The general purposes of the cottage housing development design standards are as follows:

(1)

A cottage housing development is an alternative type of detached housing providing small residences for households of typically one to two individuals. Cottage housing is provided as part of the city's overall housing strategy which intends to encourage affordability, innovation and variety in housing design and site development while ensuring compatibility with existing neighborhoods, and to promote a variety of housing choices to meet the needs of a population diverse in age, income, household composition and individual needs.

(2)

The cottage housing development design standards are intended to create a small community of cottages oriented around open space that is pedestrian-oriented and minimizes the visibility of off-street parking. These design standards are intended to ensure that cottage housing developments include pedestrian amenities and take advantage of existing natural features on the site including topography and vegetation. The cottage housing development design standards are intended to maintain traditional cottage amenities and proportions and ensure that cottage housing developments contribute to the overall community character. Because there may be alternative designs that meet the objectives of the design standards, the provisions of Sections 20.44.300 through 20.44.400 provide an alternative design review process to consider other acceptable ways to accomplish the objectives of this section.

(3)

All cottage housing developments are subject to current city stormwater standards and shall incorporate stormwater low impact development techniques whenever possible.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Applicability of this section, application procedure and the process for design review is pursuant to Chapter 20.46 AMC.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

See Density and Dimensional Standards for Residential Zones.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Structures in cottage housing developments shall be designed to be single story or single story plus a loft. Because the base density is higher and building separation less than on typical residential lots, it is important to maintain a feeling of adequate light and open space by providing more restrictive maximum roof heights and roof proportion standards.

(1)

The maximum building height permitted for structures in cottage housing developments shall not exceed one and one-half stories or twenty-five feet in height.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Cottage housing developments shall not exceed underlying lot coverage standards for the respective zoning district to maintain residential neighborhood character and the balance of built structures to open spaces.

(1)

The maximum lot coverage permitted for all structures in cottage housing developments shall not exceed the requirements for the underlying zoning.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Structures in cottage housing developments are primarily intended for one- and two-person households and their occasional guests. Maintaining the maximum square footage of residences in cottage housing developments is necessary to prevent overbuilding of the site and to not exceed available on and off-street parking.

(1)

The maximum floor area for an individual structure in a cottage housing development shall not exceed one thousand two hundred square feet.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Structures within cottage housing developments shall observe minimum setbacks from other cottage housing development structures to avoid overcrowding the site and to maintain a sense of privacy within the cottages themselves.

(1)

All buildings within a cottage housing development shall maintain a minimum separation of ten feet from cottages within a cottage housing development measured from the nearest point of the exterior walls. Accessory buildings shall comply with building code requirements for separation from noncottage structures.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

The minimum parks and open space are intended to provide a sense of openness and visual relief in cottage housing developments. Common open space shall provide a centrally located, focal area for the cottage housing development. The common area shall be outside of stormwater, wetlands, streams and sensitive area buffers and developed and maintained so its is usable for active or passive recreation activities. Private open space shall provide area around the individual dwellings to enable diversity in landscape design.

(1)

Parks shall meet the minimum requirements of Chapter 20.52.

(2)

Common open space shall:

(A)

Be a minimum of four hundred square feet per cottage;

(B)

Abut at least fifty percent of the cottages in a cottage housing development;

(C)

Have cottages abutting at least two sides.

(3)

Cottages shall:

(A)

Be oriented around and have the main entry from the common open space;

(B)

Be within seventy-five feet of walking distance to common open space.

(4)

Private open space shall:

(A)

Be a minimum of three hundred square feet of private, contiguous, usable open space adjacent to each dwelling unit, for the exclusive use of the cottage resident. It shall be oriented toward the common open space as much as possible, with no dimension less than ten feet.

(B)

Additionally, cottages shall have a roofed porch that is covered and is at least ten percent of the total square footage of the residence living space.

(5)

At least fifty percent of all the units shall have an attached enclosure that is a minimum of forty square feet (not included in total living space square footage) which is accessible from the exterior of the building.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Off-street parking space requirements for cottage housing developments shall be calculated at the multi-family requirement. Off-street parking shall be located and designed to be less visible from frontage streets than the cottages themselves. Off-street parking shall be designed to maintain a pedestrian character for the overall cottage housing development. Clustering parking to the side or rear of a cottage project will most often best accomplish these goals. However, on a site-specific basis, design solutions other than clustering may be found to meet this objective through the alternative design process. Parking areas shall be attractively landscaped to screen parking from adjacent properties and street rights-of-way and shall meet applicable parking lot landscape standards.

(1)

Off-Street Parking Location. Parking shall be located on the cottage housing development property. Off-street parking lots shall be located to the side or rear of the cottage housing development. Parking lots shall not be located between the cottage housing development and the primary street frontage.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

Cottage housing developments shall be designed to take advantage of open space and landscaped features to utilize stormwater low impact development techniques including natural filtration and on-site infiltration of stormwater.

(1)

Low impact development techniques for stormwater management shall be used wherever possible. Such techniques may include the use of pervious pavers in parking areas and for walkways, directing roof drains and parking lot runoff to landscape beds, green or living roofs, and the use of rain barrels.

(2)

Cottages shall be located so as to maximize natural stormwater functions. Cottages shall be clustered and parking areas shall be located to preserve as much contiguous, permanently undeveloped open space and native vegetation as possible.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)

It is possible that an alternative design may fulfill the intent of this chapter while not complying with the provisions herein. Requests for alternative designs shall be processed pursuant to Chapter 20.39 AMC, Development Agreements.

(Ord. No. 1453, 9-26-2008)