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Save Stacked Flats

This is a critical amendment that will make sure we can have stacked flats!

The State Building Code Council is considering amendments to the International Residential Code that would apply to multiplexes and stacked flats. One, proposed by the Washington Building Officials (WABO), would treat them like large apartment buildings and reference the International Building Code. The one we support is the Markus Johnson amendment, which would treat them like townhomes or single family homes or accessory dwelling units...the same type of scale as stacked flats and sixplexes.

We need your voice to speak up for a building code that works for all of us and helps us build the types of housing we need in every neighborhood!

Tell the SBCC to pass the Markus Johnson amendment, not the WABO one.

Email the State Building Code Council

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Send an email to the SBCC

Tell the State Building Code Council to save stacked flats!

State Building Code Council

Subject: Support Stacked Flats and Single Stair Access with Johnson Amendment

Message:

Stacked Flats, as a form of middle housing that fit within the size and scale of neighborhood residential homes should be governed by the same code. Amending the code to reference the International Building Code moves us in the wrong direction and makes stacked flats more costly and disincentivizes them over townhomes. We should be able to have a variety of different housing types at affordable prices across the state. If the SBCC accepts WABO’s amendment, new flats will have to comply with the IBC and provide robust fire systems and utility upgrades, none of which are required in single-family homes or townhomes because the International Residential Code recognizes that small-scale buildings with relatively few occupants are inherently less hazardous. The price tag on stacked flats with that amendment makes stacked flats more expensive to build despite providing the same number of homes, occupants and built area as townhomes. Very few developers would accept that additional cost and complexity of stacked flats, when they could build townhomes under IRC instead. Markus Johnson has proposed an amendment which would keep stacked flats entirely in the IRC without IBC code references. The amendment would treat a six-unit stacked flat similar to a six-pack of townhomes, recognizing the stacked flat is no different in size, scale and occupancy of six townhomes, giving them the same chance at being built economically as townhomes and gives the developer a choice. Markus’s amendment would align with state law, as opposed to the WABO proposal which circumvents the law.

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Save Stacked Flats

This is a critical amendment that will make sure we can have stacked flats!

Email the State Building Code Council

Tell the State Building Code Council to save stacked flats!

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