Resolution 1544RESOLUTION NO. 1544
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS,
WASHINGTON, PROVIDING DIRECTION FOR THE GROWTH
ALTERNATIVES TO BE EV ALU A TED IN THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
STATEMENT FOR THE PERIODIC UPDATE TO THE CITY'S
COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
WHEREAS, the City of Edmonds is expected to adopt a periodic update to its comprehensive
plan by December 31, 2024; and
WHEREAS, the Washington State Department of Commerce and Snohomish County have
assigned a growth target to the City of Edmonds pursuant to HB 1110 and RCW 36.70A.070;
and
WHEREAS, RCW 36.70A.070(2) requires the city's comprehensive plan to "include a plan,
scheme, or design for ... [a] housing element ensuring the vitality and character of established
residential neighborhoods that:
(a) Includes an inventory and analysis of existing and projected housing needs that
identifies the number of housing units necessary to manage projected growth, as provided
by the department of commerce, including:
(i) Units for moderate, low, very low, and extremely low-income households; and
(ii) Emergency housing, emergency shelters, and permanent supportive housing;
(b) Includes a statement of goals, policies, objectives, and mandatory provisions for the
preservation, improvement, and development of housing, including single-family
residences, and within an urban growth area boundary, moderate density housing options
including, but not limited to, duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes;
( c) Identifies sufficient capacity of land for housing including, but not limited to,
government-assisted housing, housing for moderate, low, very low, and extremely low-
income households, manufactured housing, multifamily housing, group homes, foster
care facilities, emergency housing, emergency shelters, permanent supportive housing,
and within an urban growth area boundary, consideration of duplexes, triplexes, and
townhomes;
(d) Makes adequate provisions for existing and projected needs of all economic segments
of the community, including:
(i) Incorporating consideration for low, very low, extremely low, and moderate-
income households;
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(ii) Documenting programs and actions needed to achieve housing availability
including gaps in local funding, barriers such as development regulations, and
other limitations;
(iii) Consideration of housing locations in relation to employment location; and
(iv) Consideration of the role of accessory dwelling units in meeting housing
needs;
( e) Identifies local policies and regulations that result in racially disparate impacts,
displacement, and exclusion in housing, including:
(i) Zoning that may have a discriminatory effect;
(ii) Disinvestment; and
(iii) Infrastructure availability;
(f) Identifies and implements policies and regulations to address and begin to undo
racially disparate impacts, displacement, and exclusion in housing caused by local
policies, plans, and actions;
(g) Identifies areas that may be at higher risk of displacement from market forces that
occur with changes to zoning development regulations and capital investments; and
(h) Establishes antidisplacement policies, with consideration given to the preservation of
historical and cultural communities as well as investments in low, very low, extremely
low, and moderate-income housing; equitable development initiatives; inclusionary
zoning; community planning requirements; tenant protections; land disposition policies;
and consideration of land that may be used for affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, the city intends to comply with these state mandates; and
WHEREAS, the city intends to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the
purposes of analyzing various policy alternatives that would allow the city to meet its growth
target by 2045; and
WHEREAS, the policy alternatives analyzed in the EIS bookend the possibilities for the
comprehensive plan that will be adopted later this year; and
WHEREAS, the policies available for adoption into the comprehensive plan later this year will
not be limited to the precise package of policies that formed the alternatives studied in the EIS,
but could draw from a range of possibilities between the packages of policies that established the
parameters for environmental review; and
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WHEREAS, pursuant to WAC 197-11-442, the city is not required under SEP A to examine all
conceivable comprehensive plan policies, designations, or implementation measures but should
cover a range of such topics; and
WHEREAS, pursuant to WAC 197-11-440, the city is required to include analysis of a "no
action" alternative in its EIS; and
WHEREAS, the city council wants to ensure that the range of alternatives being analyzed in the
EIS are broad enough to encompass the policy choices that it may want to deliberate later in the
year, while still meeting its growth targets and complying with other state laws, most notably,
HB 1110 and HB 1337; and
WHEREAS, not counting the required "no action" alternative, the administration has formulated
and sought public input on two growth alternatives known as: 1) Alternative A: Focused Growth;
and 2) Alternative B: Distributed Growth; now therefore,
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EDMONDS, WASHINGTON, HEREBY
RESOLVES AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The two growth alternatives formulated by the administration ("Alternative A -
Focused Growth" and "Alternative B -Distributed Growth") are broad and inclusive enough that
the city council will likely be able to adopt a comprehensive plan containing policies that are
reasonably consistent with the range of policies to be analyzed in the forthcoming EIS,
PROVIDED THAT, the city council would specifically like to make the following changes for
the purposes of environmental review:
Alternative B should be modified to assume two ADUs per lot.
RESOLVED this 9th day of April, 2024.
ATTEST:
~ASSEY
FILED WITH THE CITY CLERK:
PASSED BY THE CITY COUNCIL:
RESOLUTION NO.
CITY OF EDMONDS
~KEROSEN
April 11, 2024
April 9, 2024
1544
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