Save our Neighborhoods! The City Council will soon take its final vote on huge changes to neighborhood zoning that will impact every neighborhood in Tacoma. These proposed zoning changes are the culmination of the City’s Home in Tacoma project. They would increase the density allowed in all neighborhoods. At the end of Home in Tacoma Phase 1, the City Council listened to residents’ concerns and reduced the scale of rezoning.  However, during Home in Tacoma Phase 2, the City has ramped up the scale of rezoning again, increasing allowed density in all neighborhoods.

Council should vote no on this final version of Home in Tacoma. The State legislature has already passed legislation to change neighborhood zoning. House Bill 1110 * allows Low-scale buildings in all single-family neighborhoods. But what Tacoma is proposing goes far beyond the changes made by the state. The City Council should manage the substantial changes required by HB 1110 and not pass the far-reaching changes of Home in Tacoma.

House Bill 1110 allows Low-scale buildings, such as duplexes and triplexes (and in some cases, sixplexes), in single-family neighborhoods. Home in Tacoma goes far beyond this, categorizing neighborhoods into three different zones that allow 8 to 12 units on many lots and even 3, 4 and 5 story apartment buildings in certain neighborhoods.

The State’s Low-scale zoning, if it’s well managed, could provide needed housing while also preserving the livability of our neighborhoods. But Home in Tacoma goes too far, enacting sweeping changes that will be hard to manage!

The City Council should put Home in Tacoma on hold and focus staff resources on successfully implementing the State-mandated zoning changes of HB 1110

Specific demands we’re making to Council:

1. Put Home in Tacoma zoning changes on hold – The City’s own planning report states that Tacoma does not need these massive density increases in all our neighborhoods in order to meet 2050 housing targets. Instead, the City should emphasize developing multi-family complexes in downtown and in areas already zoned for larger buildings. It should also focus on managing the development that will result from the zoning changes of HB 1110.

2. Focus on creating affordable housing for those who are most vulnerable to being priced out of Tacoma – Home in Tacoma will not create truly “affordable” housing but will only bring more overpriced units that are inaccessible to low-income residents. Even with “affordability” requirements, new housing is out of reach for the most vulnerable Tacomans, those with incomes below 80% Area Median Income.

3. Conduct neighborhood-level planning – The Planning Department assured residents that, during Home in Tacoma Phase 2, it would refine the broad brush zoning map of Phase 1 and tailor zoning to the needs and characteristics of Tacoma’s individual neighborhoods. This has not happened. The Phase 2 map again takes a blanket approach and applies zoning according to a few general criteria. Home in Tacoma does not account for diverse neighborhood realities or the impacts of pending development, such as the massive Bridge Industrial project in South Tacoma.

4. Focus staff resources on ensuring the State-mandated Low-scale zoning is implemented successfully. Density is already occurring.

— The City must develop and implement:

• Actions to ensure urban infrastructure and services are adequate to support growth — Even without added density, our streets are already failing and our water treatment system needs essential upgrades. And since developers still do not pay impact fees, it is residents who bear the costs of increasing capacity for schools, parks, fire protection facilities, and road infrastructure.

• Design Standards that ensure high quality building designs — During Home in Tacoma Phase 1, the Planning Department assured residents it would create design guidelines to ensure new development would be in harmony with neighborhood scale and character.  This has not been done. We need effective design standards for building scale and mass, building volume (floor area ratios), setbacks, and streetscape planting that will ensure new builds harmonize with the existing street. The Planning Department should follow through on its promise to create a form-based code, which “guides development to build upon and strengthen the unique characteristics of a community, helping to preserve desired character.”

• Regulations to promote and protect tree canopy — Tacoma has the lowest tree coverage of any city in the Puget Sound region—around 20%. The City should pass the Landscaping Code component of Home in Tacoma. This will provide important tree protections and planting requirements that should be the first step toward planting the 1 million trees needed to reach the City's goal of a 30% urban tree canopy. 

• Strategies to encourage preservation of historic buildings — Historic buildings and neighborhoods are integral to Tacoma’s appeal. But Home in Tacoma has no preservation requirements, and the incentives to preserve historic buildings are weak. Since the majority of Tacoma’s historic buildings are not even on the historic register or located within historic districts, the City should conduct proactive surveys to identify historically and culturally significant buildings. It should provide incentives for reuse of historic buildings that preserves their architectural integrity.

• Strong incentives to discourage demolition — Old buildings have “paid off” the energy required to build them.  It takes a huge amount of energy and greenhouse gas emissions to build even the most environmentally-efficient new building. The City should create strong incentives to deter demolition.

We don’t need to lose the character and appeal of any of our neighborhoods to gain improvements in livability, affordability, inclusivity, and sustainability across the city.

Our shared goal is to support growth while ensuring that the fabric of Tacoma’s neighborhoods and communities remains intact

*Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1110 (HB 1110), passed in 2023, requires cities with more than 75,000 residents to allow fourplexes in all residential neighborhoods and to allow sixplexes if these are within a quarter-mile of a major transit stop or if two of the six units are affordable housing. Other “middle housing” such as courtyard apartments, townhouses, and cottage housing will also be allowed. This new zoning is now the law. And, if it’s well managed, could provide housing while also preserving the appeal and livability of our neighborhoods.

Link to Bill: https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/biennium/House%20Passed%20Legislature/1110-S2.PL.pdf