Planning 2012-01-26 Attachment B - Memo with Attachments

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ATTACHMENT B City of Tukwila Jim Haggerton, Mayor INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Haggerton Community Affairs and Parks Committee FROM: Jack Pace, Department of Community Development Director DATE: October 5, 2011 SUBJECT: Low Density Residential Zone Development Standards ISSUE Should the City change residential development standards such as height, setbacks or building footprint to increase the compatibility of infill development with existing structures? BACKGROUND This issue was reviewed by the City Council in 2007, when the Council asked staff to review the way building height was calculated after receiving complaints about a new house that the neighbors felt was out of scale with the surrounding development. The Community Affairs and Parks Committee reviewed the issue and asked staff to look at increasing the rear yard setbacks. Based on the research at that time it was determined that there was no easy fix to regulating the compatibility of infill development and just increasing the setback would not have prevented the house in question to be built. However it was decided to review the height issue with an overall look at the single family standards. An overall look at the policies for residential neighborhoods is usually done as part of the Comprehensive Plan update. At this time Tukwila is mandated by State Law to update its Comprehensive Plan by 2015. The resident who raised this issue in 2007 has asked that this issue be revisited. Staff has prepared some options for the Committee to review in order to address this issue. DISCUSSION There are a number of ways that the bulk or the building envelope of a structure can be regulated, such as building height, lot coverage, setbacks, and in some jurisdictions floor area ratio (FAR). The current development standards in the LDR zone that regulate single family development are listed in Attachment A. Also, Attachment B is the comparison of common development standards of the neighboring jurisdictions. Different development standards that apply to a single family home are discussed below along with some options for revising the standard in order to address the compatibility of infill housing with the existing homes. Building Height Building height is only one element of the development regulations that controls the bulk or the building envelope of a structure. At this time the building height is calculated by the method laid out in the Washington State Building Code. It is measured from the grade plane, which is the average of the finished ground level adjoining the exterior walls of the structure. On a sloping lot the height of the structure on one side can be more than the maximum height allowed on a flat lot. Attachment B discusses the alternate ways of calculating the building height on a sloping lot. One option is to MD 1G-5-11 WA2011 Info Memos- Counci l \Sin-.IeFamDevStandards.doc 17