New Housing Changes for Spokane in 2023

The Spokane City Council voted unanimously to extend the Building Opportunity and Choices for All (BOCA) interim ordinance to update development standards and amendments that increase housing diversity in the city. Many are hailing these changes as a boon for the affordable housing community. Others believe, more work must be done to simplify the short plat process seen as being costly and time consuming for developers.

The measure makes permanent the code changes following Spokane Mayor Woodward’s Emergency Housing Proclamation in 2021.

This includes:

• Up to a fourplex in any zone
• Up to a sixplex near high transit lines
• Rule changes to make townhomes easier to build
• More allowances for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU’s)

Additionally, the Planning Department successfully lobbied for additional changes:

• Reducing setbacks from 15′ to 10′
• Increasing the maximum footprint for homes to 2.450 sq ft (lots under 7,000 square feet), and 35% of lot size over 7,000 sq ft
• Under R2 zoning allowing up to 80% of building footprint
• Projects over 2 acres must have three or more housing types – and only 70% of any single housing type
• May be possible to build up to 4 stories tall

Last August, Spokane Assistant Planner Tim Thompson unveiled his teams plans to the Spokane REALTORS Governmental Affairs Committee.

READ THE FULL PRESENTATION HERE

In August, the City launched a new Middle Housing Support Team within the Planning Department to better help builders and developers understand all these new rule changes. This move comes on the heels of a wide range of zoning changes passed under the Building Opportunities and Choices for All pilot project, that could become a permanent part of the City’s Comprehensive Plan. more details will be released in the weeks ahead.