Council Roundup: Council advances further housing strategies

Published January 10 2025

Plus, $350K in arts grants approved and Human Services Commission member appointed

At Tuesday's meeting, the City Council directed staff to finalize code amendments aimed at making it easier to convert commercial or mixed-use buildings to multifamily housing. The recommended updates allow small expansions to existing structures, such as adding a residential penthouse or expanding horizontally by up to 5% to meet building and fire code or accessibility requirements.

These changes align with 2023's House Bill 1042, which requires cities to revise their codes to promote the redevelopment of existing buildings to residential uses by June 30. Intended to help address the state's housing shortage, the legislation also encourages interior redevelopment of commercial or mixed-use buildings into residential units and supports higher-density redevelopment of residential buildings.

The recommended code amendments respond to the requirements in HB 1042 and promote redevelopment. The code amendment will ensure that all commercial and mixed-use land use districts that permit multifamily housing can accommodate additional density and flexibility for redevelopment projects.

The proposed land use code amendments will be adopted at a future meeting on the consent calendar. Additional information is available in the agenda materials; the full discussion is available on video replay through Bellevue Television.

Council approves $350,000 for 2025 Arts Grants

The council also allocated $350,000 for the 2025 Eastside Arts Partnership Support Grants and Project Grants programs, which provide funding to artists and arts groups serving Bellevue.

Approved by the Arts Commission in December, the allocation includes funding for a total of 61 grantees. Thirty-seven will receive support grants and 24 will receive project grants. EAP support grants, issued every other year, provide operational support to organizations that offer arts and cultural programming to Bellevue residents and visitors. Project grants, issued annually, support independent artists and organizations with arts and cultural projects.

For more than 20 years, since 2001, the council has been allocating funding to support artists and arts organizations that provide arts, cultural and heritage programs and services.

Information about the recipients and the city's arts grant programs is available in the meeting materials.

Human Services Commission appointment

In other business, the council unanimously approved the appointment of Christopher Hays to serve a partial term on the Human Services Commission expiring May 31, 2027. As liaison to the commission, Councilmember Janice Zahn submitted the recommendation.

Image caption: We Banjo 3 performs at Wintergrass, one of the arts events that received funding from the city this year.