Zoning Overlays & Bonuses in Washington (2026)

Unincorporated Skagit County lets a conservation and reserve development (CaRD) cluster smaller lots than the base zone…

Auburn Municipal Code 18.02.067(G) and (H) grant a 50 percent density bonus for housing on land owned by religious…

Bellingham lets multifamily developers exceed standard density caps by up to 50% in exchange for affordable housing…

In unincorporated Cowlitz County, CCC § 18.30.340(B) lets a Planned Unit Development earn up to a 30 percent density…

Edmonds lets developers in the Neighborhood Centers and Hubs (NCH) mixed-use zone earn up to one additional floor or 10…

Everett lets a functionally obsolete nonresidential building sitting in a residential zone add one extra dwelling unit…

Franklin County lets developers earn extra density in the R-2 and R-3 residential zones by meeting design standards…

Kent's planned unit development (PUD) rules let the hearing examiner approve up to 20 percent more dwelling units than…

Unincorporated King County developments get bonus density or floor area for adding improved child daycare slots, up to…

Kirkland grants two bonus market-rate units for every Affordable Housing Unit a developer builds or pays for in lieu…

In the unincorporated Gorst urban growth area, Kitsap County lets developers earn up to 100% more density, height, or…

Lakewood, Washington's Housing Incentives Program lets developers add extra market-rate units in exchange for building…

Lynnwood caps new City Center buildings at a 3.5 floor area ratio (FAR) by right, but LMC 8.30.0420(G) lets a developer…

Marysville lets developers earn bonus dwelling units above base zoning density by providing public benefits like…

Pasco lets a planned unit development exceed the underlying zone's maximum density by up to 20 percent. The Hearing…

Pierce County lets developers exceed zoning's maximum density if they build low-income affordable units under PCC…

Port Townsend allows up to a 20% density bonus in planned unit developments that provide affordable housing, public…

Puyallup lets multifamily projects in RM zones raise density above the base level, from 10 to 14 units per acre in…

Renton grants density bonuses of up to 30% above base maximum net density for on-site affordable housing and cottage…

Seattle's Mandatory Housing Affordability program (SMC 23.58B-C) grants extra height and FAR in upzoned areas in…

Unincorporated Snohomish County awards rural cluster subdivisions a 15% residential density bonus over the underlying…

Tacoma's Urban Residential districts let middle-housing projects build more units and taller structures in exchange for…

Thurston County allows a cottage housing development to exceed its underlying zone's density by fifty percent under…

Whatcom County lets Planned Unit Developments earn up to a 35 percent density bonus above the underlying zone under WCC…

Yakima County lets rural and Urban Growth Area subdivisions cluster new lots at a density bonus of 115% of the site's…

A Spokane County planned unit development cannot exceed the underlying zone's base density unless the hearing examiner…

Yakima makes subdivisions that contain critical areas, wetlands, floodplains, steep slopes, streams, eligible for…

Bellingham's downtown is a designated Urban Village Design Review District: new buildings and developments there need…

Kent requires administrative downtown design review under KCC 15.09.046 for all development in the downtown area and…

Port Townsend requires HPC design review and a director's certificate of approval before any exterior work on downtown…

Seattle requires Design Review before permitting most downtown development: full design review applies at 50,000 square…

Auburn adopts its downtown Auburn design standards by reference under ACC 18.29.070, giving the community development…

Edmonds applies detailed architectural design standards to the BD1 through BD4 downtown business zones under ECDC…

Everett ties downtown building design to street type under Everett Municipal Code Section 19.09.220, applying different…

Federal Way requires a Northwest contemporary architectural style for buildings inside the downtown architectural…

Unincorporated King County has no countywide downtown design code: only the North Highline subarea (the White Center…

New development in downtown Kirkland's Central Business District must comply with Chapter 92 KZC Design Regulations…

Kitsap County ties downtown development in the unincorporated community of Kingston to a standalone design manual…

Lakewood's Downtown Development Code sets mandatory building frontage, height, and street-facing design standards for…

Lynnwood's city center is not just zoned, it is design-reviewed. LMC § 8.45.0110(D) incorporates the city's City Center…

Marysville Municipal Code Chapter 22C.080 sets design standards for the Downtown Marysville subarea, implementing the…

Pasco's downtown overlay district (PMC Chapter 25.95) waives off-street parking and density-threshold rules for infill…

Any structure built or remodeled in Puyallup's CBD-Core, CBD, or RM-Core zones must follow the Downtown Design…

Renton enforces its downtown look through RMC 4-3-100, Urban Design Regulations, which apply to every new structure…

Tacoma requires downtown buildings to meet ground-level facade, articulation, and construction-scale design standards…

New buildings and redevelopment in Yakima's downtown business district must break up any blank wall of eight hundred…