Port Townsend City Council updates its housing code

Published 1:30 am Saturday, June 20, 2026

PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend City Council has amended several sections of its city code to fall in line with recently passed state legislation regarding converting existing buildings for housing.

By approving the ordinance during their meeting Monday night, the council met a deadline set by the state Legislature to revise city code to match new requirements outlined in House Bill 1757.

“I just want to say a couple things about House Bill 1757 and many pieces of legislation that are being passed with a quickness in our state government,” city Planning & Community Development Director Emma Bolin said. “There’s a lot of preemption and there’s a lot of language in some of these bills that is not very straightforward. And this is a good example of that, and it’s an example of where the engagement that we get to do with these projects is more in a consultative but not in a co-creational process because we’re sort of handed from the Legislature what our zoning codes need to say.”

The bill, passed in 2025, requires modifications in regulations for existing buildings used for residential purposes, planning manager Ryan Harriman said. Port Townsend had until June 30 to revise its codes or be preempted by the state.

“This was a tricky one on first glance,” Bolin said. “It seemed easy, but it was not. This is a really challenging code that touched energy code, it touches Shoreline Master Program, commercial uses, ground floor uses, parking (and) non-conforming uses.”

The recommendation from staff was to approve the ordinance adopting a new chapter in Title 17 of the Port Townsend Municipal Code to clarify the permitting process for converting existing buildings to residential uses and for adding residential uses to existing buildings.

The ordinance also amends existing chapters in Titles 12 and 17 of the code to allow more residential uses in commercial zones, and create consistency and compatibility between allowed uses with commercial property retaining its commercial use now with more options for permitted and conditional residential uses.

City staff added a third piece to the ordinance that was not previously discussed before Monday’s meeting and that was to amend Chapter 12 of the city code excepting conversion of existing buildings to a residential use or the addition of residential units to an existing building from transportation concurrency requirements.

“That means that, as our department is looking at applications for converting an existing building to residential uses or adding more residential uses to an existing building, we’re not able to require a traffic study or significant changes to the street or frontage to support those new units,” senior planner Adrian Smith said.

The purpose is to make converting buildings or adding residential units to buildings more affordable, which is the goal of the bill, she said.

Cappy’s Trails

During Monday’s meeting, the council also approved a resolution which sets the conditions to vacate street right-of-ways in Cappy’s Trails. It also directs City Manager John Mauro to prepare the vacation ordinance when all conditions of the resolution are met.

“The vacation request tonight is for areas of Cappy’s Trails that is for right-of-way abutting city and Jefferson County Land Trust property, or city and city property, or land trust and land trust property,” Public Works Director Steve King said. “So right-of-way vacation is relinquishment of a public access easement back to the adjoining property owners. What happens is right-of-way then gets converted into city fee simple ownership and land trust simple fee ownership.”

Before approval, the city council hosted a public hearing which featured comments from Jefferson County Land Trust conservation coordinator Marlowe Moser, who explained the Cappy’s Trails area “is a greenbelt of native forests that stretches across the northern Quimper Peninsula and protects wildlife habitat, open space and over 7 miles of multimodal, public access trails.”

“This right-of-way vacation focuses on vacating rights-of-way that are sandwiched between properties that are owned or protected by either Jefferson County Land Trust and/or the city of Port Townsend,” Moser said. “Legal access to individually owned private properties in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor area would not be prevented or compromised by this vacation process.”

Vacating the eligible rights-of-way will allow for more cohesive management of already protected properties in the area, she added.

“It would benefit public interest by permanently protecting contiguous blocks of open space and preserving already existing public trails in this area,” Moser said.

The resolution opens the way for Jefferson County Land Trust to apply for grant funding to continue to purchase property within the park boundary. The rights-of-way would not be vacated until grant funding is secured, King said.

Transportation grants

Council members also approved city staff’s Transportation Improvement Board grant applications, committing to a funding match of up to $600,000 combined for all four programs.

For the pavement preservation program, staff is applying for $200,000 with a $100,000 match to chip seal about 2.5 miles of streets on: Cherry between Blaine and F streets, 19th between Sheridan and Kearney streets, and Blaine between Kearney and Walker streets.

The other projects staff are seeking grant funding for are:

• Constructing a sidewalk on one side of Lawrence Street between Walker and Kearney streets to complete an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) priority route from Uptown to Kearney Street. The estimated total cost is $500,000.

• Rebuilding the pavement and installing sidewalks and a bike path on the opposite side of the street of the existing sidewalk on Discovery Road between 19th Street and San Juan Avenue. The estimated total cost is $3.65 million.

• Improving intersection safety at 12th and Landes streets to meet ADA compliance and improve pedestrian safety. The estimated total cost is $900,000.

• Reconstructing the severely deteriorating asphalt pavement, stripes for bicycle lanes and filling in gaps in the existing sidewalk/curb ramp network on Washington Street between Quincy and Taylor streets. The estimated total cost is $1.2 million.

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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.