Marysville staff asked council to pick a cap on unit lot subdivisions for townhomes
Materials for the May 5, 2025, city council work session laid out three options for how many separately sellable lots townhouse and attached-unit projects can be divided into, with staff recommending the most conservative choice. 1
What the records say
The May 5, 2025, city council work session agenda included a discussion-only item on unit lot subdivisions — a process that divides a parent lot into individually owned, fee-simple lots that can be sold separately, most often for townhouses and other attached homes. State law (SB 5258, effective July 23, 2023) already requires Marysville to allow this process for short plats of up to nine lots. Staff presented three options: keep the nine-lot cap, allow roughly 20 lots, or set no cap at all, and recommended keeping the nine-lot cap for now. No action was requested at the meeting. 1
- State law requires Marysville to allow unit lot subdivisions up to nine lots through its short plat process; pending legislation (SB 5559) is expected to require allowing them for full subdivisions with no cap by around 2027. 1
- Staff recommended Option A — a nine-lot cap — citing the learning curve from concurrent Middle Housing code changes, an unfinished access standard with Public Works, and a pending parking study. 1
- Staff identified challenges of larger unit lot subdivisions, including private drive aisles that the city does not maintain, solid waste collection difficulties, and state parking minimums staff said could create inadequate parking and safety issues. 1
- Unit lot subdivision standards were anticipated to be presented to council at the July work session, alongside the broader Middle Housing package. 1
Why it matters
Unit lot subdivisions let buyers own the land under an attached home outright — with broader financing options than a condominium — so the cap the council picks shapes how large future townhouse developments can be. Staff also flagged trade-offs residents would feel directly: private drive aisles instead of city-maintained roads, garbage collection challenges, and state-mandated parking minimums staff called inadequate for drive-aisle projects. 1
What changed / what's next
- No policy change is documented; the record shows only that the item was scheduled for discussion with no action requested. 1
- The available records do not establish the meeting's outcome or whether council gave staff direction on a preferred option. 1
- The full unit lot subdivision code was anticipated at the July work session, with the Middle Housing package targeting adoption in early September. 1