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1. Increasing Housing Variety Everett Housing Action Plan 9 1. Increasing Housing Variety INTRODUCTION This section addresses the opportunity to encourage infill development in single family zones, also referred to as “missing middle housing”, that may feature more compact housing types, including corner lot duplexes, townhouses, and courtyard apartments. Accessory dwelling units provide unique opportunities for infill development at an even smaller scale. The objective of this direction is to add housing types that fit a greater range of housing needs in terms of size, configuration, and affordability. This strategy pursues the initial recommendations put forward in the first Rethink Housing Action Plan background report (Appendix D - Increasing Residential Building Capacity) that identified the need for infill housing by suggesting the City’s zoning code: “Authorize at least one duplex, triplex, quadplex, six-plex, stacked flat, townhouse, or courtyard apartment on each parcel in one or more zoning districts that permit single- family residences unless a city documents a specific infrastructure of physical constraint that would make this requirement unfeasible for a particular parcel. When local zoning allows a greater variety of housing types, it makes it possible to create more units per acre — facilitating increased supply of housing — as well as reduce per unit costs. Allowing these types of residential structures in zones primarily reserved for single family houses will require amendments to Chapters 19.05, 19.06, 19.08, 19.12, and 19.34 of the Everett Municipal Code (EMC) to both allow new housing types and to refine development standards to ensure that such new development will not adversely affect neighboring properties but will contribute to the overall attractiveness and livability of the surrounding neighborhood. BACKGROUND AND FINDINGS Overview To pursue these objectives the team explored opportunities to develop corner lot duplexes, townhouses, and other forms of “missing middle” housing on typical residential lots by preparing the prototypical designs shown in Figure 2. The prototypes were based on housing types and sizes common in the Northwest and explored the effect of different development standards such as height limits and required setbacks. The protype models that appeared to be the most viable were reviewed during the public engagement process to gage the public’s acceptance. The team then performed pro forma analyses to evaluate their feasibility, continued to review the proposals with the public and analyzed the findings of the work to develop the recommendations in 2.3 below.