The Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds (ACE) advocates for responsible development in Edmonds that respects and complements the small-town atmosphere and generally low-level architecture of Edmonds. We strongly support public involvement in City discussions. We are counting on the Citizens’ Housing Commission to actively and objectively gather resident input and openly pay attention to that input as work continues on diversity in housing solutions. To date, we have concerns this not fully happening. Speaking time has been limited at Commission meetings. There have been statements made that some input might not be as acceptable as others. The recent Housing Commission On-Line Open House Survey contained very leading questions with an insufficient number of responses received, only around 700. The Commission and City staff should work to remedy these transgressions.

We also need to accept that the City of Edmonds is, and has been, in full compliance with the Washington State Growth Management Act (GMA). Growth is not stagnant in Edmonds. This is important to acknowledge as cities like Edmonds accommodate expected population growth in the region by 2035. Edmonds continues to add diverse housing options. There are new apartments, quadraplexes, townhouses, condos, as well as new single-family homes being built all over our town at this very moment. The existing zoning and newer subarea zoning at Westgate and subarea Hwy-99 are accomplishing what has been debated and planned for years in order to enable areas with transit infrastructure to support additional density. 

ACE also has several substantive concerns to highlight at the moment with three specific ideas being explored by the Commission:

1. Attached Dwelling Units and Detached Dwelling Units on Single-Family zoned private property:

• Since Attached Dwelling Units (ADU) are an already allowed use here with special use/conditional permitting, that policy needs to continue in order to preserve open spaces and ensure the safe and welcoming character of our neighborhoods.
• A Detached Dwelling Unit (DDU), sometimes referred to as a Tiny House on an already developed Single-Family Lot, is something quite different. For this type of addition to be allowed in Single-Family zoned neighborhoods, much greater definition and clarity is needed from the Commission.  And it would be crucial to properly understand the impacts of this potential change. These include:
  • site location on the existing lot;
  • setbacks (currently the State is promoting zero lot-line buildings on alleys and easements which are quite common throughout Edmonds);
  • what heights would be allowed – whether they could impact neighbors’ views and green open space sight lines;
  • size of the additional house;
  • off-street parking adequate for multiple vehicles expected per unit;
  • tree canopy preservation;
  • neighborhood impacts taken into consideration; how many units to be allowed per block or even per lot (our local State Representatives in Olympia were asking for the allowance of three homes per Single-Family lot just last year).

These considerations are all critical to our Edmonds charm and our neighborhood livability. No public comments or concerns have been addressed at any of the Commission meetings so far and there are only three months to go.

2. Transition Zones:

This new designation for a concept only vaguely defined is quite concerning. As a policy idea, the Transition Zone actually removes the purpose of zoning altogether. It could allow for expansion of Multi-Family housing, from duplexes to small apartments, into current Single-Family neighborhood zoning based on an insufficient description of what constitutes a “major” street. This could easily be pushed throughout all of Edmonds and cause current Single-Family residential zoning to morph into urban-type zones with all the challenges of dramatically increased neighborhood density. Recently, 26 families living in of one of the neighborhoods targeted as a Transition Zone, wrote a thoughtful letter to the Commission, Council, Mayor and Tree Board, outlining very reasonable concerns around losing their neighborhood to some idealized vision of more housing diversity. They have been told that they are not allowed to be specifically heard by this Housing Commission, with one Commissioner even saying “Historically inequities develop because you have a group of people that feel more privileged to be vocal for multiple reasons… holding a special discussion on letters we received not in the context of all of the feedback that we’ve gotten feels like we’re perpetuating that sense of privilege.” Yet, this is after their own neighborhood being shown on the latest survey to rezone to Multi-Family development, and this Citizens’ Commission feels they are too privileged to comment and have it discussed as a Citizens’ Commission? That is not how the Commission’s work was envisioned when it was formed by the Council in 2019.  These Transition Area density options have already previously been incorporated within our new Subarea Zones of Westgate and Hwy-99, so we are asking the Commission to better define as to where and what direct impacts this idea will have on current Single-Family neighborhoods. At a minimum, that should fall within the Commission’s purview.

3. Duplex/Triplex/Quadraplex/Townhomes in current Single-Family Neighborhoods:

This policy has been successfully implemented in several current Multi-Family Zones and Subarea Plans. However, the Commissioners seem to desire moving this further into single-family neighborhoods. This is unwise and needs to be evaluated and impacts studied further. Again, clarity of definitions is needed here for the larger Edmonds community to fully understand what is being proffered. Not a housing experiment to be launched and tested later. The idea of increasing the numbers of more urbanized areas of Multi-Family housing seems a poor fit for many current Single-Family neighborhoods where open spaces, gardens, walking, and children safely playing outside are highly-valued by Edmonds residents. 

Another concern we have is the potential for turning communities of individual home ownership into outside investment opportunities or even County-owned properties that are not taxed and therefore do not contribute to the property tax base. Important questions that need answers are:

How do these Multi-Family options in otherwise single-family residential zones actually improve housing affordability as the property values in these residential areas are being determined by the current market?

Is the goal to push for urbanized density in neighborhoods, dropping property values as a tool supposed to create “affordability”? ACE has long been a proponent of rational and reasonable growth. We support development in areas where greater density could be suitable, but not at the expense of existing Single-Family neighborhoods. ACE supports the rights of Edmonds residents to be heard and to have their comments and concerns respected. Their input into the Housing Commission’s work must be valued. By virtue of this position paper, we request a higher-degree of citizen approachability by the Housing Commission and a higher-degree of responsiveness to the concerns expressed by those who call Edmonds their home. The Commission has much more work to do.