Shoreline Planning Commission Regular Meeting - June 18, 2026: Affordable Housing Feasibility Study
Shoreline Planning Commission Regular Meeting - June 18, 2026: Affordable Housing Feasibility Study
The Shoreline Planning Commission met on Thursday, June 18, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall. The meeting focused on a study item regarding the Affordable Housing Feasibility Study, presented by Community Services Manager Bethany Wolbrecht-Dunn. No votes were taken; the item was for discussion and input.
Consent Calendar
- The agenda was approved as presented.
- The draft minutes of the June 4, 2026, regular meeting were approved as presented.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public signed up for oral comment, but four written communications were received and posted to the online agenda. The written comments were from Rebecca Chan, Buddy Smith, Kevin Atkinson, and Allison Luzader. The content of these comments was not read aloud during the meeting.
Discussion Items
- Affordable Housing Feasibility Study – Community Services Manager Bethany Wolbrecht-Dunn provided background on the city’s housing programs and the need for affordable housing, particularly for households earning 0–50% of Area Median Income (AMI). The study, conducted with consultant Berk, aims to identify and evaluate policy tools to produce new income-restricted affordable housing at 50% AMI and support permanent affordable homeownership for households below 80% AMI. Nine policy tools were presented: (1) modify Inclusionary Zoning (IZ) for deeper affordability, (2) Multifamily Tax Exemption (MFTE) for affordable ownership, (3) fee reductions/waivers for affordable housing, (4) new revenue for an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, (5) fee on new single-family homes, (6) Affordable Homeownership Program, (7) manufactured/modular construction techniques, (8) allowing tiny homes on wheels, and (9) a housing incentive marketing program. Evaluation criteria include city investment, beneficiaries, production, time to implementation, and cost effectiveness. Stakeholder engagement will include staff workshops, Council presentations, developer roundtables, and targeted interviews.
- Commissioner Souza asked how the two goals were chosen; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn explained they were based on the Comprehensive Plan’s biggest gaps.
- Commissioner Hadley voiced support for inclusionary housing and stressed the need for single-level, accessible housing, noting public comment on that topic. She also emphasized preserving existing affordable housing.
- Commissioner Povick raised concerns about seniors being evicted because MFTE rents exceed Social Security, questioned how AMI is calculated (staff explained it uses King County AMI per state law), and asked why the city doesn’t lower the MFTE income threshold. Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn noted that lower thresholds could affect feasibility and discourage development, and that current contracts are fixed.
- Chair Brinson asked about Shoreline’s competitiveness for funding without a local housing levy; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn stated the city is not usually the applicant but collaborates with developers.
- Commissioner Lorah appreciated the “menu” approach and asked about examples of success at the 50% AMI level, how the list was developed, and why A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) was not included. Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn explained challenges with ARCH membership (cost, council interest, and different funding dynamics) and noted that the nine tools were selected for their likelihood of meeting the two goals. Commissioner Lorah also urged studying the downstream effect of market-rate housing on naturally occurring affordable housing.
- Commissioner Souza asked about rent subsidies for the 0–50% AMI group; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn agreed that ongoing rental assistance would be helpful but would require new revenue (e.g., a housing levy). She noted Council added $100,000 for emergency rent assistance this year.
- Vice Chair Mosier suggested analyzing the city’s existing levies for potential reallocation when they expire; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn said she would look into it.
- Commissioner Povick questioned who determines AMI for each MFTE building; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn clarified it is set by contract with the developer. She acknowledged that lowering the threshold could reduce developer interest and that multifamily development only pencils out in MFTE areas.
- Commissioner Souza asked about direct engagement with renters or prospective homebuyers; Ms. Wolbrecht-Dunn said Berk will work with affordable housing groups, especially on homeownership, but no open house is planned.
Key Outcomes
- No formal decisions or votes were taken. The study is ongoing; preliminary findings are expected to be shared with the City Council in fall 2026, with final recommendations by the end of 2026.
- The next Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for July 2, 2026, and will include light rail sub-area updates.
- The meeting was adjourned at 8:07 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
You didn't warn me. Oh. Sorry. We're starting. Hello, good evening. And welcome to the Shoreline Planning Commission regular meeting for Thursday, June 18th. I will call this meeting to order. And Haley, will you do roll, please? Yes. Let's start with Commissioner Laura. Here. And Commissioner Cabe. Here. And Commissioner Hadley. Here. Commissioner Povick. Here. Vice Chair Mosier? Here. Commissioner Susa. Here. And Chair Brinson. Here. All right. Approval of the agenda. Excellent. Approved approval of the meeting minutes. Also good. Do we have anyone signed up for public comment? We did not have anyone signed up for public comments, but we did receive four written public comments, which were emailed to the commissioners and posted to the online agenda. Awesome. Thank you. We have received those. Moving on rapidly to our study item, the Affordable Housing Feasibility Study. All right. Good evening, Commissioners, as Bethany makes her way up to the table here. I just wanted to take a second. So first of all, introduce you to Bethany Wilbert Dunn. She's our community services manager here with the City of Shoreline. And this is a great opportunity just to uh for Bethany to share a little bit about the work that occurs within her division here within the city. I know a couple of months ago at the Planning Commission retreat, there was some interest in just understanding our affordable housing program in a little more detail. So there's a great opportunity and the timing works out great because we're just getting underway with the affordable housing feasibility study, which Bethany's gonna talk to tonight, so I'll turn it over to you. Thanks, Andrew. Um again, I'm Bethany Waberk Dunn. I'm the city's community services manager, and as Andrew indicated, um, we don't often have a uh the um ability or the opportunity to come to speak to the planning commission. In fact, if I had my shoreline bingo card, I would be hitting that slot. Um I've been here almost well, a little over 26 years, and I've been involved in a lot of grant writing for the city, so the Aurora Corridor project. And luckily, about six years ago, I was able to come back into where my career started, which is in human services and serving the community as a whole. So before I jumped into the actual um uh where we are with the Affordable Housing Feasibility Study, I just wanted to give some background on how we are here today to talk to you and sort of why we have housing and human services in the community services um division. We are division of the parks, recreation and community services department.
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