Ambitious effort to bring more housing to Tacoma’s neighborhoods passes City Council
In action that came in the fifth hour of Tuesday’s Tacoma City Council meeting, final passage of the city’s massive housing overhaul initiative was achieved.
Phase 2 of Home in Tacoma passed unanimously in the late-night vote by the council, nearly three years after passage of Phase 1.
The vote occurred late in a marathon session that included not only the landmark housing plan but also two back-to-back public budget hearings.
Home in Tacoma, part of the city’s Affordable Housing Action Strategy, allows for more types of housing to be built in more areas of the city and is designed to meet, and in some cases exceed, state requirements to help boost supply.
The new zoning replaces current residential zoning with three new Urban Residential (UR) zones that allow for a range of densities. It creates two low-scale zones (UR-1 and UR-2) and one mid-scale zone (UR-3) with scale and density increasing closer to transit and walkable neighborhood features, such as shopping, schools and parks.
At the ordinance’s first reading Oct. 29, council members worked their way through 19 amendments. Fourteen of those moved forward, with four new ones included in the final reading late Tuesday.
The amendments in total included further zoning changes in specific areas, as well as new rules for setbacks, unit lot subdivision, trees and landscaping. The amendments also added incentives for development of ownership units, modified the pedestrian walkway connection requirement and called for study on the effects of reduced parking three years after implementation.
The incentives for developing ownership units, approved in the package Tuesday, are described as providing “incentives for the development of housing units that will be sold to owner-occupant households earning no more than 150 percent of the Pierce County family median income for at least the first 5-years from certification of occupancy, with an appropriate binding title restriction.”
The amendment text adds that “These incentives apply to all housing types, including single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes and condos.”
There are also incentives “for the development of accessory dwelling units for owner-occupied properties, when the owner-occupant household earns no more than 150 percent of the Pierce County family median income.”
While Phase 1, approved by council in December 2021, established basic policy direction and vision for new housing, Phase 2 focuses on residential zoning, new housing types/standards allowed within zones and other implementation features.
The city launched multiple rounds of engagement and collected thousands of comments. It received another 1,500 comments through public hearings, online forms, written comments and an interactive map.
As feedback grew, the extent of tree protection the city would introduce became a focal point, with several amendments tied to that issue.
One of the four new amendments Tuesday included “further protections for very large trees (24” diameter at breast height or larger) as part of development, while retaining existing incentives and fees.”
The amendment’s backer, council member Sarah Rumbaugh, called it “just a starting point right now.”
“This amendment strikes a better balance between tree preservation and development,” Rumbaugh said at Tuesday’s session. “We’ll have many more conversations about trees next year, specifically about long-term goals of tree preservation and nondevelopment situations.”
Rumbaugh also was behind an earlier adopted amendment that creates “tree banks,” establishing a variance “to relocate or replace trees removed from a project site to available private or public property within the same Tacoma watershed area as the project.”
Public comment at Tuesday’s meeting included several critiques of where the city landed on tree preservation in those and other amendments, citing “heat island” effects from lack of shade in many areas amid hotter summers.
Robb Krehbiel serves on the city’s Planning Commission, which offered the initial Phase 2 policy recommendations to the council including tree-canopy improvements.
“One of the important things for Home In Tacoma that we really tried to achieve on the Planning Commission was that balance between having a healthy tree canopy and having abundant and affordable housing,” Krehbiel told the council during public comment.
“I am concerned that some of the amendments that have already been passed have skewed that balance, and the package that you’re going to vote on tonight will not have as many protections for trees as what we recommended,” he said.
Overall, though, he added he was “generally supportive of Home in Tacoma and very supportive of the city’s commitment to continue the tree preservation conversation after passage.”
Mayor Victoria Woodards noted just before the vote at Tuesday’s meeting the significance of getting Home in Tacoma to a finished state for a final vote and its ultimate effect.
“We get to do a lot of work, day in and day out, and and we hope that that work helps someone,” Woodards said. “But this is transformational. This is work that’s going to go beyond just a person — that’s going to go beyond just this time.”
The ordinance takes effect in February. An overview with supporting documents detailing the entire plan can be found at the city’s Home in Tacoma page online.
Story has been updated to clarify amendment details regarding development of ownership units; a previous version contained outdated information.
News Tribune archives contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 1:10 PM.
