Kirkland Adopts Zoning Code for Affordable Housing on Church Land, With Staff Approval and 50-Foot Height Bonus

Kirkland, Washington, has new zoning rules for building affordable housing on land owned by churches, synagogues, mosques and other faith groups. The Kirkland City Council adopted Ordinance O-4950 on Oct. 20, according to the city's project page. It passed on the consent calendar.

The change applies to a set number of properties. "Kirkland has 64 faith-owned parcels held by about 37 organizations," city planners wrote in the council memo. Many of those sites are in low-density neighborhoods or include environmentally critical areas, so new buildings have to fit around existing churches and sensitive land.

State law requires Kirkland to offer development bonuses on faith-owned land, but it leaves the details to each city.

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No design review, staff approval

The biggest change is the approval process. A qualifying project "is subject only to building permit review," the ordinance says. It is exempt from design review, and from the underlying zone's density, minimum lot size and floor area ratio limits. The council told staff back in May that it wanted projects approved by staff, not brought to the council one at a time.

To qualify, a project has to meet the state minimum. That means at least 50 percent of the homes go to households at or below 80 percent of area median income (AMI), or at least 20 percent go to households at or below 50 percent of AMI. The code also lets builders trade in deeper affordability at set exchange ratios, and it covers affordable homes for sale as well as rentals.

How tall

Projects that set aside at least five percent more affordable units than the minimum get a height bonus:

• up to 50 feet in low-density zones
• up to 60 feet in medium-density zones

Taller buildings next to single-family lots need bigger setbacks. Along a low-density neighbor, the required yard grows by one foot for every two feet of height above 35 feet.

The bonus stays with the land if a congregation sells it to an affordable housing developer. Habitat for Humanity asked for that change at the Planning Commission's public hearing, held Aug. 27.

What's next

Staff will now start putting the code to work. The city is partnering with A Regional Coalition for Housing (ARCH) on a help program for congregations, many of which have never built anything. Kirkland also plans to offer "free pre-submittal conferences, dedicated project staffing, and expedited permit review for qualifying projects," the memo says, and the ordinance lets the city waive its pre-submittal meeting fee for these projects.

Sources

• Housing on Faith-Owned Land Program, City of Kirkland
• Council memo and Ordinance O-4950, October 20, 2026 council meeting, City of Kirkland Planning and Building