OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Bellevue Planning Commission HOMA Study Session – February 2, 2026

City Council — Monday, February 2, 2026
BodyBellevue, Washington
SessionCity Council
DateMonday, February 2, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:59:27

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Good meeting.

0:04

Good evening.

0:06

And welcome to the January 28th meeting of City of Bellevue Planning Commission.

0:10

This evening's meeting is held via hybrid format with both in-person and virtual option via Zoom.

0:16

Tonight's meeting will provide an opportunity for public comment during the oral communication portion of the agenda.

0:22

All written comments that have been submitted prior to 11 a.m.

0:26

today, Wednesday, January 28th, will be summarized into the record.

0:30

We have one study session item tonight on the agenda.

0:33

Housing opportunity and mixed use area, land use code amendment.

0:37

This continues our study session following the hearing on December 10th.

0:41

Now let us uh move forward with the roll call.

0:45

Wesha Lu.

0:46

Present.

0:47

Commissioner Ferris.

0:49

I'm here.

0:50

Commissioner Belvisis.

0:53

Commissioner Geppo?

0:54

Here.

0:55

Commissioner Kennedy.

0:56

Present.

0:57

Commissioner Neil Chan.

0:58

Here.

0:59

Council and Lies and Mayor Malakutian?

1:01

Here.

1:02

And I'm Chair Han Lu.

1:04

Can I get the motion to approve tonight's agenda?

1:07

So moved.

1:08

Is there a second?

1:09

Second.

1:10

A discussion.

1:11

All approved, say I.

1:14

Aye.

1:15

Mayor Melicrus.

1:17

Do you have any reports for us?

1:19

Yes, very quick.

1:20

From the last time we were here.

1:23

We had just one council meeting.

1:25

The topic that uh was very interesting was human service needs updates, what City of Bellevue community needs are, and then how we are allocating our funds uh with what percent to what kind of needs.

1:40

So it was a great study by the staff.

1:42

Uh so if someone is interested, is last night meetings.

1:45

We also did something on the updating the safe speed um of the whole Bellevue city uh uh arterial roads.

1:56

Uh we are decreasing a speed uh because we know speed uh correlate to more injuries and bad accident, I guess.

2:05

So there was a lot of data and we are updating all of our speeds.

2:09

So watch that if you're interested.

2:12

But something that is related to this body is uh to the uh today eventually we finalize all of the appointments.

2:19

So from next meeting, uh very known person, uh council member Vishal Bargawa would be the liaison for this body, and it would be my today my last day, but I'm coming on a stopping by because I appreciate you all.

2:36

I uh built a relationship with you all, and I would love to continue that.

2:41

And some of these topics are very interesting.

2:43

I'm very interested, so I would love to come and see it in person, rather to hear it via some Zoom audio or uh in other ways.

2:52

So that's uh all update right now for you guys.

2:56

If there is any question, I'm all yours.

2:59

I would just like I'm gonna guess I'm speaking on behalf of our planning commission of how wonderful it has been to have you and thank you.

3:06

Oh, thank you so much.

3:07

Oh, thank you.

3:09

Thank you.

3:10

Thank you, Savas.

3:11

Mayor Coachyon, after I don't know, nine years you have Wednesday open.

3:15

I can't believe it.

3:16

What are you gonna go do with your calendar?

3:17

Good luck.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Land Use and Zoning█████████████████████████████████████████████55%
Affordable Housing█████████████████████26%
Procedural█████6%
Public Engagement█████6%
Economic Development███4%
Community Engagement██2%
Environmental Protection█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Bellevue Planning Commission Meeting – February 2, 2026

Note: The transcript of this meeting indicates it was held on January 28, 2026, but the provided date for the meeting is February 2, 2026. This summary uses the given date.

The Bellevue Planning Commission held a study session to consider the Housing Opportunity and Mixed Use Area (HOMA) Land Use Code Amendment (LUCA), continuing from a public hearing on December 10, 2025. The session included public comments, a staff presentation on updates since the hearing, and commission deliberation resulting in a recommendation to the City Council. The commission voted to recommend Option A (mandatory affordable housing) with several amendments.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Brady Nordstrom (Housing Development Consortium/Eastside Affordable Housing Coalition) expressed strong support for HOMA Option A, stating the affordable housing requirement is well-calibrated and offsets costs for landowners. Encouraged pairing with MFTE updates.
  • Sue Baugh and Deborah Deutsch (Newport Community Coalition) supported HOMA, especially for redevelopment of the Newport Hills shopping center at 3-5 stories, and opposed 7-10 story proposals.
  • Mark Mowet (representing Northtown Shopping Center) supported HOMA but requested a stronger grocery FAR exemption (3:1 ratio), a time-limited covenant (10-25 years), and flexibility in pedestrian-oriented frontage requirements.
  • Nikki Steck (Bellevue Chamber PLUS Committee) offered conditional support, requesting: a 3% floor plate bonus for downtown office to offset affordable housing fees, aligning 85-foot height for affordable development flexibility in downtown, a 25-year grocery covenant, and application of the MFTE supercharger for mandatory affordable units in downtown.
  • Layla Kademi (Westbrook Properties) requested allowing consolidation of affordable units in apartment buildings for sites with a mix of townhomes and apartments.
  • Amanda Keating (Weber Thompson Architects) requested aligning the MU-7 zone maximum height from 80 to 85 feet to match building code for wood-frame construction, which would add one story of housing.
  • Jackson Diller (grocery investor) supported a 3:1 FAR bonus for grocery and a time-limited covenant to mitigate investment risk.
  • Jesse Clausen (PLUS Committee) supported a 3% floor plate bonus for downtown office, a 25-year grocery covenant, alignment of 85-foot height, and the MFTE supercharger to make projects feasible.
  • Ian Morrison supported the 3:1 grocery FAR bonus and 25-year covenant, and alignment of building code height.
  • Heidi Dean (Newport Hills resident) criticized insufficient community engagement, opposed removal of ground-floor retail requirements, and warned of creating food deserts.
  • Luke Schroeder (Schnitzer West) supported a 3% floor plate bonus for downtown office to offset the affordable housing fee.
  • Alan Bacallian (Bell-Red Professional Center) requested more flexible transition area setbacks.
  • Brendan Lawrence (Ani Group) supported the 3% floor plate bonus for office.
  • Charlie Fouche (Skanska) supported the 3% floor plate bonus.
  • Mark Vilwalk (DR Horton) requested eliminating pedestrian-oriented requirements for a specific dead-end street area.
  • Nicole Myers (virtual) urged maintaining mixed-use ground floor requirements and considering upcoming state legislation.

Discussion Items

  • Staff presentation: Nick Whipall (Code & Policy Director) and Matthew Minerd (Senior Planner) presented updates since the December 10 public hearing. Key changes included:
    • Transition areas: A 25-foot landscape setback plus a 45-degree daylight plane for buildings above 60 feet.
    • Pedestrian-oriented uses: Removed restrictions for properties on collector arterials and those visible from adjacent neighborhoods; allowed up to 15% of uses along a plaza; excluded projects with more than 50% townhomes from departures.
    • Impervious/hard surface limits: Increased to 85% (low-density) and 95% (high-density) for impervious, and 95%/100% for hard surface.
    • Bike parking: Hotel requirement reduced from 1 per 5 rooms to 1 per 20.
    • Non-conforming exemptions: Added for demolition and environmental remediation.
    • Downtown: Allowed 65% compact parking without departure; removed side/rear landscape buffers for parking; committed to 85-foot floor plate exemption for affordable development flexibility in perimeter overlays.
    • Staff continued to recommend Option A (mandatory affordable housing) and noted a director's rule on affordable housing mix would be finalized before council action. Vesting discussion was deferred to council.
  • Commission questions and debate:
    • Staff confirmed that impervious surface changes would not cause stormwater issues due to existing state and local requirements and developer responsibility for downstream impacts.
    • Regarding pedestrian-oriented use departures, staff explained the new flexibility allows properties on collector arterials and those visible from neighborhoods to apply for departures.
    • On the 80-to-85-foot height change for MU-7, staff noted it would effectively create an MU-8 zone, allowing an additional story of wood-frame construction. The amendment was debated: some commissioners saw it as a minor, efficiency-enhancing change; others felt it was a major departure from the comprehensive plan vision. It passed 5-2.
    • On the grocery covenant, staff proposed a compromise: a 25-year covenant with the option to transition to other exempt uses (e.g., child care, affordable commercial) or pay a fee-in-lieu after 25 years. Support was mixed; the amendment passed.
    • The 3% floor plate bonus for downtown office was supported by several commissioners and staff as a modest offset to the affordable housing fee. It passed.
    • A request for a 3:1 FAR bonus for grocery stores was debated; some supported it, others noted lack of analysis. It failed.

Key Outcomes

  • Motion and amendments: The commission voted on a base motion recommending approval of HOMA LUCA (Option A) with the following amendments:
    1. Increase the maximum building height in the MU-7 zone from 80 to 85 feet (renaming the zone to MU-8).
    2. Require a 25-year covenant for the grocery FAR exemption, after which the use may transition to another exempt use or provide compensation to the city.
    3. Add a 3% floor plate bonus for downtown non-residential development as an offset to the affordable housing fee.
  • The motion as amended passed. The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council, including a request to address vesting for downtown developments.

Meeting Transcript

Good meeting. Good evening. And welcome to the January 28th meeting of City of Bellevue Planning Commission. This evening's meeting is held via hybrid format with both in-person and virtual option via Zoom. Tonight's meeting will provide an opportunity for public comment during the oral communication portion of the agenda. All written comments that have been submitted prior to 11 a.m. today, Wednesday, January 28th, will be summarized into the record. We have one study session item tonight on the agenda. Housing opportunity and mixed use area, land use code amendment. This continues our study session following the hearing on December 10th. Now let us uh move forward with the roll call. Wesha Lu. Present. Commissioner Ferris. I'm here. Commissioner Belvisis. Commissioner Geppo? Here. Commissioner Kennedy. Present. Commissioner Neil Chan. Here. Council and Lies and Mayor Malakutian? Here. And I'm Chair Han Lu. Can I get the motion to approve tonight's agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. A discussion. All approved, say I. Aye. Mayor Melicrus. Do you have any reports for us? Yes, very quick. From the last time we were here. We had just one council meeting. The topic that uh was very interesting was human service needs updates, what City of Bellevue community needs are, and then how we are allocating our funds uh with what percent to what kind of needs. So it was a great study by the staff. Uh so if someone is interested, is last night meetings. We also did something on the updating the safe speed um of the whole Bellevue city uh uh arterial roads. Uh we are decreasing a speed uh because we know speed uh correlate to more injuries and bad accident, I guess. So there was a lot of data and we are updating all of our speeds. So watch that if you're interested. But something that is related to this body is uh to the uh today eventually we finalize all of the appointments. So from next meeting, uh very known person, uh council member Vishal Bargawa would be the liaison for this body, and it would be my today my last day, but I'm coming on a stopping by because I appreciate you all. I uh built a relationship with you all, and I would love to continue that. And some of these topics are very interesting. I'm very interested, so I would love to come and see it in person, rather to hear it via some Zoom audio or uh in other ways. So that's uh all update right now for you guys.

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