The city of Airway Heights is working on what is known as a Missing Middle Housing Project, altering city codes and regulations to make options such as duplexes and accessory dwelling units easier to build.
The goal is to create more housing supply for everything in between single-family housing and apartment complexes, the missing middle, said Airway Heights Associate Planner Zachary Becker. It is hoped that allowing more housing options will lower housing costs, he said.
“It’s to provide more units, but also to provide unit choice,” he said. “I think this bill is really well intended, which is great.”
Last year the legislature passed a bill requiring 77 jurisdictions, including Airway Heights, to adopt new development regulations allowing for middle housing options on lots zoned for residential use. An additional bill, House Bill 1337, requires cities to allow at least two accessory dwelling units on all lots that are zoned for single family homes.
“We’ve previously allowed accessory dwelling units, but they were conditionally permitted,” Becker said. “Now they’re permitted by right.”
Though Airway Heights is small in size, it was one of the 77 jurisdictions mandated to create a Missing Middle Housing Project because it is adjacent to Spokane, Becker said. “Any suburban jurisdiction that shares a boundary with a large city is required to do this as well,” he said.
The idea is that qualifying lots can have three living units on them whether that is a single-family home and two accessory dwelling units, three accessory dwelling units or a duplex and one accessory dwelling units. “We’re required to allow a minimum of three units per lot,” he said. “That includes accessory dwelling units. It’s providing more flexibility to developers to provide housing.”
The city has asked for input from the public on the draft rules, hosting an open house and pop-up events. Developers have also been giving the city feedback, Becker said. “I think generally they’re excited,” he said. “A lot of conversations we’re having now are super in the weeds. A lot of them are trying to look at cottage housing.”
There are more opportunities for public input scheduled as the city enters the final stages of the project. There will be a public hearing on the new proposed development rules at the next planning commission meeting at 6 p.m. December 11 at 149 S. Garfield. The next opportunity after that is a public hearing tentatively scheduled during the January 20 city council meeting.
As part of the new rules, the city is proposing consolidating its residential housing zones from four to two. The current residential zones are single family housing, duplexes, high density housing and manufactured homes. Aside from the housing located on tribal land, most of the land zoned residential inside the Airway Heights city limits is located north of Highway 2 between Craig Road and Garfield Road, though there is a significant pocket of residentially zoned land north of 12th Avenue and east of Hayford Road.
In the new zones, high density housing would remain as a multiple-family residential zone and the other three zones would be combined into a new zone called neighborhood family residential.
“The zoning is getting simpler,” Becker said.
The city is still debating the minimum lot sizes in the new zoning categories, Becker said. Currently, lots are required to be 7,200 square feet for single family homes. That is the same lot size currently recommended for lots in the neighborhood family residential zone, but there have been some discussions on whether that should be reduced to 6,000 square feet. That issue will be voted on at the planning commission meeting set for December 11, Becker said.
Some people who have heard about the Missing Middle Housing Project have been confused about some of the finer details, Becker said, but most seem to like the idea of having more flexible housing options.
“I think some of the ideas are hard for people to understand,” he said.
All the city regulations that include the development changes, including a new zoning map, are available online at https://cawh.org/missing-middle-housing-project. Those who want to provide input on the proposed regulations can send an email to planninginfo@cawh.org.
The new rules will take effect after they are approved by the city council.
