Bellevue’s Middle Housing Land Use Code Amendment (LUCA) will allow multiple homes on a single lot. These might be townhouses, duplexes, cottages, courtyard apartments, sixplexes, or 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.
Bellevue’s City Council is meeting today, Tuesday, May 13th, and they will consider a proposal to have eight units on every single family lot. It would allow each parcel to have two attached ADUs, plus either four or six Middle Housing units. The area where six Middle Housing units are allowed will expand to include areas that are up to a 1/2 mile walk from major transit and also include areas 1/4 mile walk from Downtown, Eastgate, Crossroads, BelRed, Wilburton, East Main, and Factoria. In all other areas, a developer would be able to pay $150,000 for each to get the fifth and sixth middle housing units (total $300k).
One of the things that Bellevue will work on this fall is a co-housing policy because of HB 1998, which is also a state law from 2023. In the areas where six middle housing units are allowed without the fee, and in mixed use areas, co-housing will be allowed starting in January 2026. There are some nice co-housing buildings in Seattle and Kirkland; a typical sleeping unit would be 170-220 sqft but could be as small as 75 sqft, since they do not always have their own bathroom. Co-housing will also include existing structures that put locks on bedroom doors so a single house can be rented to multiple households.
We may not know exactly what cohousing will look like in Bellevue until December, but on Tuesday night the city will be making a big decision about where to allow it as part of the Middle Housing LUCA. This LUCA will determine how many times bigger than a single-family house a middle housing structure can be, and how far into the front yard and backyard and side setbacks it can go. The current proposal also allows middle housing to be four stories tall in all areas of Bellevue, which is not required by HB 1110 at all. It includes rules about ADUs, changes the tree code, and changes our transition zones (which affects areas with different zoning on adjacent properties).
We know outreach to the community has been inadequate. Only 55 people responded to the online survey that was available in January and February. Were you notified about this?
Please come to City Hall for the meeting and send your comment to the council!
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 (also email your comment to council@bellevuewa.gov if possible)
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