Mayor Greg Nickels has sent legislation to the City Council that he says will improve the character and design of townhouses in West Seattle and require environmentally sensitive building and landscaping.

"Most of us would agree that multifamily development must fit better into our neighborhoods," said Nickels in a statement. "These regulations will help ensure that this housing is attractive, sensible, and welcoming, while also supporting our affordable housing goals."

Multifamily development is often a first option for housing and can provide an entry into home ownership. The proposals are the first major update to multifamily zoning in Seattle in 20 years. The changes cover about 10 percent of the city zoned for multifamily construction, from low-rise development throughout the city to high-rise residential towers on First Hill.

Highlights of the proposal include:

Better townhouse design. This proposal adds more design standards for all townhouses, requires lower fences and more doors and windows on street sides to open up to the neighborhood and provides better access to larger garage parking spaces so they are more likely to be used. Administrative design review for all townhouses is proposed in related legislation.

Protecting our single-family neighborhoods. This proposal affects only areas currently zoned multifamily. There would be no zoning changes in single-family areas and the proposal includes setbacks and other height restrictions that would provide important transitions between multifamily and single-family zones.

Green construction and landscaping. Current landscaping requirements would be increased 15 to 20 percent, which would include in many cases green roofs and vegetated walls. Where additional development capacity is allowed, the development must also meet LEED Silver or Built Green Four Star construction standards.

Affordable housing. This proposal makes no changes to height restrictions for areas zoned for duplexes, triplexes or townhouses in Lowrise Duplex Triplex, Lowrise 1 and Lowrise 2 zones. In some areas already zoned Lowrise 3 for three-story apartment buildings, about 5 percent of the city's land, the proposal would allow an additional 7 feet if the developer agrees to provide affordable housing.

Some mid-rise, and high-rise residential towers on First Hill, would also be eligible for additional height only if contributions are made through the Work Force Housing Incentive program. Contributions would have to be made to affordable housing, or preserving landmarks and providing open space in the high-rise zone.

In most cases, the extra height will amount to about one extra floor. In exchange for the extra capacity, builders would have to provide 11 percent of the bonus floor area as "affordable" to those earning between 80 percent and 100 percent of area median income, or $50,000 to $63,500 a year.

According to the city's Office of Housing, a typical development in a Midrise zone would be about five to six stories. Developers who use the incentive and build an extra floor would go from being able to build a 74 unit building to 94 units. It calculates out to about three affordable units.

Deputy Director of the planning department, Alan Justad, said a common misconception is that the city has done major upzoning in many multifamily zones where an older home is torn down and replaced with several townhomes. But the land has only recently become valuable enough to be developed at its full capacity.

"We haven't been upzoning systemically at all," Justad told the News-Tribune last year. "Sites that have been zoned for multifamily since at least the 1980's, and in some areas for much longer, often have single family homes from the 1950's and earlier

Seattle has taken in 60,000 residents since 1994 and the city is predicting another 100,000 here in the next two decades. Multifamily and neighborhood commercial zones, which provide various types of housing, are expected to accommodate much of that growth.

For more information, visit: http://www.seattle.gov/DPD/Planning/Multifamily_Code_Update/Overview/.