City Council Committee Agendas

Development Services Committee Minutes December 17, 2025 Police Court Campus, 1805 Continental Place Councilmember Tercero called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Present Mayor Donovan Councilmembers: Beaton, Brocksmith, Carías, Hudson, Molenaar, Tercero, Vander Stoep Staff: Principal Planner Lowell, City Attorney Rogerson, Finance Director Volesky, City Clerk Jensen, Senior Planner Manville-Ailles, Planner Clausen, IT Director Thomas, Library Director Huffman, Fire Chief Harris Citizens: 11 1. Development Services A. Middle Housing: Development Services staff is preparing to meet new state requirement on middle housing by adopting interim regulations that align with state mandates while allowing some local adjustments. RCW 36.70A.030(21) defines Middle Housing as buildings that are compatible in scale, forms, and character with single-family houses and contain two or more attached, stacked, or clustered homes, including duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, fiveplexes, sixplexes, stacked flats, courtyard apartments, and cottage housing. It does not include single-family detached, apartments, or above six units. State mandates go into effect January 1, 2026. Mount Vernon is a Tier 2 community (based on population) and must implement following:  Allow at least two units per lot in predominantly single-family zones with the possibility to increase to four units.  Dimensional, infrastructure and other standards including setback lot coverage, stormwater, clearing, and design review Development Services Committee December 17, 2025 Page 2 of 3 must be no more restrictive than standards applied to single- family detached residences.  No off-street parking when within one-half mile walking distance of a major transit stop. Two spaces on lots greater than 6,000 square feet, and one space on lots less than 6,000 square feet.  Create a procedure to allow a unit lot subdivision Staff will address these mandates along with permit processing and fees in an attempt to increase middle housing. Other tools that are not city driven but have been proven to assist cities to include federal and state funding programs, increased access to public transit, reduced materials costs, lending reform, increasing living wage jobs within the city, and rent control. Staff is recommending Council adopt an interim ordinance that would add a middle housing chapter to the Municipal Code to provide clarity and compliance. The timeline for consideration of the ordinance:  Schedule meetings in early January to address concerns submitted by stakeholders.  Review the outcome of those meeting with Council at the January 21st Development Services Committee.  Present the interim ordinance to Council January 28th. 2. Agenda Requests  none 3. Miscellaneous  Councilmember Brocksmith suggested providing a summary of how the levy lid lift funds were allocated at the end of each year. He also addressed increasing funding for Parks by $500,000 with the funds. Mayor Donovan stated that Ms. Berner is working on a proposal to increase improvements at Hillcrest Park and will present the proposal to Council in early January. Action items Marianne Manville-Ailles  Send council a clear matrix detailing differences between the proposed interim ordinance and the state model middle housing ordinance for clarity and transparency Steve Sexton  Coordinate stakeholder meetings in January (January 5-20) with citizen advisory committee members and developers who provided comments Development Services Committee December 17, 2025 Page 3 of 3 on the interim ordinance Planning staff  Send updated and corrected map showing the half-mile radius from the major transit stop (Amtrak station) relevant to parking requirements to council members  Prepare for council review and discussion of interim regulations at the January 21 study session and possible adoption at the January 28 council meeting  Research and develop recommendations on counting building overhangs and patios towards lot coverage limits, including consulting with architectural/design experts Mayor and Jennifer Berner  Finalize and present detailed proposal on allocation and use of levy lid lift funds for Hillcrest Park, to council in early January The meeting adjourned at 6:46 p.m. Submitted by: Becky Jensen, City Clerk