Both HB 1110 and HB 1337 have restrictions on how much parking cities can require.
Under HB 1110, Bellevue “Shall not require off-street parking as a condition of 20 permitting development of middle housing within one-half mile walking distance of a major (Link or RapidRide) transit stop;” and other middle housing units may be required to have one or two parking spots, depending on their lot size. Bellevue would be allowed to require up to two stalls per unit (matching SFH requirement) of on-site parking if we did a traffic study to say it’s not safe for road users to expect everyone to park on the street.
In the most recent draft of Bellevue’s MH implementation, we would require zero parking spots for Middle housing within 1/2 mile (not walking distance) of a major transit stop, and middle housing farther from transit is required to have 1 parking spot per unit. Single family detached homes are required to have 2 parking spots in all parts of the city.
Under HB 1337, we cannot “Require off-street parking as a condition of permitting development of accessory dwelling units within one-half mile walking distance of a major transit (Link, RapidRide, or 4x/hour bus frequent service for at least 5 hours a day) stop; Again, whether we could require one or two parking spots would depend on the lot size, and there is the possibility of a traffic safety analysis.
The draft has wording that would exempt ADUs from parking within one half mile of Major Transit (Link, RapidRide, and frequent bus), not using the walking distance. We will not require parking anywhere in the city if the ADU is under 1000 sqft, and the previous rule that if the ADU was over 2000 sqft, it would need two parking spots, has been eliminated.
It is likely that much of Bellevue’s Middle Housing and ADUs will include parking, however, since the city is proposing to allow up to 250 sqft of parking or unheated storage per unit that does not count against the FAR (page 11 and 23), equivalent to one parking stall. Even if site limitations prevent the provision of a garage, it seems likely that the residents will have a secure space to put their bikes.
In the draft, cottages have an allowance that area used for driveway access may be utilized as common open space (if there are four or fewer units). Since there is a minimum of 100 sqft of open space per unit, developers may treat this as “free” parking just like the garage space that does not count against FAR. In Seattle, their materials specifically say that vehicular areas cannot count toward the open space. Bellevue’s open space requirement was tiny in the first place, only 100 sqft per cottage, whereas it is 250 sqft per cottage in Salt Lake City and 300 sqft in the Washington state model code for Middle Housing.
Co-housing (HB 1998) has the rule that no parking is required within 1/2 mile walking distance of a major transit stop (defined like the ADU rules, not the Middle Housing rules), and otherwise, you’d need to provide 0.25 parking spaces per unit. Traffic analysis could provide an exemption.
For multi-family, the previous rule that the site’s vehicle ingress/egress should be onto streets that do not abut R-1 to R-7.5 if possible, has been removed.
Also, for cottages it says the on-site required parking should be consolidated to the maximum extent feasible.
There is also a bill, SB 5184, that has been progressing in Olympia this year and might reduce parking requirements further to 1/2 parking spot per unit; this may seem reasonable at the state level partly because they were expecting us to allow 4 units on most lots, not eight.
SB 5184 has a parking exemption for affordable housing, but middle housing is unlikely to fall in that category.
SB 6015 also restricts our ability to require enclosed parking, so it is possible that driveway spaces would be counted as parking.
If we do have a building boom, parking for the construction teams is likely to be pan issue for the neighborhood.