20D.30.15 Affordable Senior Housing Bonus.

20D.30.15-010 Purpose.

The purpose of the affordable senior housing bonus is to encourage the construction of housing which is affordable to all senior citizens of Redmond. (Ord. 1901 (20C.30.6205))

20D.30.15-020 Applicability.

Except for Retirement Residences developing under RCDG 20C.30.85-030(3)(b), the affordable senior housing bonus may be used in any zoning district that allows retirement residences or multi-family housing. The bonus shall be part of any subdivision, binding site plan, or site plan application. Where the application was made in an earlier application, the applications for the bonus do not have to be made in later applications provided the number of bonus units is included in the later applications. If the bonus is approved, the use shall comply with the requirements for this section for the life of the use. (Ord. 2115; Ord. 1901 (20C.30.6210))

20D.30.15-030 Requirements.

(1)    Age Restriction. The development shall be restricted to persons 55 years of age or older and handicapped persons as defined by federal law. At least half of the total housing units shall be occupied by persons 55 years of age or older, except for spouses of such residents for whom there is no minimum age requirement.

(2)    Conversion from Occupancy by Seniors. No conversion of occupancy to persons other than those specified by subsection (1) shall be allowed without first complying with the underlying zoning and site requirements. The bonus shall not apply to the property if it is no longer occupied by those persons specified by subsection (1), and the bonus housing units shall be eliminated unless otherwise authorized by the applicable development regulations.

(3)    Density Bonus. If an affordable senior housing bonus application is approved, developments may exceed the allowed density of a zone by as much as 50 percent, provided that 50 percent of the housing units or retirement residence units added to the project as a result of the density bonus are affordable to households earning 50 percent or less of King County median income, adjusted for household size.

(a)    The number of required affordable housing units or retirement residence units shall be determined by rounding fractional numbers to the nearest whole number and rounding up to the nearest whole number from 0.5.

(b)    An agreement in a form approved by the City shall be recorded as a covenant or other legally binding limitation on the use and intensity of the property requiring compliance with the requirements of this section and requiring that all affordable housing units created under this section shall remain as affordable for the life of the project. This covenant or other legally binding limitation on the use and intensity of the property shall run with the land, shall be binding on the assigns, heirs and successors of the applicant, and shall be recorded in King County’s real property records before the use is occupied.

(4)    Application For and Use of the Bonus. The bonus shall only be used in the multi-family or retirement residence development for which it is approved. The bonus application shall be made as part of the first discretionary application made for the project. The decision maker for this application shall decide the request for the bonus.

(5)    Site Requirements. All site requirements and development standards of the Redmond Community Development Guide shall apply to uses that obtain an affordable senior housing bonus with the following exceptions:

(a)    The site requirements that shall apply to the development (as shown in RCDG 20C.30.25-140, Site Requirements Chart) shall follow the zone which most closely matches the approved density of the use including density bonuses and not the density of the underlying zone.This subsection shall not apply to retirement residences.

(b)    Developments shall be designed to project a residential appearance through architectural design, landscaping, the use of building materials, and surface lengths. (Ord. 1901 (20C.30.6220))