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The Spokesman-Review
KREM
The Center Square
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The Spokesman-Review
OLYMPIA – A proposal to legalize denser zoning laws statewide has cleared its first hurdle in the Legislature but looks a little different from its initial draft.
The bill, sponsored by Olympia Democrat Rep. Jessica Bateman, would require cities to expand what types of housing can be built on residential lots.
The most recent version would affect fewer cities than what was in the initial proposal, which would have required all cities of 6,000 or more to allow up to fourplexes on all residential lots.
In the amended version, cities between 25,000 and 75,000 people would be required to allow at least duplexes on all residential lots; at least fourplexes on all lots within a half-mile of a major transit stop or community amenity such as a school or park; and at least fourplexes on all lots if at least one unit is considered affordable housing.
For cities with at least 75,000 people and cities with an urban growth area with another city of more than 200,000 people must allow fourplexes on all residential lots; sixplexes on all lots within a half-mile of a transit stop or community amenity; and sixplexes on all lots if at least two are considered affordable housing.
Bateman told the House Housing committee on Tuesday that the changes make the bill easier for cities to adopt.
“It enables private property owners to choose whether they want to build middle housing,” she said.
The amended proposal passed out of the House Housing committee 8-3 on Tuesday. Three out of the committee’s five Republicans voted against the bill. A companion bill in the Senate, with similar amendments, is scheduled for a vote Wednesday.
The proposal has bipartisan support in both chambers as the Legislature looks to tackle the growing need for housing across the state. Other housing proposals include expanding where accessory dwelling units can be built, providing rental assistance, prohibiting huge rent increases, revising the state guidelines for cities’ population growth and changing rules around condominium citing and construction. Gov. Jay Inslee has also made housing a priority this session, pushing for a $4 billion referendum to allow the state to increase its debt limit to build more affordable housing.
Republican co-sponsor Rep. Andrew Barkis, R-Olympia, called the bill the “centerpiece” of housing legislation this year. He said there are still some pieces in the bill being worked on and that’s why a few of his Republican colleagues voted against it.
“That’s very common when you have a policy that has this much substance,” he said.
This is the second year the middle housing bill has made its way through the Legislature, but it has received pushback from local jurisdictions who say they do not want the state mandating their zoning laws.
A number of cities in the state, including Spokane, have already changed their zoning laws to allow for more density in urban areas similar to what this bill requires. Last summer, the Spokane City Council approved a temporary zoning ordinance to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes and townhomes on all residential zones citywide for a year.
The city of Spokane Valley, on the other hand, is against the proposal.
Councilman Arne Woodard testified last month that a number of cities have already worked to improve their zoning laws and this bill could undermine the careful planning they’ve done. For example, Spokane Valley in 2020 approved zoning changes that allow 10 units per acre within a quarter-mile of frequent transit stops.
Opponents of the bill also had concerns about maximum parking requirements in the bill, but those have since been updated in the amended version.
The current version allows cities to require one or two off-street parking spaces per unit.
If passed, cities must begin complying with the bill within six months after their next comprehensive plan update.
The changes in the bill are supported by legislative leadership in both parties.
House Majority Leader Joe Fitzgibbon, D-Seattle, said lawmakers have tried to find common ground with cities on this issue, and the changes in the bill reflect that.
He said he supports an aggressive approach to fixing the housing crisis but acknowledged that cities face difficult choices.
“Our goal is to make their job easier by setting a floor,” Fitzgibbon said.
House Minority Leader J.T. Wilcox, R-Yelm, said this bill has received hearings that brought forth concerns from people all over the state and the amended version of the proposal reflects that.
“I’ve said from the first day that in concept, we are supportive of the middle housing bill, and I’ve also said that that bill’s going to have to evolve,” Wilcox said.
Laurel Demkovich can be reached at (509) 416-6260 or at laureld@spokesman. com.
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KREM
SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane police responded to a man experiencing a mental health crisis at the Spokane Public Library on West Main Tuesday afternoon.
According to SPD, the suspect made the original call and said he was threatening people with a gun. Police evacuated the building as they responded to the threat.
Once they made contact with the suspect, police determined that there was no weapon on him and there were no actual victims in the incident. The suspect has been taken into custody, according to police.
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KXLY
SPOKANE, Wash. — A man arrested as a teen for murder remains behind bars Tuesday night on new charges of attacking two more women.
One of those alleged attacks happened a little over a week ago. The recent alleged attack has the Downtown Spokane Partnership sounding the alarm. The organization wants to see action taken to stop incidents like these from continuing.
Some managers of downtown businesses say this isn't the only crime they're seeing and that it's scaring people away from the area.
"These kinds of incidents are scary," Emile Cameron, president of Downtown Spokane Partnership, said. "They're incidents we don't want to see in Spokane."
The Spokane Police Department says officers are remodeling their patrols in the area, and crime numbers are going down.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership is a non-profit dedicated to improving the area. They say enough is enough.
"We have to focus on why are these happening, how are they happening and how do we get ahead of it and start proactively addressing so that people feel safe walking, whether it be downtown or in other parts of the city," Cameron said.
Downtown businesses say safety is one of their biggest concerns, especially when it comes to their employees.
Method Juice Café is directly across the street from the Spokane Police Department downtown, but management says safety is still an issue.
"I have a lot of younger girls here and they'll be closing downtown," Amy Murillo, the manager at Method Juice Café, said.
Murillo says the recent crime doesn't just scare her employees, but it's scaring people away from the downtown area altogether.
"It's causing a lot more issues for people to want to come downtown and there's a lot to do, but it's not worth getting attacked, you know what I mean?" Murillo said.
Corporal Nick Briggs with SPD says crime in downtown Spokane is declining He says between January 8-February 5, crime is down 12 percent this year compared to that same time frame last year.
Briggs says incidents like Avondre Graham's alleged attack are rare for the area.
To address downtown crime, SPD has redesigned their staffing models.
"We have over doubled the amount of officer-initiated or self-initiated contact," Briggs said. "So these are things like officers conducting foot patrols, contacting big businesses, detecting and deterring crime as it's happening or prior to it happening."
Despite the decrease in crime, these crimes still have some people worried.
"Some of these incidents are very isolated in nature, that doesn't make them any less scary," Cameron said.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership said it wants to work with local businesses, law enforcement and city and state leaders to understand why these incidents are happening and find a solution.
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The Center Square
Shutterstock
(The Center Square) – At a Monday afternoon press conference from the state capital, Rep. Jamila Taylor, D-Federal Way, explained the need for first-in-the-nation legislation she introduced in the House of Representatives that addresses the history of housing discrimination in Washington state.
Funded by a $100 document recording assessment, House Bill 1474 would establish a covenant homeownership account and program to provide down payment and closing cost assistance to people identified in an initial Covenant Homeownership Program study – to be completed by Dec. 31 – as impacted by restrictive real estate laws. Participants must be first-time homebuyers with income limitations.
“Restrictive real estate covenants prohibiting people of certain races, religions, and ethnicities from buying or owning homes were recorded across Washington state until 1968, when the federal Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibited real estate covenants that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion or national origin, and 1969, when the Washington Law Against Discrimination provided that these types of covenants are void and have no legal effect,” a House analysis of HB 1474 states.
“I am so thankful for this multi-racial and community-driven coalition that has held our feet to the fire to support the community,” Taylor said at a press conference held after HB 1474 had a public hearing before the House Housing Committee earlier in the day. “To support the community that wants to be stable, wants to be thriving, wants to continue to be a part of the inclusive economic fabric of Washington state.”
She addressed crafting the legislation so that it would not run afoul of Initiative 200, passed by voters in November 1998, that effectively curtails any form of affirmative action in Washington.
“I know the thinking that we had was around a tort claim,” she said. “Imagine a specific and intentional and targeted harms that were towards communities and the things, remedies are specific tailored toward those who were impacted. So this is why the eligibility criteria talks about individuals who were residents of the time before 1968 when the racial covenants were in effect and that they were enforceable.”
As for people who may not like a $100 fee for a program they think doesn’t impact them, Taylor was both philosophical and pragmatic.
“There’s always someone who’s going to say something when they don’t see it in their community; it doesn’t affect them,” she said. “But it does affect them. It affects who your neighbors are. It affects the fact that we want to have an inclusive economy where I can move into a neighborhood of choice.”
She continued, “But we’ve seen the compounding of all of these practices, policies, and laws have led to where we are right now, and we are not making traction. And we as a state can remedy harms.”
Others at the press conference backed up that assessment.
“I don’t know anybody that would say it’s acceptable that black families as a percent are fewer than half that have home ownership than white families,” Lt. Gov. Denny Heck said. “I don’t know anybody that would resent that document recording fee, given that the average net worth of a black family is one-eighth of a white family. I don’t know anybody that would answer that way.”
Rep. Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, put it more succinctly.
“I just know that nearly everybody in our state believes it the American dream, and that’s what this is about,” he said. “It’s about homeownership for everyone.”
HB 1474 is scheduled for executive session in the House Housing Committee at 8 a.m. on Thursday.