City Council Recap: An 8-Foot-6 Oversight, and MFTE Clears on Consent

Bellevue Chamber of Commerce  |  September 8, 2026

Bellevue's City Council returned from its August recess on September 8 and spent most of the evening on parking. The Council took no vote on the parking reform land use code amendment, and asked staff to return on October 20 with options before it does.

The Chamber's two conditions, answered the same night

Patrick Hanks testified to identify the asks in our PLUSH Committee's January 13 letter and the testimony we filed with the Planning Commission in July.

"Parking requirements add significant per stall costs that undermine project feasibility, particularly amid high interest rates and construction costs. Eliminating excess parking requirements is one of the most direct tools the city has to support housing delivery and economic competitiveness." — Patrick Hanks, Bellevue Chamber

Patrick named two remaining concerns in the draft: the vertical clearance required for below grade parking and flexibility on visitor parking, and conditioned our support on the below grade minimums not exceeding the state building code.

Staff answered both before the presentation began. Code and policy director Nick Whipple said the 8 foot 6 inch garage dimension had been written to apply at every parking level rather than at the entrance alone.

"That was not our intent and that was an oversight on our part." — Nick Whipple, City of Bellevue

Whipple said the requirement is largely duplicative of the building code and could come out of the land use code altogether. He also said the compact stall language would be clarified, since as drafted it computes the allowance off required parking, which yields zero wherever no parking is required.

What the Commission recommended

Planning Commission chair Jonny Lu presented the recommendation. It requires no minimum parking within a half mile walk of a light rail station or a quarter mile of a bus rapid transit stop, 0.5 spaces per multifamily unit elsewhere, and one space per single family unit. A single commercial rate of two spaces per 1,000 square feet replaces the use by use rates.

Lu said the Commission debated going past the state minimum, heard sustained public concern about spillover parking, and chose to implement close to it, on the view that "simmer and settle would be the right approach". Two pieces go further. Visitor parking stays at one space per 20 units and extends from downtown and East Main to the rest of the city, with projects over 50 units able to seek relief through a project specific analysis. And striping 75 percent of spaces at least 9 feet wide earns a 10 percent cut in the overall requirement, or 15 percent on sites of 40,000 square feet or less.

Visitor parking is where the Council divides

Every councilmember spoke, and visitor parking drew the sharpest disagreement. Some were willing to remove the requirement or loosen it for builders, others kept it on accessibility grounds. Staff will return in October with visitor parking data and alternatives, a vertical clearance comparison against neighboring cities, possible reductions across the frequent transit network, and a clarification of senior and assisted living housing. The compliance deadline driving the schedule is January 27, 2027.

MFTE clears on consent

The Council approved a thirteen item consent calendar without discussion. It carried ORD 6938, the Multifamily Tax Exemption amendment for HOMA areas, which establishes a time limited catalyst exemption and removes the prohibition on fee-in-lieu projects taking part in MFTE. That fee-in-lieu change is the ask of the Eastside Housing Roundtable letter we co-signed on July 20. Legistar had not published the post-meeting record as of September 10.

After a public hearing at which three registered speakers all testified in support, the Council adopted ORD 6939, the development agreement with Bridge Housing for the BelRed Arts project, a 100 percent affordable housing development with ground floor arts space next to the NE 130th light rail station.