“Affordable housing” means residential housing that is rented by a person or household whose monthly housing costs, including utilities other than telephone, do not exceed 30 percent of the household’s monthly income. For the purposes of housing intended for owner occupancy, “affordable housing” means residential housing that is within the means of low-income households.

“City” means the City of Snohomish, a municipal corporation and political subdivision.

“Director” means the Director of the City of Snohomish’s Department of Planning and Development Services or authorized designee. The Director is authorized by the Snohomish City Council to approve or deny applications filed under this chapter.

“Household” means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together.

“Low-income household” means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is at or below 80 percent of the Snohomish County median family income, as reported by the United States Census in the most recent American Community Survey.

“Multifamily housing” and “multiple-unit housing” are used synonymously in this chapter and mean a building having four or more dwelling units that are not designed or used as transient accommodations and designed for permanent residential occupancy resulting from new construction, rehabilitation or conversion of a vacant, underutilized or substandard building to multifamily housing.

“Multifamily housing contract” means the agreement between the property owner and the City regarding the terms and conditions of the project and eligibility for exemption under this chapter.

“Multifamily housing covenant” means the agreement that is in a form acceptable to the City Attorney that addresses price restrictions, eligible household qualifications, long-term affordability, and any other applicable topics of the affordable housing units as referenced in SMC 3.50.070(K).

“Owner” means the property owner of record.

“Permanent residential occupancy” means multifamily housing that provides either owner-occupant housing or rental accommodations that are leased for a period of at least one month on a nontransient basis. Accommodations that offer occupancy on a transient basis such as hotels and motels that predominately offer rental accommodations on a daily or weekly basis do not qualify as permanent residential occupancies.

“Rehabilitation improvements” means modifications to existing structures that are vacant for 12 months or longer that are made to achieve a condition of substantial compliance with existing building codes or modifications to existing occupied structures which increase the number of multifamily housing units by at least four units.

“Residential targeted area” means an area within an urban center as defined by RCW 84.14.010, that has been designated by the City Council as lacking sufficient available, desirable, and convenient residential housing to meet the needs of the public.

“Urban center” means a compact identifiable district designated by the City Council where residents may obtain a variety of products and services. Urban centers shall contain several existing or previous businesses, adequate public facilities, and a mixture of land uses and activities.

“Very low-income household” means a single person, family, or unrelated persons living together whose adjusted income is at or below 50 percent of the Snohomish County median family income, as reported by the United States Census in the most recent American Community Survey. (Ord. 2366, 2019; Ord. 2454, 2022)