Cluster Subdivisions

Introduction

As applied in urban areas, cluster subdivision ordinances often emphasize site design flexibility for protecting constrained areas, and important site features for allowing more creative design. Cluster provisions in rural areas may focus more on conserving resource lands, and securing larger expanses of open space consistent with rural character.

City Ordinance Provisions

City Cluster Subdivision Examples

• Bainbridge Island Municipal Code Sec. 17.04.080 and Sec. 17.12.090 (flexible lot standards)
• Bellingham Municipal Code Sec. 20.30.050
• Bremerton Municipal Code Sec. 20.58.060 - Residential Cluster Development
• Olympia Unified Development Code Sec. 18.04.080 (F) - Clustered Housing
• Olympia Unified Development Code Ch. 18.56 - PRD-Planned Residential Development
• Sumner Municipal Code Ch. 18.24 - Planned Residential Development; Ch 18.28 - Cluster Overlay District.

Examples of Cluster to Preserve Sensitive Areas

• Bellevue Land Use Code Sec. 20.25H.110 (D)(2)(a)(ii) and (3)(a)(ii)
• Bonney Lake Municipal Code Sec. 16.28.050(C)(3)
• Sumner Municipal Code Sec. 16.40.140 (shows use of cluster within critical areas regulations).

County (Rural Area) Cluster Subdivision Examples

• Kittitas County Code Ch. 17.14 - Performance Based Cluster Plat Uses
• Okanogan County Code Ch. 17.19 - Planned Development (see Sec. 17.19.030 and Sec. 17.19.037)
• Thurston County Code Ch. 20.30 - Planned Residential Development and Ch. 20.30A - Planned Rural Residential Development
• Thurston County Cluster Development Moratorium, 2010 and Interim Regulations
• Walla Walla County Code Ch. 17.31 - Development Standards - Cluster Developments on Resource Lands
• Whatcom County Code Ch. 20.32 - Residential Rural District (includes options and bonus incentives for cluster development)

Articles

• Cluster Development in Plain English - MRSC's one page explanation of the concept
• Cluster Development (p. 16) in:Defining Rural Character and Planning for Rural Lands (), MRSC for CTED (now Dept. of Commerce), 1994
• Cluster Development, by Thomas W. Blaine and Peggy Shear, Ohio State University Fact Sheet, 1999
• Green Neighborhoods - Open Space Residential Design in Massachusetts
• Howard County, MD What Are Rural Cluster Development and the Density/Cluster Exchange Options? ()
• Model Residential Cluster Development Ordinance (), APA, March 2006
• Open Space' Zoning: What It Is & Why It Works, by Randall Arendt, Planning Commissioners Journal, July/August 1992 (cluster development focused on protection of open space)
• Preserving Rural Character Through Cluster Development, () by Susan Ernst Corser, PAS Memo, APA, July 1994
• Residential Cluster Development: Overview of Key Issues, by Mathew Mega, Barbara Lukermann and Robet Sykes, University of Minnesota Extension, 1998