Unless you're a Bluesky addict like me, you probably don't pay much attention to the Washington Legislature. Who could blame you? There are fewer journalists in Olympia every year, the session lasts only 60-100 days, and the issues seem almost quaint compared to those discussed (or avoided even though they should be discussed) in Congress.
Well, the Legislature adjourned two weeks ago for the year, it was — despite a $15 billion budget hole that occupied much of legislators' time — another banner year for laws aimed at boosting housing production. In fact, legislators passed a cornucopia of good urbanist bills of all kinds. And this time, instead of following national leaders like Austin and Minneapolis, it felt a bit like the state was following Spokane's lead.
Case in point: The Legislature passed a bill abolishing costly parking mandates for cities with more than 30,000 people, mirroring many of Spokane's recent actions. The state law will exempt small housing units, child care facilities, affordable housing and senior housing from parking mandates entirely, and will ensure that cities require no more than two parking stalls per 1,000 square feet of commercial space. While Spokane made parking optional for all uses over a year ago, these changes should help provide more flexibility over time in communities like Spokane Valley, which has notoriously complex and Kafka-esque parking rules (for example, "1 stall per staff on the largest shift" for animal processing facilities).
Legislators also passed a unique transit-oriented development bill that allows taller apartment and condo buildings near bus rapid-transit and rail corridors as long as a share of the units are affordable; helpfully, the state also provided a time-limited property tax exemption to help pay for the affordable units. While Spokane recently allowed more development near the City Line, this law could provide for substantial growth near the future Division BRT, which will extend about 10 miles from downtown to Mead; it's planned to open in 2027.
"...cities can now design and designate streets where pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles share a portion or all of the same street."
A new law called the Housing Accountability Act will hold jurisdictions to account when they fail to plan for adequate housing to meet their population's needs. In those cases, cities could lose access to certain state infrastructure funds and would be required to approve housing projects if they provide a certain number of affordable units — even if they violate parts of the city's zoning code. In other words, cities that fail to plan for enough new housing will lose some local control. This shouldn't be an issue in Spokane, but I'll be watching carefully over the next couple years as places like Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake are required to come into compliance.
In a win for safe streets advocates, the Legislature passed a bill legalizing "shared streets." That means cities can now design and designate streets where pedestrians, bicyclists and vehicles share a portion or all of the same street. On these streets, jaywalking laws and other rules don't apply, and the maximum speed limit must be no more than 10 mph. Of course, only certain streets make sense for this (think Pike Place in Seattle), but I think it's only a matter of time before a campaign takes root to make design changes and try one of these downtown (Wall Street?) or in a neighborhood area (like on Cincinnati Street in northeast Spokane).
And finally, HB 1515 will allow Spokane and Seattle to experiment with expanded alcohol service in Riverfront Park and Seattle Center, respectively. Intended to tie in to large "fan zones" that will be open during next year's FIFA World Cup, the experience will be like that of the outdoor space adjacent to Brick West, which spills into the West End Plaza, a city-owned public space. The pilot runs through the end of 2027, so we may see other events beyond the World Cup (like Pavilion concerts) take advantage of these expanded allowances.
Now, it wasn't all sunshine and roses in the Legislature this year — far from it. Budget woes forced difficult decisions to increase gas taxes and weight fees, even if a conversation about whether to continue expensive freeway expansion projects (yes, including the North Spokane Corridor) would have been worthwhile. And I'm afraid other tax and fee hikes will prove unpopular; for example, legislators raised Discover Pass rates 50%, and a raft of business tax increases spurred heated opposition (and some doomsaying) from chambers of commerce.
But in spite of the large budget fixes required before sine die (adjournment), legislators still managed to fully fund record investments in affordable housing, ban excessive rent increases and even pass new gun violence prevention measures.
To me, though, it's the way some of the Legislature's urban policies have evolved over the past several years that sticks out — on housing, transportation and the urban experience. As Spokane continues to lead the state on housing (including two back-to-back record years of new construction in 2023 and 2024), it seems like legislators are finally starting to notice, and maybe, just maybe, follow our lead. ♦
Anthony Gill is an economic development professional, Spokane native and writer of Spokane Rising, an urbanist blog about ways to make our city a better place to live.
