Tukwila: Title 17 Amendments
The City of Tukwila has initiated a code amendment proposal to revise regulations within Title 17 of the Tukwila Municipal Code (TMC) concerning land division and street improvements. This effort is driven by the necessity to integrate these standards with newly proposed provisions for middle housing within residential zoning districts. These policy changes will apply city-wide, and public notification was disseminated through the Seattle Times and the City of Tukwila website on April 10, 2025. An environmental review will be completed before the City Council's consideration of these amendments.
This legislative action is in response to the state-mandated requirement for Tukwila to facilitate the development of approximately 240 net new homes annually between 2025 and 2044, addressing a significant housing shortage prevalent in Tukwila, King County, the broader Puget Sound region, and Washington State. Currently, a substantial 87% of Tukwila's land designated for residential use is zoned Low Density Residential (LDR), permitting only single-family home development at the lowest densities. Given that the city's development standards have remained largely unchanged since 1995, while development costs have escalated, these updates are crucial for expanding housing options and increasing homeownership opportunities for Tukwila residents.
The impetus for these amendments stems from recent state legislation, notably HB 1110 passed in Spring 2023, which mandates fully planning jurisdictions to broaden allowances for middle housing types such as duplexes and townhouses. Additional legislation, including HB 1337 and HB 1293, also intersect with these middle housing requirements, all sharing the same compliance deadline. HB 1110 establishes tiered requirements for cities based on population. Tukwila, with an estimated population nearing the threshold to transition from a Tier Three to a Tier Two city, is proactively approaching these updates as a Tier Two jurisdiction to preempt future code revisions and encourage infill housing development.
The proposed amendments to TMC Title 17 are directly and indirectly linked to the broader package of code changes aimed at permitting middle housing. These revisions are essential to ensure that future middle housing development is not only feasible but also desirable and aligns with the goals outlined in the Comprehensive Plan. Key proposed changes include technical modifications such as replacing references to the "Low-Density Residential" zoning district with the proposed "Community Residential" district, often requiring contextual adjustments to surrounding text, and minor edits for consistency and error correction. The thresholds for what constitutes minor modifications to land division documents have been revised for improved clarity.
Regarding Unit Lot Subdivisions, the proposal seeks to remove lists of eligible residential types, thereby allowing these types of land divisions for any residential development. Furthermore, the allowance for foundation construction to commence prior to final approval, previously limited to townhomes, would be expanded to all housing types within unit lot subdivisions. References to open space requirements have also been removed.
Significant changes are proposed for street standards in new land division projects, including setting a 6-foot minimum sidewalk width. Standards have been modified to provide greater flexibility regarding when new streets are required to be dedicated as public right-of-way. New standards would mandate permanent pedestrian and bicycle public access easements on new private streets. Two new street types are introduced: Neighborhood Yield Streets, designed to include on-street parking and requiring approximately 40 to 50 feet of width, and Living Streets, which are small-scale shared streets prioritizing pedestrians and requiring approximately 20 feet of width. Frontage improvement requirements are also slated for change to ensure sidewalks and curbs are installed for a broader range of land division and development projects, specifically all new land divisions and all development projects with a valuation exceeding $700,000.
The increased allowance for middle housing and accessory dwelling units is anticipated to foster infill housing development throughout Tukwila's residential areas, with the scale of these housing types being comparable to single-family homes, thus mitigating visual impacts while providing a wider array of housing options. The amended street standards and frontage improvement requirements are expected to contribute to a more complete sidewalk network and enhance areas for street trees and on-street parking.