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This chapter allows for two types of low-income density incentives. A general low-income housing density incentive may be granted to multi-family projects being developed within the Low Density Multi-Family Residential, Medium Multi-Family Residential, and High Density Multi-Family Residential designations. A low-income senior housing density incentive may be granted to multi-family projects proposed in the Low Density Multi-Family Residential, Medium Density Multi-Family Residential, High Density Multi-family Residential, Commercial, and Mixed Use designations. The incentives shall be mutually exclusive. A project may use either the general low-income density incentive or low-income senior density incentive, depending on eligibility.

A. Projects eligible for the general low-income housing density incentive shall meet all of the following criteria:

1. The property owner will manage the development of the project to meet the housing needs of low-income persons whose total household income does not exceed the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) thresholds for a low-income household at sixty (60) percent of the annual median income, adjusted for family size, in the Seattle-Bellevue-Everett Primary Metropolitan Statistical Area.

2. The owner as grantor shall execute a covenant to run with the land to the City of Snohomish as grantee. The City shall record the covenant with the County Auditor at the owner’s expense. The covenant shall state the density and parking standards that the City has approved, the age and income-level occupancy requirements, and any other applicable conditions of approval. The covenant shall also state that the right to maintain the approved standards is dependent on the continued status of the project as an eligible project under this chapter and conformance with the conditions and limitations stated in the covenant. The covenant shall further state that the project must comply with the normal zoning and parking requirements if it ceases to be eligible under this chapter, and that the City may enforce the covenant through any legal means.

3. The density incentive will not be permitted for projects with a pre-incentive development containing more than forty units upon any given site or within any given development. To qualify for a density incentive, a development must be no more than forty units, and any development shall be separated from other developments qualifying for a density incentive by an unrelated land use, under separate ownership, other than a public or private street, easement, or buffer strip. However, where a 10 percent density bonus is requested for projects between twenty and forty units, the 10 percent density bonus may be denied or reduced, if shopping opportunities are not available within reasonable proximity and if neighborhood parks are not within reasonable proximity or recreational opportunities are not provided on site.

4. The project proponent will demonstrate through occupancy studies that the increase in density will not result in a significant increase in the on-street parking, traffic, park, and utility impacts in the neighborhood over those which would be expected by a project developed at the pre-incentive density.

B. Projects eligible for the low-income senior housing density incentive shall meet all of the following criteria:

1. All eligibility criteria in SMC 14.285.020(A); and

2. Occupancy of each unit is restricted to one or more persons fifty-five (55) years of age or older and one other person for whom no age restriction shall be imposed. (Ord. 2143, 2008)