The City of Issaquah will be the first Washington city to create a self-certification program for architects building backyard cottages following a unanimous council vote this week. The new law is intended to significantly reduce permit timelines for detached accessory dwelling units (DADUs) as city leaders advance a broad program intended to open the door to quicker housing production in Issaquah.
Many Washington cities have taken steps to create pre-approved building plans for attached and detached ADUs that reduce permit approval timelines. But 2025's House Bill 1353, sponsored by Alex Ramel (D-40th LD, Anacortes), goes even further and allows cities to let architects sign off on their own plans. So far Issaquah is the first city to take the legislature up on its offer.
Under the bill, licensed architects that sign up for DADU self-certification and agree to sign a 'hold harmless' agreement do not need to receive city review to advance their building plans, though site plan reviews and utility connection requirements still apply. Issaquah's building department will audit a minimum of 20% of the plans submitted annually, with architects who fail one audit banned from participating in the program for one year. A second failed audit would result in a permanent ban from the self-certification program.
"Many other cities who have adopted detached accessory dwelling unit policies have more often chosen to go with pre-approved plans, but [Issaquah Planning & Development] really felt like upon looking at those and hearing the feedback from those other cities who had spent money on creating pre-approved plans, that they weren't widely used, and we felt particularly because of our hillsides and all of that, that they would be difficult to implement if we spent the money on that," Councilmember Lindsay Walsh, chair of the council's planning committee, said Monday.
Thanks to 2023's House Bill 1337, cities across Washington have been required to significantly reduce barriers to building ADUs, with at least two ADUs now allowed on all residential lots across Puget Sound and additional regulations like owner-occupancy requirements and mandates for frontage improvements now banned. But programs like Issaquah's are intended to go even further, giving builders of ADUs a special pathway that isn't available to developers working on more complex projects.
Self certification programs are being tried in other U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, though Washington is the first to have advanced the idea statewide. Early adopters like Issaquah will have to submit a report to the state on how the program is going by summer of 2028, with that report informing potential future iterations of the program.
"What we propose here, I think, is a pretty narrow version of this idea," Ramel told state senators last year as his bill was advancing forward. "It's an opt-in, so cities can choose to participate if they want to. They don't have to, and it's really only for detached accessory dwelling units. We wanted this to be some of the most some of the easiest buildings, so that we've got a good trial run at this, we can see if it works and choose to expand it further in the future based on the the report that's in the bill."
Backyard cottage self-certification is only the latest building reform adopted in Issaquah following a fairly rapid change in leadership in the city. Earlier this month, the council voted to reform requirements around building stepbacks and mandated balconies, with a whole slate of additional changes on deck over the coming months as proposed by new mayor Mark Mullet's administration. A City Council broadly aligned on the issue hasn't hurt, either.
"I'm actually very excited about this one in particular," Deputy Council President Kelly Jiang said. "I think one of the things that we've heard from the community is: we need more housing options. We don't want to only have giant apartment complexes, and I do think ADUs, especially in Olde Town, are like the most desirable housing option that exists."
Next Issaquah will tackle more thorny issues like building scale (via a discussion of floor-area ratio, or FAR, regulations) and parking mandates.
"I also want to just emphasize how this is kind of a big deal," Councilmember Kevin Nichols said. "We're being pretty innovative with this. This is in many ways leading amongst our regional peers in doing something that will almost certainly help unlock some of the housing stock that we want to see be built, and I think it's a really good example of us trying to once again punch above our weight and be leaders in affordability at large."
Ryan Packer
