The City of Pullman released a public engagement summary in November discussing potential zoning code changes with the community.
In December 2023, Pullman received a middle housing grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce, according to an earlier Daily Evergreen article. The purpose of the grant was to look into how to incentivize middle housing within the city.
Middle housing is housing containing multiple units. The most common type of middle housing in Pullman are duplexes.
Part of the grant requirements were to participate in public engagement. The city released a survey asking people for their thoughts on middle housing and potential zoning codes. The survey had 199 participants.
According to the engagement summary, 53% of the participants agreed or strongly agreed that Pullman needs to increase the availability of middle housing options. 24% of participants neither agreed or disagreed and 23% disagreed or strongly disagreed.
The city also held five open house meetings with participants to discuss possible code changes. 16 participants were present for these discussions.
According to the public engagement summary, most of the open-house participants agreed on the potential code changes, except for one. Four of the participants agreed on the requirement for the inclusion of affordable units within middle housing developments. Six participants were neutral and five disagreed.
According to the summary, the most popular potential code change, which all participants agreed on, was to allow middle housing in mixed-use zones where residential units are combined with commercial spaces. Right now there are no mixed-use zones in Pullman.
The City also had discussions with 11 community organizations about the potential code changes.
According to the summary, one of the more popular discussion points was allowing middle housing units to be taller, which would allow for parking beneath the structures. Additionally, possible benefits of middle housing include affordability, an increase in community relationships, neighborhood walkability, sustainable use of land, an increase in public transit and more.