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Meeting a day earlier than usual because April 22 is special election day, the Edmonds City Council has important items to consider during its Monday, April 21 business meeting.
First, the council will hold a public hearing on permanent city code governing STEP housing. HB 1220 – passed in 2021– amended Washington’s Growth Management Act to require all cities to change their codes and 20-year comprehensive plans to make way for housing affordable to all income levels.
To meet housing needs at the lowest income rates, the law requires emergency and permanent housing – also known as STEP housing – to be allowed in all residential zones and zones with hotels. The city council passed an interim STEP housing ordinance Jan. 28, giving councilmembers additional time to solidify details and offering the public another chance to weigh in on the issue. The interim ordinance includes provisions that nuisances and criminal behavior are subject to enforcement to the full extent of the city’s code. It also states that evictions of residents for unsafe actions are not precluded by city codes.
This item was discussed during the council’s April 15 Committee of the Whole meeting.The interim ordinance includes provisions that nuisances and criminal behavior are subject to enforcement to the full extent of the city’s code. It also states that evictions of residents for unsafe actions are not precluded by city codes. The Edmonds Planning Board, however, recommended eliminating these provisions.
Second, councilmembers will continue its work on an interim ordinance that would prohibit the removal of large trees — also described as landmark or heritage trees — on private property. Read more about the council’s previous discussion on this matter here.
Third, the council will review and possibly take action on its priorities for 2025 Comprehensive Plan amendment ideas. This includes the possible withdrawl of controversial amendments related to potential city property sales. Read more about that in a previous council meeting here.
Also at the Monday meeting, the council is scheduled to approve a resolution recognizing Earth Day 2025 and hear a report on the city’s climate protection efforts.
The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the council chambers, Public Safety Complex, 250 5th Ave. N., Edmonds. Regular council meetings are streamed live on the council meeting webpage (where you can also see the complete agenda), on Comcast channel 21, and Ziply channel 39. Or you can attend virtually via Zoom:
https://zoom.us/j/95798484261. Or participate by phone: +1 253 215 8782. The webinar ID is 957 9848 4261.
What is going on with the Planning Board? First they recommend that the Edmonds Residential Zoning Guidelines go above beyond those required by state law. Their recommendations include elevating building heights from 25-35feet; an increase in lot coverage from 35 to 45% for properties containing 3 or more units; increasing the number of units per property,; decreasing property setbacks and decreasing off street parking requirements to one per lot, etc. Now they are recommending that there be no enforcement for bad behavior in STEP housing!
If the Council votes to support these Planning Board’s recommendations, Edmonds is in big trouble.
The first thing that needs to happen in our town is all membership on our so called Planning Board should come from the various grassroots organizations in town and be totally exempt from any influence from Mayors and Council Persons. The current board should be titled ,”The Mayor’s Planning for Maximum Development Board.” Board members should come from established grassroots organizations consisting of regular citizens from all backgrounds and areas of expertise. Establish a reasonable number of board positions to be workable and people who want to be members submit their names which are drawn from a hat until the board is established. People are on the board until they decide they don’t want to be and then another name is drawn from the hat of people who want to serve. The two requirements for serving are Edmonds Residency and Voter Registration period.
Mr. Maxwell,
If the the part of the code that you recommended did nothing, why take the time to remove it?
While I am at it, why has the Planning Board made density recommendations above and beyond what is required by state law, the recommendations of the Planning Director, and the will of the people (from the poll taken by the City last year)?
That’s an important question. Our liberty depends on the rule of law. We allow our governments to treat us with violence and take away our property. The deal that lets them punish us includes laws that say what they can and can not punish. Everyone in Edmonds and everyone in the United States should be able to read the laws and find out what is allowed and what is not allowed. For that reason, our laws need to be written in a way that anyone can easily understand. Writing laws that only lawyers understand reduces our liberty by taking away our right to tell, without additional expense, whether our actions would be unlawful. Maintaining a set of laws that are poorly organized and badly written reduces our liberty further, because, even with a lawyer’s help, we still cannot tell what will prompt government punishments.
Having been incorporated 135 years ago, Edmonds has allowed its code to become messy. Code reform has been on the city agenda for years. Our current Mayor ran partly on promises to try to clean up the code.
The Planning Board’s work on avoiding making the code any worse is part of the service that Planning Board volunteers provide to everyone else in Edmonds.