31.02.520 Affordable housing goals.
(1) Clallam County’s affordable housing efforts should be directed at preserving and creating housing that is affordable to those with very low, low, and moderate income, defined as:
(a) “Very low income” means a household income below 50 percent of the Countywide median.
(b) “Low income” means a household income between 50 and 80 percent of the Countywide median.
(c) “Moderate income” means a household with income within the range of 80 to 95 percent of the Countywide median.
(2) Based on extensive local need for affordable housing as well as its unique local circumstances, the County shall encourage retention and creation of affordable housing, as defined in subsection (1) of this section, as follows:
(a) By encouraging participation in, and assisting where possible, the efforts of the Shelter Providers Network, the Homelessness Task Force, the Housing Authority of Clallam County, and the Clallam County Affordable Housing Task Force by identifying, pursuing, coordinating, and facilitating the distribution of available relevant federal, state, or private funding to assist these agencies in their efforts to end and prevent homelessness, and to provide and maintain affordable housing in Clallam County.
(b) By ensuring that its policies and regulations encourage the retention and creation of affordable housing developments that are not subject to procedural and/or development standards not required of other residential developments.
(c) By working together with local cities to:
(i) Preserve existing affordable housing by placing a high priority on providing infrastructure and urban services to serve high-density housing developments in urban growth areas.
(ii) Encourage the creation of additional affordable housing by inventorying and designating land within urban growth areas that is available and suitable for high-density housing developments.
(iii) Coordinate plans to develop new and/or upgraded infrastructure with retention and/or creation of affordable and accessible housing.
(iv) Identify and implement other coordinated strategies to preserve or create affordable housing in urban growth areas.
(v) Continue to coordinate implementation of the “affordable housing” policies set forth in the 1992 Clallam County Countywide Planning Policy adopted by the County and cities.
(d) By allowing mobile homes and modular homes as single-family residences.
(e) By allowing accessory housing units (“AHUs”) as allowed land uses in most zones.
(f) By allowing flexible zoning and cluster development techniques that allow for a range of lot sizes and clustering of lots closer to required services.
(3) Clallam County should consider the following strategies to encourage the retention and creation of affordable housing:
(a) Forming, coordinating, supporting and/or participating in the Clallam County Affordable Housing Task Force which would be comprised of representatives from local governments, local agencies working on homelessness and/or affordable housing issues, financial institutions, major employers, developers, contractors, real estate, chambers of commerce, economic development professions, and the like, which would have the following goals:
(i) The compilation or commissioning of updated assessments of the County’s housing inventory and needs considering such issues as evolving demographics, employment patterns, market changes, affordable housing needs and other relevant local circumstances, preferably to be completed one year prior to the GMA-mandated review of the County’s Comprehensive Plan with such assessment submitted to the Planning Commission for review and forwarding to the Board of County Commissioners for consideration of adoption and made available to the public.
(ii) The coordination of efforts to develop affordable housing by involving relevant agencies, programs, and funding; identifying available land in urban growth areas suitable for the development of affordable housing; and developing mechanisms for rapid review and financing of proposed affordable housing projects.
(iii) The development of educational materials that increase awareness of incentives and strategies offered by local jurisdictions and other agencies to develop affordable housing and that promote acceptance of new affordable housing developments within local communities.
(iv) The identification of existing local policies and regulations that discourage the preservation or creation of affordable housing and the development of proposed policies and regulations for consideration by relevant local governments that would encourage preservation or creation of affordable housing.
(b) Zoning and subdivision provisions that broaden the range of affordable housing choices through expanded opportunities such as townhouses, condominiums, multiplex rental housing, multi-story housing, and high-density cottage units clustered around common green spaces; and low-density attached units mixed with large open-space remainder lots.
(c) The preservation of existing mobile home parks; i.e., through the adoption of a new urban mobile home park overlay designation resulting in assessments limited to park use thereby providing property tax relief to the owners. Such designation would be available to park owners by agreement and would be effective for a minimum time period, such as five years, to be established by regulation.
(d) Mixed use developments that include affordable housing opportunities in certain commercial zoning districts, including above commercial facilities.
(e) Incentives, such as density bonuses, that would allow residential developments to be financially viable even with a partial set-aside of below-market-rate units.
(f) Pre-approved affordable housing plans and other development permitting strategies that reduce costs, permit fees, and waiting times.
(g) Identifying and marketing publicly owned land in urban growth areas suitable for the development of very low-income housing.