Olympia Land Use & Environment Committee Meeting - October 24, 2025
Olympia Land Use & Environment Committee Meeting - October 24, 2025
The Land Use & Environment Committee of the Olympia City Council met on October 24, 2025, at 4:01 PM in Online and Room 112. The meeting was chaired by Dani Madrone and attended by Committee members Jim Cooper and Robert Vanderpool, along with city staff and the Planning Commission Chair. The committee approved two sets of code amendments: one for the Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan periodic update and another for middle housing, both unanimously (3-0). Public comment was received on the middle housing proposal.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of the meeting agenda was moved by Robert Vanderpool, seconded, and approved unanimously.
- Approval of the September 25, 2025, Land Use & Environment Committee meeting minutes was moved by Robert Vanderpool, seconded, and approved unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Kevin McCrae, representing Malvin Brothers Construction, expressed support for the middle housing proposal but recommended removing the 1,000-square-foot size restriction on accessory dwelling units (ADUs). He stated he otherwise supported the recommendations.
Discussion Items
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Code Amendments for Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan Periodic Update (Item 6.A): Joyce Phillips, Community Planning & Economic Development Planning Manager, presented proposed code amendments required as part of the comprehensive plan periodic update. The amendments address state requirements (e.g., notice for resource lands, essential public facilities definitions, organic materials maintenance facilities, impact fees, transportation concurrency, tribal participation) and local consistency measures (e.g., neighborhood retail zoning district size, zoning district table updates, anti-spot zoning provisions). The Planning Commission held a public hearing on October 6, 2025, and recommended approval unanimously. The committee discussed the straightforward nature of the proposal and approved the motion to forward to the City Council for adoption on December 9, 2025.
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Middle Housing Code Amendments (Item 6.B): Joyce Phillips presented a detailed overview of the middle housing code amendments to implement state requirements under House Bills 1110 and 2321, addressing middle housing, accessory dwelling units, co-living housing, and unit lot subdivisions. The city is a tier-two city but chose to implement tier-one requirements (e.g., up to four units per lot, six if near transit or affordable housing). Key policy decisions included retaining a 1,000-square-foot maximum for ADUs, eliminating maximum story limits, and using a half-mile distance from frequent transit routes. The Planning Commission, represented by Chair Greg Quetin, recommended modifications: strike the design review requirement for residential units outside the design review district (relying on other zoning standards instead), increase building height in lower-density residential zones from 35 to 40 feet, adjust rear setbacks to 10 feet for primary structures (5 feet for ADUs), and reduce or eliminate minimum site size for manufactured/mobile home parks. The committee discussed these recommendations, with members expressing support for flexibility and density. They also noted future work on engineering standards and design review. The committee approved the motion to accept the Planning Commission's recommendation and forward to the full City Council for a decision on November 18, 2025.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on Code Amendments for Olympia 2045 Comprehensive Plan: Motion by Robert Vanderpool, seconded by Dani Madrone, passed 3-0 (Madrone, Cooper, Vanderpool). The amendments will go to the City Council on December 9, 2025.
- Vote on Middle Housing Code Amendments: Motion by Jim Cooper, seconded by Robert Vanderpool, to accept the Planning Commission's recommendation, passed 3-0. The proposal will go to the City Council on November 18, 2025.
- Next Steps: The committee scheduled a special meeting for December 18, 2025, to address the hearing examiner recruitment, engineering design standards (EDS) update, work program items, and the Briggs Village development agreement. The committee also noted that Intercity Transit will present route changes in the future.
Meeting Transcript
Hello, everybody. This is the Land Use and Environment Committee of the Olympia City Council. Today is October 23rd, and we're just a little bit after four o'clock at this moment. My name's Danny Madron. I serve as the chair, and I'm going to call the meeting to order. For roll call, we have Robert Vanderpool present with us. And a committee member Jim Cooper is running a few minutes late. But he will he will get here when he gets here soon enough. So Robert, first thing we need is an agenda. Could you uh make a motion there? Uh yeah, I'd like to motion to approve the agenda. I'll second. All in favor. Hi. Okay, great. Um, we did not have anybody sign up for a public comment. I do see some attendees here. If anybody is interested in participating in public comment, please go ahead and raise your hand. I'll just give it a minute here. Okay, I don't see anybody. Oh, I okay, Kevin. Um Kevin, I'm gonna let you say your own last name because I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to say it correctly. But Kevin, you are able to unmute yourself and offer some public comment. And if you can keep it around three minutes, that would be great. Oh, hey, Danny, thanks so much. Yeah, my name is Kevin McCray. I'm with Malvin Brothers Construction. I I meant to say there's a chance. I'll I'll leave a public comment. I was gonna wait uh to hear you know the talking points first. So I I apologize. I'm jumping the gun here. Oh, we only do public comment at the beginning of the meeting. Oh, gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. Um then I uh simply support the recommendations coming out of the uh the the original um did these come from planning, the planning commission was it? Can you talk about the middle housing proposal we have in front of us? Right, yes, sorry, I support that. Uh I guess my only comment would be I I recommend we don't restrict the size of ADUs to a thousand square feet. Uh I would I would support uh no restriction on size in that in that instance. But aside from that, I've got no comments other than uh support. So excellent. Thanks so much. Thank you. All right. And with that, um, I'll give one more moment. I see somebody else signed in to the attendees. So one just one more quick moment for anybody who would like to raise a hand and indicate that you'd like to participate in public comment. Okay, excellent. Well, thank you so much, Kevin.
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