Issue link: http://digital.nexsitepublishing.com/i/1050422
BY MARCO LOWE DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS MBAKS L et's catch up on what we've been doing for our members over the past weeks and months We recently launched a newsletter for elected officials and key partners to help inform them of our advocacy work and community involvement We also continue to work directly with community partners and other housing stakeholders to advance shared housing and land use issues Partners include the Puget Sound Regional Council Growth Management Policy Board, the Affordable Housing Advisory Board, local chambers of commerce, and the Sound Cities Association Catch up on a few of our accomplishments and ongoing projects: Housing Advocacy Updates The MBAKS government affairs team has been busy working with local districts and promoting better housing policies. STATEWIDE Earlier this year, the Department of Ecology extended the option to administratively update current critical areas code and wetland buffer scoring to all Washington state jurisdictions Jurisdictions may also wait to implement the change with their next critical areas ordinance update MBAKS staff have been working with jurisdictions on implementation where additional buildable capacity exists, reducing some buffers from 150 feet to 40 feet We also announced our formal legislative agenda at our October Housing Solutions Breakfast (read more on page 40) We are building a coalition of legislators and stakeholders to launch another condominium reform effort in 2019 Reforms would allow this affordable housing option to return to the market in greater numbers SNOHOMISH COUNTY We succeeded in making several positive changes to Snohomish County's engineering, design, and development standards Everett adopted a new metro plan The plan includes comprehensive downtown upzones, a SEPA threshold increase for infill development, a citywide reduction in parking requirements, and adoption of administrative approval of final plats MBAKS members and staff also gave the Marysville mayor, chief administrative officer, and community development director a tour around various townhome developments in Snohomish County The examples featured drive aisles, low impact development (LID), and flexibile alternatives to current townhome standards 40 master builder WINTER 2018 housing advocacy