H-1382.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 1932

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      56th Legislature     1999 Regular Session

By Representatives Reardon, Scott, Morris, Wood, McIntire, Linville and Santos

Read first time 02/11/1999.  Referred to Committee on Economic Development, Housing & Trade.

Lowering the population eligibility threshold for a property tax exemption on multifamily housing.

    AN ACT Relating to multifamily housing in urban centers; and amending RCW 84.14.010.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

    Sec. 1.  RCW 84.14.010 and 1997 c 429 s 40 are each amended to read as follows:

    Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.

    (1) "City" means either (a) a city or town with a population of at least ((one hundred)) eighty thousand or (b) the largest city or town, if there is no city or town with a population of at least ((one hundred)) eighty thousand, located in a county planning under the growth management act.

    (2) "Governing authority" means the local legislative authority of a city having jurisdiction over the property for which an exemption may be applied for under this chapter.

    (3) "Growth management act" means chapter 36.70A RCW.

    (4) "Multiple-unit housing" means a building having four or more dwelling units not designed or used as transient accommodations and not including hotels and motels.  Multifamily units may result from new construction or rehabilitated or conversion of vacant, underutilized, or substandard buildings to multifamily housing.

    (5) "Owner" means the property owner of record.

    (6) "Permanent residential occupancy" means multiunit housing that provides either rental or owner occupancy on a nontransient basis.  This includes owner-occupied or rental accommodation that is leased for a period of at least one month.  This excludes hotels and motels that predominately offer rental accommodation on a daily or weekly basis.

    (7) "Rehabilitation improvements" means modifications to existing structures, that are vacant for twelve months or longer, that are made to achieve a condition of substantial compliance with existing building codes or modification to existing occupied structures which increase the number of multifamily housing units.

    (8) "Residential targeted area" means an area within an urban center that has been designated by the governing authority as a residential targeted area in accordance with this chapter.

    (9) "Substantial compliance" means compliance with local building or housing code requirements that are typically required for rehabilitation as opposed to new construction.

    (10) "Urban center" means a compact identifiable district where urban residents may obtain a variety of products and services.  An urban center must contain:

    (a) Several existing or previous, or both, business establishments that may include but are not limited to shops, offices, banks, restaurants, governmental agencies;

    (b) Adequate public facilities including streets, sidewalks, lighting, transit, domestic water, and sanitary sewer systems; and

    (c) A mixture of uses and activities that may include housing, recreation, and cultural activities in association with either commercial or office, or both, use.

                            --- END ---