Recognizing that Bellevue is no longer the affordable housing option it once was, the city's Planning and Zoning Commission took a significant step last Thursday to recommend approval of two affordable housing ordinances.
The two separate ordinances now must go before the Bellevue City Council for final consideration and possible approval. The council will begin its official consideration of the ordinances at an Oct. 12 public hearing at the Bellevue City Hall.
The two draft ordinances—one an inclusionary housing ordinance and the other a workforce housing linkage ordinance—both use different techniques to achieve affordable, workforce housing in Bellevue.
Addressing members of the commission, Bellevue City Attorney Jim Phillips said that, despite what some might say, Bellevue is no longer the affordable housing option it once was. Phillips's message was in response to a number of developers who, during the meeting, questioned the need for affordable housing ordinances.
"Just because we have been (affordable) in the past doesn't mean we will be in the future," Phillips said.
The first of the two ordinances recommended for approval by the P&Z—a workforce housing linkage ordinance—would require developers to mitigate for the housing demand that new construction, whether residential or commercial, creates. On Thursday, P&Z commissioners recommended a 10 percent contribution rate based on the total housing demand created by new developments.
The second of the two ordinances—an inclusionary housing ordinance—would, in the simplest sense, require that developers provide a certain percentage of affordable, deed-restricted housing units in new residential housing projects. In their recommendation to the City Council, Bellevue P&Z commissioners recommended a 14 percent contribution rate by developers.
Commissioners went with the 14 percent rate based on the results of a recent housing needs assessment conducted by Melanie Rees, of Rees Consulting in Crested Butte, Colo., for Bellevue and the rest of the Wood River Valley. Among its conclusions, the study indicated that affordable housing is seriously lacking in Blaine County, to the tune of some 1,200 units.
While they had considered higher contribution rates, the commissioners expressed discomfort with going any higher than Rees's recommendation.
The commissioners also agreed that it isn't their job to ensure that developers make money. Rather, their job is to protect the needs of the city's residents, they said.
If the City Council chooses to accept the recommendation of the P&Z and approve the inclusionary housing ordinance, the city would be the third municipality in the Wood River Valley with such an ordinance on the books. The cities of Sun Valley and Hailey both have inclusionary housing ordinances of their own.
For the moment, Sun Valley requires that 15 percent of residential developments be affordable, deed-restricted housing, while Hailey requires a 20 percent contribution. Officials in Sun Valley, however, are considering upping their deed-restricted housing requirement to 20 percent.
In Ketchum, officials are in the early stages of discussing whether the city should join their municipal counterparts and enact an inclusionary housing ordinance.
The city of Sun Valley is the only municipality in the Wood River Valley with a workforce housing linkage ordinance on the books.
In Hailey, officials early on discussed implementing their own linkage ordinance, but ultimately chose not to.
