot allows, in accordance with 2023’s HB 1998, which applies to all lots that are allowed to have 6+ units. With Bellevue’s proposed map, some of the parcels are 0.8-1.0 miles walking distance to the bus stop. An example of this co-housing in Seattle is The Karsti, which has 52 units on a 5,000 square foot lot (average unit size 216 square feet). 

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  • Other ways to go beyond the state minimum

    The tree code currently expects fewer trees to be retained if the parcel is multifamily than if it is a SFH.

    We are choosing not to count ADUs as part of the unit density, though that was clearly not the intent of our state legislators, who  included wording that ADUs could be counted as part of unit density in both HB 1110 and HB 2321.

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  • Strategies for ensuring adequate housing production

    Develop responsive development incentives based on housing production the previous year.  

    Develop incentives for building forms that are better for neighbors and new residents.
    – Skylights, sunrooms, and balconies
    – Enclosed garages, which cannot otherwise be required per (SB 6015)
    – Mudroom/entryway capacity for bike storage
    – Space for larger trees on-site

    Create a senior housing incentive with age restriction and at least one unit that is ramp-accessible.

    If we offer fee-in-lieu, possibly control the number offered each year and target them at particular unit sizes.

    Identify locations with both access to transit and proximity to neighborhood/growth centers that would be good places for us to extend sixplex and co-housing zoning in the event housing production falls below targets.

  • Suggested steps for developing our housing policy

    In addition to the storymap created by Bellevue, create maps showing the areas which will be affected by transit service changes in 2025 (East Link Connections) and 2028 (RapidRide K). Show these maps to the public along with the “current” maps, both online and at informational sessions. The East Link Connections routes 220, 240, 245, 250, 270 and ST Express 550 will be providing frequent service according to the city’s definition.

    Create an explainer like Seattle’s to provide education about planning terminology and depict potential middle housing configurations.

    Send out a mailer about the process to every household, including apartment dwellers, as all Bellevue residents could be affected by water shortages, school crowding, traffic congestion, urban heat islands, tree loss, etc.

    Seattle is proposing design standards for pedestrian entrances with weather protection, street-facing windows, and materials that add interest. Have we included these considerations? De-centering pedestrian access encourages developments to be very car-centric, and could reduce residents’ friendly interactions with neighbors. It is likely that these would also have to apply to principal units.

    There are great items in model ordinance about sprinkler requirements, vehicle access (so the frontage is not all garage, see page 18), and not counting the parking area as a court (page 17, E.1.d).

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  • Letter to the Bellevue Leadership

    To the Planning Commission and Staff:

    I appreciated very much the updated March 20th strike-draft, in which the proposed nine middle housing units has been taken out. Thank you for listening to the commissioners and the public who believe nine units would be too many for Bellevue.

    We have an ambitious goal for middle housing in our state. We are being asked to implement four units over most of the city, with as many as six in very small areas that are a five minute walk from Link and RapidRide bus lines where permanent infrastructure has been built.

    In other cities and regions we have seen examples of middle housing policies for duplexes and triplexes (Minneapolis) and up to fourplexes (Portland, Sacramento, Vermont, and Salt Lake City). Minneapolis was recently in the news because rents there fell while they were rising in the rest of the country.

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  • How far might people walk to reach transit?

    Update: Clarification was provided in the agenda memo for the April 23rd Planning Commission meeting (see page 4), showing that the walking distance will be used instead of the radius. There are still some details which might need clarification, as laid out in the “Three Requests for the Planning Commission” post.

    Since Bellevue is proposing to allow up to 9 middle +2 ADUs or a co-housing/SRO building within a 0.5 mile radius of RapidRide and Link, here are some examples of what the actual walking distance might be:

    This location is 0.9 miles from an existing RapidRide B stop.

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  • Spatial differences between HB 1110 and Bellevue’s proposal

    The current areas in which bonus density is being proposed for Bellevue are:

    • Within 1/4 mile of Neighborhood Centers and Regional Growth Centers
    • Within 1/4 mile radius of frequent bus service stops
    • Within 1/2 mile radius of “Major Transit” like RapidRide and East Link

    Based on the state law, the only place with bonus density would be:

    • Within 1/4 mile walking distance of Major Transit

    These are moving targets, because there will be new “Frequent” bus lines as part of the East Link Connections project. Based on the Bellevue Middle Housing LUCA draft definition of frequent bus service (“A stop that receives transit service at least four times per hour for twelve or more hours per day.”), there will be frequent service on the 220, 240, 245, 250, 270  plus Sound Transit Express 550, starting sometime this year. The maps shown by the city in the public meetings about middle housing show only the bus lines that are providing frequent service now.

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  • How soon is Middle Housing Coming to Bellevue?

    Timeline: 

    2023: HB 1110 passes the State Legislature 

    Jan-Feb 2025 Survey asking if you want more housing within 1 mile of transit, etc. 

    Feb 12th, 2025: Potential for 9 units per lot buried in Planning Commission (PC) meeting notes  

    Feb 24th, 2025: Draft with 4, 6, or 9 units across a larger swath of Bellevue is released, clarification that ADUs are allowed *in addition* to that 

    Feb-March Outreach meetings

    March 12th PC Meeting study session

    April 9th PC Meeting public hearing

    April 23rd PC extra meeting (if more time needed)

    April-May City Council will vote to approve 

    June 2025: Deadline for implementation in Bellevue

    Each Planning Commission meeting is an opportunity to be heard, though you usually have to register right at noon that day if you want a chance to speak.

    Every City Council meeting also offers the community an opportunity to be heard, whether it is related to the agenda or not, and the City Council will make the final decision about this plan.

    It is also helpful to email them if you have an opinion!