The state projects that PT will need to plan for and accommodate 1,648 new housing units by 2045. Yet City Council is pushing a growth plan for 20x that capacity, without any requirements for affordable housing.
Do you support that?
August 2026: PT Upzone Invalidated by the WA Growth Management Hearings Board!
This Huge Victory for PT Residents Opens a Path to True Affordable Housing in PT
The Comp Plan Update enacted by PT City Council in December 2025 would have radically upzoned most of PT, opening the door to market-rate six-plexes and twelve-plexes throughout the City, with no requirements for affordability.
The now-invalidated upzone would have provided capacity for 34,920 new housing units in the RII residential zone by 2045 – in a town that currently has ~7000 housing units, total.
The state only requires PT to plan for and accommodate 1,648 new housing units in the entire city by 2045. Affordable Hometown Port Townsend (AHPT), a group of PT residents, asked: Why is City Council creating zoned capacity for 20-times more PT residents than what the state predicts?
AHPT challenged the Upzone at the WA Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB). The Board ruled overwhelmingly in favor of AHPT and invalidated the Upzone, stating that the zoning amendments were illegally adopted in violation of the City’s public participation program.
PT would have suffered tremendous consequences from the now-invalidated 2025 Upzone
In its December 2025 Comprehensive (Comp) Plan Update, the Port Townsend (PT) City Council enacted sweeping changes to its land use policy, referred to here as the Upzone.
For the RII residential zone, which covers much of PT, the now-invalidated 2025 Comp Plan Update:
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