Bothell’s Housing Action Plan: Housing Growth and Transit-Oriented Development

Bothell is planning for substantially more housing over the next couple of decades, but the conversation is about more than simply adding apartments or increasing density.

The City’s Housing Action Plan is intended to guide where new housing goes, what types of homes are available, how affordability is addressed, and how future development connects with transit, jobs, services, and existing neighborhoods.

For homeowners, buyers, and sellers, the important thing to understand is that this is a long-term planning process. It does not mean every neighborhood is about to change overnight.

But it does help show where Bothell expects future growth to occur and what that growth may eventually look like.

What Is Bothell’s Housing Action Plan?

Bothell’s Housing Action Plan is a long-range housing roadmap organized around four broad areas:

• Transit-Oriented Development

• Housing Variety

• Housing Choices

• Monitoring and Reporting of Housing Goals

The plan is expected to move toward City Council adoption by the end of 2026.

At its core, the City is trying to answer a familiar regional question: how do you accommodate a growing population while creating more housing choices and connecting that growth with transportation and existing services?

The answer Bothell is exploring includes more housing near transit, more middle-housing options, additional affordable housing, and more complete neighborhoods where residents can reach everyday destinations without relying exclusively on a car.

For some additional context on how the broader market has been changing, see our Snohomish County Real Estate Market Update.

Transit-Oriented Development Is a Major Part of the Plan

One of the biggest themes is transit-oriented development, commonly shortened to TOD.

The basic idea is straightforward: if a city is investing in frequent regional transit, it makes sense to consider allowing more people to live, work, and shop within easy reach of that service.

That can mean additional apartments or townhomes, but it can also mean shops, services, pedestrian improvements, bicycle connections, public spaces, and other uses that make the surrounding area function more like a complete neighborhood.

Bothell’s future transit connections are therefore closely tied to its housing planning.

Rather than viewing transit as something people simply drive to and leave from, the long-term goal is to create places where more daily activity can happen around the transit corridor itself.

Lot P South Shows What That Can Look Like

One of the clearest examples is Lot P South, a City-owned property next to Bothell City Hall.

The site is being pursued for affordable multifamily housing and sits in the downtown area near future regional transit.

It is important not to treat one project as a blueprint for everything that will happen in Bothell.

But Lot P South does illustrate the broader direction: public land, housing policy, downtown development, affordability, and transit access being considered together rather than as separate issues.

As more sites around transportation corridors become candidates for redevelopment, location relative to transit may become increasingly important in how individual properties are evaluated.

That is also why understanding the likely buyer for a property can matter. A homeowner looking for a place to live and a developer evaluating future land use may see the same parcel very differently. We discuss that distinction further in Know Who the Likely Buyer Is Before You List.

Middle Housing Is Another Big Piece of the Puzzle

Not all housing growth has to mean large apartment buildings.

Bothell has also been working through changes intended to accommodate more “middle housing.”

That generally includes housing types such as:

• Duplexes

• Triplexes

• Townhomes

• Cottages

• Accessory dwelling units

• Other small-scale multifamily configurations

These types of housing sit somewhere between a traditional detached house and a large apartment building.

The idea is to create more choices in neighborhoods where historically there may have been relatively few options between the two.

That could provide alternatives for first-time buyers, smaller households, multigenerational families, downsizers, and people who want to remain in the community without maintaining a large detached home.

What Does That Mean for Existing Single-Family Homes?

It does not mean existing houses suddenly need to be replaced.

A zoning change creates options for future development. It does not force an owner to redevelop a property.

A detached home could remain a detached home for decades.

The difference becomes important when a property eventually sells or someone considers redevelopment.

A buyer may be interested in living in the existing house.

Another buyer may look at the same lot and consider whether two, three, or more homes could eventually be built there.

That possibility can affect how a property should be evaluated, but it does not automatically make every lot a lucrative development site.

Parcel size, shape, access, utilities, zoning standards, construction costs, neighboring properties, and market conditions all matter.

Before assuming a property should be renovated—or torn down—it is worth understanding who is most likely to value it.

That same idea applies to pre-listing work. We discuss the tradeoff in Repairs That Help Sellers and Repairs That Don’t.

Bothell Growth Is Not Limited to Downtown

Downtown naturally gets a lot of attention because it has already changed significantly.

But Bothell’s long-range growth planning extends beyond the downtown core.

North Creek Valley is identified as an important area for future population and employment growth, while Canyon Park continues to play a major role as an employment center and potential focus for additional transit-oriented development.

Those areas already contain a mixture of offices, businesses, housing, retail, and transportation infrastructure.

The long-term planning question is how those pieces become better connected as more housing and employment are added.

For homeowners outside downtown, this is worth noting because Bothell’s future growth is not expected to occur in only one neighborhood.

More Housing Choices Also Means Planning for Different Stages of Life

Housing variety matters for reasons beyond affordability.

A city dominated by one type of housing can make it difficult for residents to remain in the same community as their circumstances change.

Someone might want a small condo when buying their first home, a larger house while raising a family, and a townhome or smaller accessible residence later in life.

If those choices do not exist, moving to a different city may be the only realistic option.

Creating more housing types can therefore support both new residents and people who already live in Bothell.

It can also create opportunities for multigenerational households, smaller families, and people who simply do not want or need a traditional detached house.

Affordable Housing Is Part of the Conversation

Housing affordability is another major component of Bothell’s planning.

The City’s approach includes strategies for income-restricted housing as well as policies intended to increase overall housing variety.

These are related but different issues.

Allowing townhomes or duplexes can create housing at different price points, but it does not necessarily create housing affordable to lower-income households.

Income-restricted affordable housing typically requires additional programs, incentives, partnerships, or funding.

Projects such as Lot P South are one example of how those tools can work alongside conventional private development.

The Market Context Has Changed Too

All of this planning is happening while the regional housing market itself is shifting.

According to the Northwest Multiple Listing Service August 2026 market snapshot, active inventory across the NWMLS service area was up 22% from a year earlier.

Snohomish County inventory increased even more sharply, up 39.3% year over year.

That matters for Bothell because the city sits across both King and Snohomish Counties and competes with communities throughout the north Seattle and south Snohomish region.

More inventory gives buyers more choices.

It also means sellers cannot assume that simply being located in a desirable growth area guarantees an immediate sale.

As we discussed in Buyers Have More Choices — Sellers Need More Strategy, pricing, preparation, and understanding the competition become more important when buyers have alternatives.

Growth Potential Does Not Automatically Equal Higher Property Value

This is an important distinction whenever zoning changes.

More development capacity can make some properties more interesting to builders or investors.

But that does not mean every zoning change automatically increases the value of every property.

A theoretical development opportunity still has to make financial sense.

A developer considers land cost, construction costs, interest rates, utility requirements, permitting, site constraints, achievable rents or sale prices, and the amount of housing that can realistically be built.

Sometimes the existing house remains the highest-value use of the property.

Sometimes the land becomes more valuable for redevelopment.

The only way to know is to evaluate the specific property rather than relying on the zoning headline.

What Bothell Homeowners Should Watch

For most existing homeowners, there is no urgent action required simply because the Housing Action Plan is moving forward.

But there are a few things worth following.

First, understand the zoning around your property.

Second, watch what happens along major transit corridors and activity centers.

Third, pay attention to actual development proposals rather than assuming every planning concept will be built.

And if you are considering selling, particularly on a larger lot or near an area designated for additional growth, understand both the residential and redevelopment sides of the property's potential before setting a price.

What About Renovating Before Selling?

The possibility of redevelopment can also change the usual renovation calculation.

If a property is most likely to sell to another homeowner, strategic repairs and cosmetic preparation may make sense.

If a property's primary value is increasingly tied to the land and development capacity, an expensive remodel immediately before selling may accomplish very little.

That does not mean every home near transit should be sold as-is.

It means the seller should know which buyer they are preparing the property for.

This is exactly why we caution against both over-improving and under-improving a home before sale. See The Danger of Over-Improving or Under-Improving Before Selling.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Bothell’s Housing Action Plan?

It is the City’s long-range strategy for addressing housing growth, variety, affordability, transit-oriented development, and future housing needs.

The current plan is organized around Transit-Oriented Development, Housing Variety, Housing Choices, and Monitoring and Reporting of Housing Goals.

You can follow the City's process on the official Bothell Housing Action Plan page.

Does the plan mean Bothell is eliminating single-family homes?

No.

Existing detached homes can remain.

The larger change is that more housing types may be permitted in areas that historically allowed fewer options.

Property owners still decide whether and when to sell or redevelop.

What is middle housing?

Middle housing generally describes housing types between detached single-family homes and large apartment buildings.

Examples include duplexes, triplexes, townhomes, cottages, and similar small-scale multifamily housing.

Why is transit such a large part of the housing plan?

Housing and transportation are closely connected.

Adding more homes near frequent transit can give residents additional ways to reach jobs, schools, shopping, and other destinations without every trip requiring a car.

Could zoning changes affect my property value?

Potentially, but there is no universal answer.

Additional development capacity may make some properties more attractive for redevelopment, while others will continue to trade primarily as conventional homes.

Location, parcel characteristics, development economics, and the existing house all matter.

What is Lot P South?

Lot P South is a City-owned property next to Bothell City Hall that is being pursued for affordable multifamily housing.

It provides a useful example of how Bothell is connecting housing, affordability, downtown growth, and access to future transit.

Is Bothell's housing growth limited to downtown?

No.

North Creek Valley and Canyon Park are also important parts of Bothell’s long-range growth strategy.

Growth is expected to occur across multiple centers and corridors rather than in one single location.

Does higher inventory change how sellers should approach the Bothell market?

Yes.

When buyers have more choices, pricing and presentation matter more.

A property's future development potential can be useful, but it does not replace the need to understand current buyer demand and competing listings.

The Bottom Line

Bothell’s Housing Action Plan is best understood as a roadmap for how the city may grow over the next couple of decades.

The major themes are clear: more housing choices, more development around transit, additional affordable housing, and neighborhoods where housing is better connected with jobs, businesses, services, and transportation.

What is less predictable is exactly how quickly individual properties will change.

Zoning creates possibilities.

Transit investment creates opportunities.

Neither guarantees that a particular property will redevelop.

For Bothell homeowners, buyers, and sellers, the useful approach is to understand what is allowed today, follow the projects that actually move forward, and recognize that different properties may benefit from the City's growth in very different ways.

If you are considering selling a Bothell property—particularly one near a transit corridor or in an area with changing development rules—it can be worth evaluating both the existing home and the underlying land before deciding how to prepare or price it.