2016/03/23 Council Agenda Packet

t r d - ORDINANCE NO. An Ordinance Expanding the Multiple Family Property ,' Tax Exemption Area and Amending Ordinance No. 2347-98, as amended(EMC Chapter 3.78). WHEREAS, the City Council finds the following: 1. The City established the Multiple Family Property Tax Exemption program in 1998 to encourage residential redevelopment in the downtown urban center, which has resulted in the construction of approximately 540 housing units in an area that had experienced little housing development in the preceding twenty years prior to the creation of the program. 2. RCW 84.14.010 defines areas eligible for designation as"urban centers"where the Multiple Family Property Tax Exemption is intended to be used to stimulate housing development in targeted areas where a mix of uses and adequate urban infrastructure exists. 3. The area originally defined as the"urban center" has been amended with the addition of the Everett Station area in 2007, and the Evergreen Way Mixed Use Overlay zones in 2012. 4. Adding the area south of downtown between 33rd Street and 36t1i Street and between Rucker Avenue and Colby Avenue will encourage the rehabilitation of an existing vacant and underutilized building for multifamily housing and create the opportunity for additional housing redevelopment near the downtown core. WHEREAS,the City Council concludes the following: 1. ' The notice for the hearing has met the requirements of RCW 84.14.040. 2. The proposed amendments to EMC Chapter 3.78 will encourage the redevelopment of desirable residential housing in the area in close proximity to downtown. 3. The additional housing opportunity in the targeted area will assist in achieving the stated purposes of RCW 84.14.007,to a) encourage increased residential opportunities within the targeted area of the city, and b) stimulate the construction of rehabilitated multifamily housing that will increase and improve residential opportunities within the city's urban centers; _. 2