21.60.400 Basic development standards | Lynnwood Municipal Code

21.60.400 Basic development standards.

1. Minimum Building Height. The intent is that the city center zones accommodate dense urban form development. All new development shall be built to at least the minimum building height of three stories and no less than 30 feet; provided, that uses predominantly characterized as places of public assembly featuring auditoriums or meeting facilities, including but not limited to religious institutions, movie or performing arts theaters, symphony halls and convention facilities, shall have a minimum building height of 30 feet and no minimum story requirement.

a. Exception. A single-story building shall be permitted adjacent to or within a park as identified by the City Center Parks Master Plan. Such structure shall be approved by a development agreement.

a. In the city center – core (CC-C) zone, the maximum building height shall be 350 feet, except as follows:

i. From the centerline of 196th St. SW north up to but not exceeding a distance of 360 feet, the maximum building height of any portion of a building shall be 240 feet.

ii. North of a line 360 feet north of the centerline of 196th St. SW, the maximum building height of any portion of a building shall be 130 feet.

iii. Notwithstanding the above subsections, the maximum height of any portion of a building 150 feet or less from a residential zone shall be 35 feet.

b. In the city center – west (CC-W) and city center – north (CC-N) zones, the maximum building height shall be 140 feet, except as follows:

i. The maximum height of any portion of a building 150 feet or less from a residential zone shall be 35 feet.

3. Mechanical penthouses, stair/elevator overruns, and antennas shall be excluded from building height calculation, provided they are no more than 20 feet above the roof deck.

4. Building height may be increased by up to 20 percent for a nonhabitable, architectural roofline element. This allowance does not apply within 150 feet from a residential zone or in the city center – core zone (CC-C) where the maximum height is less than 350 feet.

a. To permit the widening of city center streets without creating nonconforming situations or the need to impact buildings, all buildings shall be located at the property line established by the future street right-of-way contained in Table 21.60.4 utilizing the fronting street for fire access except as permitted otherwise in this chapter, the city center design guidelines or unless there is or will be a building between such building and the future street right-of-way. In exceptions where buildings do not utilize the street for fire access, a circulating fire lane may be required.

b. Buildings may be set back from the street for the purpose of providing public plazas as a FAR bonus feature and as required by the city center design guidelines. The public plaza may exceed the minimum open space/public plaza size requirement provided in the design guidelines. Up to 30 percent of any building’s street frontage per street may be set back from the setback line to accommodate a public plaza. Open space/public plaza space may be combined at intersections.

c. To allow buildings to be set back from wider streets, buildings along boulevard streets may be set back up to 17 feet from the property line established by the future street right-of-way provided in Table 21.60.4 subject to the following requirements:

i. The boulevard street shall be utilized as the fire lane. No setback shall be allowed that would result in requiring a fire lane between the building and the street.

ii. The setback shall be utilized only for open space/public plazas complying with subsection (B)(1)(b) of this section and the city center design guidelines.

2. Interior Side. None required.

3. Interior Rear. None required.

1. Less Than 100 Feet of Frontage. The minimum building frontage length shall be less than the space required to provide a drive aisle to service the site. If no drive aisle is provided the minimum frontage shall be 65 of percent the length of the abutting property line.

2. One Hundred Feet of Frontage or Greater. The minimum building frontage length shall be 70 percent of the length of the abutting property line. This length may be reduced at the discretion of the development and business services director to accommodate required fire access or drive aisles leading to parking areas.

3. Panhandle Lots and Landlocked Lots. Properties that only have access to a public or private right-of-way through a panhandle or have no property line adjacent to a public or private right-of-way are not required to provide building frontage.

1. Basic Allowable Floor Area Ratio. The basic floor area ratio (FAR) of buildings in the city center shall be limited as shown in Table 21.60.1. The bonuses are described in subsection (D)(2) of this section.

Table 21.60.1. Floor Area Ratio (FAR)
Maximum FAR		District
Maximum FAR		CC-C	CC-W	CC-N
Maximum allowable “as of right” for existing nonconforming sites and structures	Nonresidential	0.5	0.5	0.5
	Residential	1.0	1.0	1.0
Maximum allowable FAR “as of right” for new development	Nonresidential	2.0	2.0	2.0
Maximum allowable FAR “as of right” for new development	Residential	3.0	3.0	3.0
Maximum with bonuses	Nonresidential	8.0	3.0	3.0
Maximum with bonuses	Residential	10.0	5.0	5.0

Notes:

a. Floor area is measured to the inside face of exterior walls.

b. The following uses shall be excluded from floor area calculation:

•Space underground (e.g., basements);

•Space dedicated to parking;

•Floor area devoted to rainwater collection;

•Floor area devoted to gray water collection/storage/distribution;

•Floor area devoted to waste recovery/separation;

•Floor area devoted to service areas (such as storage areas, closets, and restrooms);

•Balconies, patios, breezeways and decks without a solid cover;

•Air spaces within buildings such as vaulted ceilings. More specifically, the floor area shall be counted as actual floor area only and not in the air spaces above;

•Space used as FAR bonus feature (see Table 21.60.2);

•Privately owned land area for the Promenade Walkway.

c. Allowable FAR for nonresidential and residential uses shall be added together for the respective use types within a mixed use residential project, to provide for a combined FAR total.

d. Hotels shall be considered nonresidential for the purpose of this chart.

e. In situations where both conforming and nonconforming development are located on a site, the maximum FAR for conforming and nonconforming development may be combined, but each shall be limited to their respective FAR per Table 21.60.1. (For example, without bonus features, conforming development FAR maximum is 2.0; nonconforming FAR maximum is 0.5. Conforming development on the site may have a maximum FAR of 2.0; nonconforming maximum FAR of 0.5.)

2. FAR Bonus. The FAR at a property may be increased above the amount permitted “as of right” shown in Table 21.60.1 by including any of the features listed in Table 21.60.2 into development of the property.

Table 21.60.2. Bonus Features Allowing Increased Floor Area Ratio
Bonus Features	Feature Requirements	Additional Floor Area for Each Feature
LEED Silver or similar certification elements	Checklist stamped by the project architect illustrating LEED Silver or similar certification elements have been incorporated into project.	10 percent increase in total floor area for meeting LEED Silver certification standards (or similar) or above.
LEED Gold or similar certification elements	Checklist stamped by the project architect illustrating LEED Gold or similar certification elements have been incorporated into project.	25 percent increase in total floor area for meeting LEED Gold certification standards (or similar) or above.
LEED Platinum or similar certification elements	Checklist stamped by the project architect illustrating LEED Platinum or similar certification elements have been incorporated into project.	40 percent increase in total floor area for meeting LEED Platinum certification standards (or similar) or above.
Office use above the ground floor		2 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of office use above the ground floor.
Parking, underground		2 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of parking below grade.
Parking, structured		1 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of structured parking above grade.
Public plaza	Provision of public plaza in excess of the requirement identified in the city center design guidelines.	5 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of plaza above the amount required by the city center design guidelines.
Promenade Walkway (along public right-of-way)	Portions or all of the Promenade Walkway that are adjacent to or near and parallel to the public right-of-way or are located within the public right-of-way. (Access easement dedication where on private property to the public must be recorded with approved maintenance provisions.) The Promenade Walkway must conform to the design guidelines.	5 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of Promenade.
Promenade Walkway (bisecting large blocks)	Promenade Walkway providing a connection through a large block not adjacent to or in the public right-of-way. However, up to 5 percent of the project’s Promenade Walkway (bisecting large blocks) can be adjacent to or within the public right-of-way and still receive 20 sq. ft. of floor area bonus. (Access easement dedication to the public must be recorded with approved maintenance provisions.) The Promenade Walkway must conform to the design guidelines.	20 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of Promenade.
Residential use (single purpose building)	Residential development granted as bonus square footage cannot be used to achieve additional square foot bonus.	2 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of residential use.
Residential use in vertically mixed use building	Residential development granted as bonus square footage cannot be used to achieve additional square foot bonus.	4 sq. ft. of floor area for each sq. ft. of residential use if the development is vertical mixed use.
Street level retail	See definition (LMC 21.60.100(L)).	200 sq. ft. of floor area for each linear foot of retail frontage.

a. FAR bonuses granted based on the use of the building (e.g., office use, residential use, street level retail) and use of an area (e.g., Promenade Walkway or public plaza) shall be acknowledged in a document recorded in a form acceptable to the city with the Snohomish County auditor’s office. The document shall also reflect the requirement in subsection (D)(3)(b) of this section.

b. If a business, activity or feature that supported a FAR bonus under this section is terminated, that use shall either be replaced by another use or feature of the same type (as listed in Table 21.60.2) or by another use that qualifies for an equal (or greater) FAR bonus. Alternatively and only in the case of a bonus use terminating, the property owner may request approval of a substitute method to qualify for the FAR bonus. Such substitution shall be subject to the approval of the development and business services director, who shall approve the substitution if he/she finds that the proposed substitution complies with this section and chapter. Appeals of the development and business services director’s decision shall be processed as a Process II application (LMC 1.35.200).

E. Parking Ratios. Notwithstanding Chapter 21.18 LMC, off-street parking shall be provided in conformance with Table 21.60.3 and the regulations in this subsection.

Table 21.60.3. Required Off-Street Parking
Use Type	Minimum	Maximum
Retail, personal services and offices serving customers on site	3 stalls/1,000 gross floor area (gfa)	4 stalls/1,000 gfa
Offices, not serving customers on site	2 stalls/1,000 gfa	4 stalls/1,000 gfa
Residential	0.5 stalls per unit	3 stalls per unit
Senior housing	0.25 stalls per unit	1 stall per unit
Restaurant	1 stall per 4 seats	2 stalls per 4 seats
Hotels, motels or other overnight accommodations	1 stall per room, plus additional parking in accordance with this table for other businesses or facilities associated with the hotel or motel	1.5 stalls per room, plus additional parking in accordance with this table for other businesses or facilities associated with the hotel or motel
Institutional uses	20 percent less than required in Table 21.18.03	Same as required in Table 21.18.03
Places of assembly	20 percent less than required in Table 21.18.06	Same as required in Table 21.18.06
Entertainment/recreational activities	20 percent less than required in Table 21.18.07	Same as required in Table 21.18.07
Other uses	20 percent less than required in Table 21.18.11	Same as required in Table 21.18.11

Notes:

1. Parking requirements for permitted uses not listed in Table 21.60.3 shall be determined by a study of parking demand for that use.

2. Uses sharing a common parking facility that is accessible to all respective uses may reduce the required number of stalls by 40 percent.

3. Parking may be located off site, so long as it is within 1,000 feet of the property (measured along public sidewalks or walkways), is connected to the property by sidewalks or walkways, and is tied to the site by a contractual agreement that is filed with the city and deed of record at the county.

4. All developments with more than 50 parking spaces shall provide a minimum of one dedicated and signed carpool/vanpool space. All developments with more than 100 parking spaces shall provide a minimum of two dedicated and signed carpool/vanpool spaces.

5. The development and business services director may allow ratios higher than the maximums allowed if a parking demand study for a particular development indicates that additional parking is needed and a parking demand management program would not be effective. Appeals of the development and business services director’s decision shall be processed as a Process II application (LMC 1.35.200).

1. All nonresidential developments providing 20 or more parking stalls shall be required to provide at least one bicycle stall for every 20 vehicular parking stalls, up to a maximum of 20 bicycle stalls. Bicycle stalls may be storage lockers or bicycle racks/stands.

2. Bicycle stalls shall be located either inside of a building or outside within 100 feet of a building entrance and shall be designed to allow either a bicycle frame or wheels to be locked to a structure attached to the pavement or to a structure. It is not necessary for all on-site bicycle stalls to be located in one central location. Bicycle stalls may be located within vehicular parking areas.

3. One indoor bicycle stall shall be provided for every four dwelling units in multifamily residential uses, with the exception of senior housing, unless individual garages are provided for every unit.

1. Exterior service areas shall not be located within 30 feet of a residential-zoned property. Service areas include but are not limited to: loading docks, trash dumpsters, compactors, all equipment, dedicated parking or serving areas, refuse and recycling areas, and mechanical equipment areas.

2. Exterior service areas shall be located within the dedicated parking areas.

3. All exterior refuse and recycling shall be enclosed on three sides within masonry walls with a minimum height of seven feet that shall match or complement the exterior materials of primary building(s) and be covered by a roof. Enclosure doors shall be provided and shall not be constructed of wood or chain link (with or without slats).

1. To eliminate private land devoted to fire lanes between the building and the right-of-way, all new development in the city center shall be constructed with sprinklers regardless of size. (Ord. 3415 § 58, 2022; Ord. 3399 § 2 (Exh. A), 2021; Ord. 3336 § 5, 2019; Ord. 3192 § 8, 2016; Ord. 2937 § 8, 2012; Ord. 2554 § 6, 2005)