Mayor Greg Nickels has proposed an update and rezone to the city's multi-family code, which includes eliminating parking requirements in urban centers and incentive zoning to bring in more affordable homes and rentals.

The changes are meant to simplify the "complex" multi-family code, which hasn't been altered in more than 20 years, and absorb projected growth, said Mike Podowski, project manager with the Seattle Department of Planning and Development.

The plan is an extension of the mayor's "Seattle Homes Within Reach" strategy, which stipulates that whenever significant zoning changes are adopted, incentive zoning or "land banking" should be used to create affordable housing. The city is already considering upzoning Northgate, South Lake Union, south downtown and Dravus areas, said Marty McOmber, Nickels' spokesperson.

Similar zoning incentives were adopted last year for the downtown central office core, including the Denny Triangle and a portion of Belltown. McOmber said the goal behind the strategy is to use market forces to encourage the addition of more affordable units.

Nickels also recently introduced his plan to extend the city's multi-family tax exemption program to more neighborhoods. Developers would get a 12-year break on property taxes when they build 20 to 30 percent of affordable units within a project. The Seattle City Council is currently reviewing that proposal.

The income bracket (80 to 100 percent of area median income) for the mayor's tax exemption and incentive-zoning plans targets a set of the population that generally makes too much to qualify for housing help programs, according to the mayor's office. This includes professions like teachers, nurses and grocery clerks who increasingly can't afford to live in the city due to rising housing costs.

John Fox, director of the housing advocacy group the Seattle Displacement Coalition, said the mayor's plan to absorb density sounds good with phrases like "smart growth" and "urban sprawl prevention," but really just mask "a blueprint for gentrification" and the loss of affordability.

"In reality these are elaborate rationales aimed at veiling what is really nothing more that good old fashioned special interest legislation and giveaways to the mayor's friends in the development business," said Fox.

He agreed that it's becoming more difficult for people earning 80 percent of median to own a home, but said there's still a surplus of units affordable to that group, according to research from King County.

The mayor's strategy doesn't address the "real problem", Fox said, which is preserving and expanding the supply where there is a significant shortage, those at or below 40 percent of median.

The city Office of Housing and the mayor maintain that Seattle, through the Housing Levy and other programs, has helped thousands of poor to low-income residents find affordable homes. McOmber said incentives within the multi-family code update could help ensure that developers contribute to Seattle's other housing needs.

The proposed changes would affect only areas zoned multi-family, about 7 percent of the city. No single-family zones would be changed. The city council will be sent legislation to review by the end of the year.

Some key recommendations in the multi-family code update proposal include:

- Use incentive zoning in lowrise residential 3, midrise and highrise zones to encourage "affordable housing" in exchange for additional height and floor area. Require "green buildings" when used.

Developers who use an increase in height and density limits would be required to either build affordable units as part of the residential project, or pay into a fund for affordable housing or other neighborhood amenities like parks and open space.

In most cases, the extra height will amount to about one extra floor, said Rick Hooper, policy director for the Office of Housing. 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 and 100 percent of area median income, or $50,000 to $63,500 a year.

A typical development in a mid-rise 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," said Hooper.

In a highrise zone (currently only in First Hill), the developer using the incentive can build up to 240 feet, up from the normal 160 feet limit. That's a density increase of 89 percent, said Hooper, which would produce about 12 "affordable" units.

For lowrise areas, a typical 20 to 30 unit projects might only yield 1 to 2 units of affordable housing.

- Reduce the number of total zones by consolidating lowrise 3 and 4 to create a new lowrise residential 3 zone.

According to the department of planning and development, the five existing lowrise zones within the multi-family code are more than what is needed to accommodate various types of housing, such as triplexes, townhomes and condominiums.

In the new zone, developers would have the choice to develop to requirements currently allowed in lowrise 3 (30 to 35 feet) or use the incentive and build an extra floor if some affordable housing is built within.

- Increase the height limit by 5 feet in zones lowrise residential triplex, and lowrise residential 1 and 2, while maintaining the current overall scale and density (current height limits in these zones are 25 to 35 feet).

It also recommends allowing additional height in lowrise residential three (7 feet), midrise (15 feet) and highrise (60 feet) zones when the incentive program is used. The city reports that existing height limits make it difficult to accommodate three and four story structures.

- Eliminate parking requirements in urban centers and light rail station areas and reduce requirements in other areas.

Current parking requirements are based on estimates of demand from the 1980s. The reduction in parking requirements is meant to "further the long-term goals for a more pedestrian oriented city," according the draft recommendation. A similar plan was adopted last year for much of downtown.

Parking spaces, which can cost upward of $40,000 a space, significantly affect the cost of housing, according to some developers.

Based on a city parking demand analysis, Seattle is currently requiring more parking spaces than are needed for some residential buildings. But a no requirement or a minimum doesn't mean that on site parking won't be provided by the developer.

- Improve the appearance to townhouses with new design standards.

Townhomes have become a popular development for first time homebuyers and are built mostly in multi-family zones. But many residents take issue with the scale of the structures, which are often out of synch with housing characteristics in a given neighborhood.

The proposal includes some design standards to ensure townhomes have "some relation to the street, and aren't just an anonymous blank," said Alan Justad, spokesperson for the planning department.

Fences should be no higher than 4 feet and driveways should have an additional 2 feet in width for better maneuvering. Windows and doors should account for 20 percent of exterior fa