Milwaukie Cottage Cluster Analysis
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Milwaukie Cottage Cluster AnalysiS Final Report JUNE 2019 ACG ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS City of Metro COnsulting Milwaukie Rebecca Small TEAM Patrick McLaughlin Staff Cascadia Partners Alma Flores Alex Joyce Valeria Vidal Stakeholder Garlynn Woodsong Dennis Egner Advisory Alex Steinberger David Levitan Committee Neil Heller Templest Blanchard Victor Tran Leila Aman Members Irene Kim Vera Kolias Kerrie Bartel-Christensen Jaime Crawford Celestina DiMauro Opticos Design Kiley Ford Dan Parolek City Council Sherry Grau Alex Vondeling Mayor Mark Gamba Stephan Lashbrook Drew Finke Councilor Lisa Batey Martha McLennan John Miki Councilor Angel Falconer Mary-Rain O'Meara Orange Splot Councilor Kathy Hyzy Matthew Rinker Councilor Wilda Parks Eli Spevak Property Owners Planning Commission Tony DaRosa ACG Chair Kim Travis Michelle DaRosa Ayreann Colombo Vice Chair John Henry Burns Jennifer Dillan Adam Argo Mark Fretz Joseph Edge Donna Lomnicki Greg Hemer Lauren Loosveldt Robert Massey TABLE OF CONTENTS 01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4 02 INTRODUCTION 6 03 ENGAGEMENT 10 04 ZONING CODE ANALYSIS 14 05 FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY 18 06 INITIAL SITE DESIGN CONCEPTS 26 07 PROPOSED CLUSTER HOUSING CODE RECOMMENDATIONS 38 08 CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPS 46 APPENDICES A. EXPERT REVIEW OF ZONING CODE ANALYSIS 50 B. STUDY SITE IDENTIFICATION METHOD 53 C. DETAILED MARKET ANALYSIS 60 D. NON-PROFIT AND SUBSIDIZED AFFORDABLE HOUSING OPTIONS 62 4 Executive Summary 01 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Cluster Housing: The The proposed Cluster Next Generation Housing Code showcases The focus of this document is Milwaukie’s update of its cottage cluster ordinance, resulting innovative solutions for in an innovative cluster housing code that uses cities in the 21st century pro-forma-based planning and empowers developers to build market-rate workforce and to allow context-sensitive affordable housing more quickly and efficiently by design. infill development With people increasingly priced out of affordable to diverse mix opportunities to live closer to the center of the of incomes. Portland region, surrounding cities continue to feel rising housing pressures. This is particularly market-rate housing within the confines of evident in Milwaukie, as the next city south of existing zoning codes, and learned lessons from SE Portland, especially now that the new MAX these narratives to inform this set of proposed Orange line has opened and brought with it solutions to deploy in Milwaukie. increased accessibility to the rest of the region. Cluster housing product types, including cottage Milwaukie’s original Cottage Cluster Code clusters, townhome clusters, apartment clusters, generated zero development applications or and others, can be found in communities actual cottage clusters. This Cottage Cluster great and small. These updated cluster Housing Study and the resulting Cluster Housing housing standards are meant to be compatible Code showcases innovative solutions for cities with many different community types, as in the 21st century to allow context-sensitive they are scalable from lower intensities in infill development affordable to households neighborhoods, to higher intensities around with a diverse mix of incomes. The study heard high-quality transit and in commercial and from developers who are struggling to provide mixed-use areas. Milwaukie Cottage Cluster Feasibility Analysis 5 The proposed Cluster Housing Code resulting from this study consists of the following key elements: • Form is regulated rather than density, • Allowance for a common building or using elements such as heights, setbacks, and other indoor community space to help lot coverage further create a sense of community • The intensity of form scales based on • Requirement for minimum amounts of context, from lower-intensity residential base vegetation on the site and between the zones, to higher-intensities within walking street and the front homes, and a maximum distance of high-quality transit and in higher- amount of allowed impervious area, to intensity base zones encourage trees and plantings to provide • Cluster housing locations within walking shade, air quality benefits, and rainwater distance of high-quality transit are infiltration capabilities defined as “transit-connected locations” • Reduced off-street parking requirements • No restrictions on site or lot size that require less parking in areas well-served by transit and nearby amenities • Restrictions on the individual footprint and overall floor areas of homes in a • Bicycle parking requirements sufficient cluster housing development, as well as a to provide for the use of the bicycle as a restriction on the maximum average floor reasonable everyday transportation solution area, intended to act as a measure to ensure • Flexible design requirements for bicycle affordable outcomes while allowing for a and pedestrian pathway connections diverse range of home sizes through the site, including conditional • Design guidelines specifying orientation allowance of woonerfs to provide for a shared and design elements facing common green common space and auto drive aisle to access and public streets that encourage a sense of parking located near the center of long, community and place skinny sites 6 Introduction 02 INTRODUCTION The cottage cluster Cottage cluster and shared court housing product types represent an opportunity feasibility study is one part to capitalize on market strengths to expand housing options, with smaller, of the City of Milwaukie’s more affordable units that fit the scale and multi-pronged approach density of a residential neighborhood. Cottage cluster and shared court housing to diversifying its housing product types are referred to in this report stock to increase the collectively as cluster housing. Cluster housing is itself one flavor of missing supply of workforce and middle housing. affordable housing. Milwaukie Cottage Cluster Feasibility Analysis 7 What is missing middle Housing? Missing Middle is the term for all housing product types that are not single family homes on their own lot or large apartment buildings, including townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, small house-scale multiplexes, and live-work units. Illustration © 2015 Opticos Design, Inc. 8 Introduction Background Milwaukie’s city There are very few missing middle leadership identified the housing options available in Milwaukie today. During the 1950s, the US lack of missing middle Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) distributed types as an obstacle to zoning codes that mostly banned its achieving greater housing construction. Some American cities, like Portland, have large amounts of diversity and affordability, old missing middle housing stock that were constructed before the adoption and commissioned this of those template-based codes. Cities study to identify solutions. like Milwaukie that experienced most of their growth during or after the 1950s do not have many examples of missing middle housing. Milwaukie’s city leadership identified this lack of missing middle types as an obstacle to achieving greater housing diversity Phase 1: and affordability, and commissioned this study to identify solutions. Learn The study is divided into three phases: 1. Learn • Identify issues and barriers to cottage clusters 2. Design development in Milwaukie, and examine potential solutions 3. Implement • Audit the zoning code During all phases, the project was guided by community feedback • Identify candidate properties for conceptual from a Stakeholder Advisory Group planning and design (SAG), including representatives of • Understand community desires and neighborhoods, property owners, expectations regarding outcomes for the study community nonprofits, and other • Establish performance measures based on stakeholders. community feedback Milwaukie Cottage Cluster Feasibility Analysis 9 General Study Questions • Where are cottage clusters appropriate in Milwaukie? • What specific obstacles does the current zoning code represent to the feasibility of development of cottage clusters? • What is the demand for smaller units in Milwaukie? • What is the specific demand for detached rentals? • What income categories should be chosen to assess the potential affordability of housing options studied, in relation to Area Median Income (AMI)? • How does an HOA fee fit in, if applicable? Phase 2: Phase 3: Design implement • Perform a market assessment for cottage • Host an open house to collect feedback on cluster types in the Milwaukie context revised drafts of project proposals from the • Establish conceptual designs for the community candidate sites • Gather feedback from the Planning • Engage the SAG to examine the current Commission and City Council zoning in relation to the proposed new • Draft new cluster housing code for adoption zoning code, including the architecture and by the City alongside the Comprehensive Plan design for prototype development on project at a later date study sites • Perform pro forma analyses on designs • Analyze the affordable housing potential of these and related designs • Use the analysis to inform the final concepts for development of each site, and inform an updated zoning code section to regulate cluster housing types 10 Engagement 03 ENGAGEMENT The following groups were engaged The SAG included: during the analysis: • Representatives with experience • Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) in constructing accessory dwelling • Property owners of project study units in SE Portland and Milwaukie sites • Landowners of property in • Planning and Zoning