The Federal Way City Council has adopted amendments to its multi-family, senior housing, and special needs housing code to address issues that drove the MF moratorium.

The city of Federal Way has been under moratorium for multifamily development since June of last year, citing the need to reevaluate its zoning standards and MF development code as the driving force. The city has released its proposed amendments to the MF Development Code.

On Tuesday, Jan. 3, the Mercer Island City Council voted 5-1 to adopt fire sprinklers for all new single family homes and substantial remodels.

At its most recent city council meeting, the city of Bothell deferred consideration of its proposed tree code changes until September at the earliest.

Single-family and multifamily homes are now eligible for a Snohomish County PUD incentive. If Built Green 4-Star is achieved, builders will receive a rebate of $1,200 per house or $300 per multifamily unit.

The Kent City Council Economic and Community Development Committee will hold a public hearing to receive comment on amendments to the Wetland Mitigation Banking Program.

Snohomish County’s annual tree canopy report was presented to the Snohomish County Planning Committee this week. Homebuilders are exceeding tree canopy requirements by 23%. Going forward, planning staff stated they will work to simplify the worksheet used to calculate canopy requirements.

Snohomish County has released the latest version of its annual Growth Monitoring Report. Included in the report are growth population trends, lot creation data, building permit activity, and more.

The Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties has prepared this issue brief to discuss ways we can make housing more attainable and make the Growth Management Act work as intended.

On Tuesday, Feb. 21, the Seattle City Council voted unanimously to allow University District building heights to increase up to 320 feet on streets near a planned light rail station and up to 240 feet in other areas.

Your Association has submitted a comment letter on the Puget Sound Regional Council’s (PSRC) Economic Development Board’s draft Regional Economic Strategy, underscoring the importance of the residential building industry.

On Monday, the Auburn City Council voted unanimously to be the first local jurisdiction to make the final plat process on long subdivisions administrative, effective July 23, 2017. This change was enabled by MBA-supported legislation.

The city of Edmonds has joined a host of other jurisdictions by adopting new code language to allow fee simple unit lot subdivisions. Your Association has been working with jurisdictions throughout the region to adopt such ordinances.

The Arlington Planning Department, your Association, and interested members met this week to discuss benefits of Fee Simple options in Arlington.

The city of Auburn has proposed several development code changes for 2017 that could save our members approximately six to eight weeks of time.

The Marysville City Council has unanimously approved industry requested code amendments.

In a major win for the MBA, Governor Jay Inslee yesterday signed into law Senate Bill 5674, providing a local option to allow administrative approval of the final plat process.

On Wednesday, April 19, the Mercer Island Planning Commission continued its review of code language related to the Residential Development Code update.

On Tuesday, April 18, the Duvall City Council voted to extend its 60-day emergency moratorium on residential plat applications and multi-family applications to six months.

​This week, your Association met with the city of Monroe’s new planning leadership team to discuss various regulatory and process issues, including a complete re-write of the city's land use code.

Seattle Times columnist Jonathan Martin recently wrote a column advocating for adopting impact fees in Seattle, arguing that “growth doesn’t pay for growth.” That statement is simply not true.

This week, the stakeholder group tasked with exploring changes to Snohomish County’s school impact fee rules concluded its work. Your Association offered three potential changes to the code.

The Shoreline Planning Commission is considering a plan to help the City finance its park facilities that will be impacted by anticipated population growth.

On Tuesday, April 18, the Duvall City Council updated its park impact fee schedule to collect $7,315 for each new single family residence and $6,486 for each new multi-family home.

The Renton City Council Land Use Committee has recommended an ordinance to the full council that will reduce impact fees and connection charges for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) by 50%.

Last week, the Washington State Supreme Court issued an important Order Amending Opinion in the stormwater vesting case.

This week, the Washington State Supreme Court accepted an amicus brief filed by your Association related to the motions for reconsideration in the NDPES-Vesting case.

In what should be excellent news for members, Snohomish County will begin following recently shared state Department of Ecology guidance related to issuing permits under its stormwater regulations.

A public hearing was held on SB 5212 on Tuesday, Jan. 24 in the Senate Committee on Local Government.

King and Snohomish counties have submitted motions for reconsideration to the Washington State Supreme Court related to its decision on stormwater regulations and vesting.

On Dec. 29, 2016, the Washington State Supreme Court issued its decision in Snohomish County v PCHB. The Court upheld the special condition in Ecology’s NPDES Phase I Permit that requires permitting jurisdictions to apply the new stormwater regulations to a set of otherwise vested developments.

This week, your Association attended the Governor’s Summit on Career and Connected Learning, where Governor Inslee announced establishment of funding to connect industry with instructors and students.

Your Association was honored to host Congressman Adam Smith (WA-9th District) for a roundtable discussion at the MBA Housing Center in Bellevue last week, featuring discussions on workforce training and regulatory challenges for the residential building industry.

One of the MBA’s priority bills this legislative session is SB 5183, which would increase the state's investment in career and technical education programs throughout our middle and high schools.