The church requests that the permit be granted for a 90-day stay beginning approximately Aug. 12. The permit application process is evaluated and granted or denied by the city’s community development director; the permit application will take up to 60 days to process. The hearing examiner hears any appeals.

“This is the first Transitory Accommodations permit application the City of Bothell has received since City Council adopted the new ordinance last December,” said City of Bothell Community Development Director Bill Wiselogle. “The ordinance was the result of an unprecedented collaboration of diverse interests, and I look forward to the opportunity to apply the new regulations in a ‘real-world’ situation.”

Last December, the City Council adopted an ordinance regulating transitory accommodations, which amends the Bothell Municipal Code, Zoning to establish regulations concerning transitory accommodations includes, but (is) not limited to, homeless encampments. Examples of other uses to which the regulations would apply include multi-day music festivals, or car / motorcycle rallies at which participants may desire to camp for the event’s duration.

Key aspects of this ordinance include, but are not limited to:

• Prior to permit application, organizations desiring a transitory accommodations permit are required to contact any school or day care within 600 feet of the proposed site and address any concerns by those organizations;
• All transitory accommodations must be set back from other properties "a sufficient distance so as not to impinge upon or otherwise unduly influence activities on said adjacent properties,” and in no case less than 20 feet (unless the adjacent property owner waives the setback);
• All transitory accommodations must be screened from view;
• All transitory accommodations must provide adequate parking so as not to reduce parking utilized by existing surrounding uses;
• All transitory accommodations may be in operation for no more than 90 days, consecutively or cumulatively, during any 12 month period;
• Where deemed necessary by the city community development director or police chief, all transitory accommodations would be required to obtain verifiable identification from current and prospective residents as appropriate, and to use that information to obtain warrant and sex offender checks from the King and/or Snohomish County Sheriff's Office.

Over the course of 2005, an eight-member Transitory Accommodations Citizens Advisory Committee (TACAC) consisting of residents and faith-based organization representatives, supported by city staff, assisted the Bothell Planning Commission to craft proposed code amendments addressing transitory accommodations that then were presented to City Council for consideration.