OPPOSE Washington State bills:

• HB1110 & SB5190 (that propose to seize local land-use and zoning decisions and eliminate single-family residential zoning by the state).
• HB1245 & SB5364 (that allow the splitting of single-family residential lots into two).
• HB1337 (that expand the construction of attached and detached accessory dwelling units).

We citizens of Washington State strongly oppose adoption of these bills because: 

• These bills allow the state to commandeer local zoning regulations and replace them with one extreme and rigid scheme.
• These bills coerce all municipalities into a uniform upzoning straitjacket statewide, regardless of local conditions. 
• Single-family residential lots could convert to:
  • At least 4 units per lot in all residential areas.
  • 6 units per lot in all residential areas, if two of the six are “affordable.”
  • At least 6 units per lot in all residential if within ½ mile of major transit stop.
  • The inadequately-provisioned parking standards in these bills will result in unimaginable conditions in residential streets. 
  • About “affordability”, it is true that a new single-family home in an upscale area, at $1.5M, is not affordable.  But a home in a multi-unit dwelling on the same lot at $750,000 is not “affordable” either. Cities should have the latitude to design housing in areas and by methods actually resulting in affordability.  
  • When canvassed, citizens often state strong preference for retention of single-family residential neighborhoods by wide margins; our elected representatives should listen*.

We feel strongly that housing should be affordable and available to all. However, this proposed zoning will create dense, unplanned helter-skelter residential areas, what some call the “Ballardization” (a densely populated Seattle suburb) of their single-family neighborhoods. We ask that cities and towns instead be allowed to devise their own solutions to housing problems in the communities they know best.

Thank you for supporting our petition. We will send this petition to our elected representatives and senators in Olympia, Washington. 

For more information about these bills:  App.leg.wa.gov/billinfo

Alliance of Citizens for Edmonds Board, P.O. Box 1793, Edmonds, WA 98020

website: https://aceedmonds.org

*In 2021, for example, Edmonds @ 78% and Mukilteo @ 82%.