City Council meeting at Bellevue City Hall
Tuesday, May 13th at 6pm
Agenda with Zoom link
Link to register for public comment, starting at noon on the day of the meeting
Please attend the meeting in person if you can!
In addition to the posts about the unintended consequences of the Middle Housing LUCA (Lakefront Luxury, Expansive Estates, Large Lot “Cottages,” and Cottage Tower Clusters), here is a description of what I think a typical middle housing development might look like. These will include townhouses, duplexes, cottages, courtyard apartments, sixplexes, stacked flats, etc.
Because we are a large city, state law HB 1110 requires Bellevue to allow four housing units on every lot zoned for single family, as well as six units on lots that are within a five minute (1/4 mile) walk of major transit like Link or RapidRide. We are proposing to allow 6 middle housing units and 2 attached ADUs on each lot instead (and some developers will pay a fee to support affordable housing in return).
Also important for understanding our housing supply is a look at the likely unit sizes created. FAR is a multiplier that determines building size based on the lot area. The FAR for single family homes is ostensibly 0.5, but we see lots of exceptions under the current code that allow daylight basements, etc on top of that, or uncap FAR based on meeting other conditions.
Townhouses
Already being built in Bellevue – see newly constructed Verdyn and Limelite’s 417 99th Ave project, but these would now be allowed in all areas of Bellevue
Height limit will be 38′, allowing 4 floors
Minimum of three units in a row to count as townhomes
FAR depends on the number of units (see below)
Not great for aging in place or raising kids because of the stairs
Eligible for unit lot short subdivision since they extend from foundation to roof
Courtyard Apartments
Apartments each have direct access to a shared courtyard
Height limit is 38′, but it is unwieldy to provide that direct courtyard access if some units are on different levels. Maybe you could have double height units that are stacked, with an elevated court that fits into a slope, but on level lots we’re likely to see these as two floor buildings.
FAR depends on the number of units (see below), and you could probably have 8 identical units if you call two of them attached ADUs.
Parking clustered on the lot.
Central court minimum dimension is 20′ on each side, and can be 75% impervious
Should benefit from Condo Liability reform that was passed in Olympia this year.
Stacked Flats
Bellevue has some very nice examples of six-unit stacked flats which were built in the last 20 years, but some design elements may not carry over, due to looser restrictions on parking, etc.
This was supposed to be encouraged by the Condo Liability reform (based on this article, we need to encourage our state legislators to work on this during the next session).
Defined by HB 1110 as up to 3 floors.
With no in-unit stairs, the flat internal layout is a better use of space and helpful if you’re aging in place or raising a family
Trio of Duplexes (or Pair of Triplexes, or Duplex + Fourplex)
Each home in the development could be the same size, but two would have 1200 sqft attached ADUs inside that would maximize the size of the whole group of homes.
To determine building size, use 1.5 or 0.9 FAR and add 1200 sqft per AADU:
1.5 FAR example: For a 9999 sqft lot, the total could be ~17,400 sqft (and 2400 sqft for garage/storage space), so each would be 2900 sqft + parking
0.9 FAR example: On a 3/4 acre lot, the total could be 31,800 sqft (plus parking), or more if an exception that allows increased AADU size is utilized; each home would be 5300 sqft + parking
These are likely to use the full four stories if they get 1.5 FAR, since it’s hard to fit that much building onto the lot otherwise.
Only allowed in all areas of Bellevue if the fee-in-lieu ($150k) policy is created; we’d often see a pair of duplexes otherwise
Eligible for unit lot short subdivision if they extend from foundation to roof, but units could be designed to stack as well
Duplexes
Allowed 0.6 FAR for lots under 10k sqft
Allowed 0.5 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Triplexes
Allowed 0.8 FAR for lots under 10k sqft
Allowed 0.6 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Fourplexes
Allowed 1.0 FAR for lots under 10k sqft
Allowed 0.7 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Fiveplexes
Allowed 1.2 FAR for lots under 10k sqft
Allowed 0.75 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Only allowed in all areas of Bellevue if the fee-in-lieu ($150k) policy is created
Having over four units may complicate financing for the building and make it harder to get an assessor, etc.
Sixplexes
Allowed 1.5 FAR for lots under 10k sqft
Allowed 0.9 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Only allowed in all areas of Bellevue if the fee-in-lieu ($150k) policy is created
Cottage Developments aka Free-standing townhomes and three-bedroom houses
Allowed 1.5 FAR for lots under 10k sqft (even if there are only 4 units, which essentially gives a 25% floor area bonus over a 4 unit townhome on a lot the same size)
Allowed 0.9 FAR for lots over 10k sqft
Maximum cottage size is 1750 sqft and there is no minimum size
Height limit will be 38′, allowing 4 floors
Common open space is allowed to be 75% impervious, which is unusually high
No porch requirements, but porches do not count against FAR and can allow you to increase your lot coverage and impervious are by 25% of the lot area.
Each cottage also gets 300 sqft of bonus space that could be for storage or a garage
Notes about Parking:
There are areas around major transit (1/2 mile walking distance) where we can’t require parking for middle housing or ADUs (HB 1110 and HB 1337).
95% of Bellevue lots outside of that area are > 6000 sqft (Comp Plan FEIS Section 3.2), so we would be allowed to require two parking spaces per unit on those lots, and one space on smaller lots.
Proposal would require only one spot per unit, except where < 1/2 mile from major transit
The definition of major transit is not the same for HB 1110, HB 1337, or HB 1998 (co-living)
Although we are allowed to require 1-2 spots per unit now (if > 1/2 mile walk from major transit), and in less than 18 months, we will be able to require only half a spot per unit (SB 5184). At the same time (2026), that bill will also prevent us from requiring parking if units are under 1200 sqft, no matter how large the lot is or how far it is from transit.
The FEIS studied traffic and parking impacts with the expectation that we would use the HB 1110 state minimum and did not foresee eight units on a parcel.
Stacked flats: In areas where six units are allowed by right under 1110, we would not be able to create rules that parking is in a shared garage served by a single driveway (we are not allowed to require that parking be covered at all, because of SB 6015). In areas where we are expanding density, we have the option to set parking standards that must be met in order to be eligible for the increased density (though that is not part of the current proposal).
Detached Accessory Dwelling units (DADUs)
These count toward the middle housing unit count while generally being smaller, but have some advantages in the form of reduced development fees. Like cottages, they are allowed to be free-standing. They are allowed to be up to 1200 sqft and 28′ tall if above a garage, and must fit within the same setbacks as middle housing unless the lot backs onto an alley.
Unit size:
If we go with the state minimum, a lot that is 9000 sqft and not particularly close to Major Transit would have about 0.5 FAR* for the maximum of four units that would be allowed for a market-rate development. 9000 x 0.5 / 4 = 1125 square feet per unit, and units share the same amount of outdoor space as a single family home, so there’s room for kids to play outside.
Bellevue’s strike draft for that lot would allow an FAR of 1.2 and also give two ADUs with an additional 1200 sqft each, plus 300 sqft each for parking and storage.
(9000 x 1.2) + (1200 x 2) + (300 x 8) = 15,600 sqft
15,600/4 = 3900 sqft per unit; two have AADUs built into them, and two do not have AADUs
Bellevue’s strike draft would allow two additional units and an increase in the FAR to 1.5 in exchange for a payment of $300,000.
(9000 x 1.5) + (1200 x 2) + (300 x 8) = 18,300
18,300/6 = 3050 sqft per unit, with the least amount of outdoor space per unit
If we set up conditions to get the 3900 sqft or 3050 sqft homes, they will be great for families (other than the excessive amount of stairs), but we will need other strategies to meet our goals for starter homes for young people, or having places in the neighborhood that older residents can downsize into, and we will need to think about creating more park space. The state minimum is actually better for creating the variety of home sizes that I think advocates are hoping for, and when you consider the large lots, the size of homes that can be built with a 0.9 FAR really balloons.
You will get some variety in housing size because there is variation in lot size, but as mentioned earlier, outside of the 1/2 mile walking distance of Major Transit, 95% of Bellevue lots are > 6000 sqft (Comp Plan FEIS Section 3.2), and a common size is 10k-13k sqft. Since it’s a flat $150,000 fee-in-lieu per unit, it will make more sense for developers to pay that if they can add another 5000 sqft house, and they are less likely to do it for a 1500 sqft unit. The thing that will be consistent for all of these is that outdoor space on these lots will be minimized (which is why I think that instead of getting four stories, the height bonus middle housing should receive is an exemption for the height of the railings needed for a roof deck).
*I should also note that 0.5 is almost certainly too small; we need an analysis of what sizes are *actually* built as single family homes now, and ensure we are allowing at least as much for the middle housing.
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