A city committee advanced the plan to target areas already open to multifamily development for additional density and encourage passive house and mass timber construction.
The Seattle City Council's Land Use Committee voted to advance an upzoning initiative that promotes additional density and eco-friendly materials such as mass timber and passive house buildings.
According to an article by Doug Trumm in The Urbanist, "Dubbed the Housing Opportunities Program or HOP, the program would only apply in limited areas where dense mixed-use buildings are already allowed. However, the zoning boost is intended as an extra nudge to get projects to actually materialize in these areas, and provide more housing when they do." The affected areas are in parts of the University District, Fremont, Madison/Miller, Rainier Beach, and Downtown neighborhoods.
The program also kickstarts a state mandate that goes into effect in 2028. "Passed in 2025, House Bill 1183 encourages mass timber, passive house, and modular construction by exempting such projects from upper-level setback and façade modulation requirements, which are generally incompatible with those building methods and the high energy efficiency standards they seek to meet – as urbanist-minded architects have long pointed out."
Read the full story: Seattle Advances Zoning Package Spurring Towers, Mass Timber, and Passive House
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