The highway commercial district is intended to create, preserve and enhance areas containing commercial establishments and providing services and sale, distribution or rental of goods for the general public. The areas typically provide a variety of sites with highway access.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997)
In the HC district, the following buildings and uses are permitted, subject to the general provisions and exceptions set forth in this chapter and regulations set forth in Chapters 20.01, 20.08 through 20.24, 20.68, 20.70 and 20.72 PMC.
All uses shall be in an entirely closed building unless otherwise specified below or by a conditional use permit:
A. 
The following accessory uses:
1. 
Maintenance of the equipment, vehicles and machinery used to support a principal use;
2. 
Antennas and satellite dishes for private telecommunication services;
3. 
Food service facilities for use primarily by employees with no exterior advertisement of the facility;
4. 
Noncommercial recreational facilities and areas (indoor or outdoor), including swimming pools, for exclusive use by employees, patrons or residents, depending upon the principal land use;
5. 
One dwelling unit used exclusively by the property owner or by caretakers or superintendents and their families;
6. 
Mobile food vendor (see Chapter 5.36 PMC and PMC § 20.68.695);
B. 
Administrative and professional offices;
C. 
Administrative government services;
D. 
Adult family homes;
E. 
Agricultural sales;
F. 
Amusement and recreation, e.g., indoor or outdoor establishments not exceeding 30,000 square feet of total floor area including landscaped areas, together with accessory uses established on a lot or combination of lots up to three acres;
G. 
Battery exchange station, subject to the provisions of Chapter 20.76 PMC;
H. 
Building materials and garden supplies;
I. 
Business services;
J. 
Community, cultural services;
K. 
Eating and drinking establishments;
L. 
Educational services;
M. 
Electric vehicle infrastructure, level 1, level 2 and level 3 rapid charging stations, subject to the provisions of Chapter 20.76 PMC. Charging stations are permitted as a primary use; rapid charging stations are permitted only as an accessory use to a permitted use and shall meet the definition of "electric vehicle charging station – restricted";
N. 
Family day care;
O. 
Food stores;
P. 
Gasoline service stations, automotive repair shops, car washes, all without outside storage;
Q. 
Health services;
R. 
Lodging, e.g., hotels and motels;
S. 
Motion picture, television and radio production studios;
T. 
Motor vehicles and related equipment sales/rental/repair and services (levels 1, 2);
U. 
Personal services, e.g., coin-operated laundries, beauty shops, barber shops, clothing alterations, tanning salons, travel agencies, funeral services, and photographic studios;
V. 
Pet sales and services;
W. 
Pipelines;
X. 
Postal services;
Y. 
Printing, publishing and related industries with floor area devoted to printing/pressing operation not exceeding 5,000 square feet;
Z. 
Public safety services, e.g., police and fire;
AA. 
Sales of general merchandise;
BB. 
Stormwater facilities;
CC. 
Transportation uses serving residential neighborhoods, e.g., bus shelters;
DD. 
Utilities or public maintenance facilities, i.e., facilities with a building of less than 1,000 square feet, without outdoor storage of equipment, materials, or vehicles;
EE. 
Water-supply facilities, e.g., wellheads, pump stations and water purification facilities not exceeding 1,000 square feet of building area nor exceeding building height for the district; water storage facilities not exceeding a 1,000-square-foot footprint nor exceeding the building height for the district;
FF. 
Wireless communication facilities.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997; Ord. 1805 § 11, 2011; Ord. 1952 § 25, 2017; Ord. 1960 § 6, 2017; Ord. 1992 § 4, 2018; Ord. 2119 § 1 (Exh. A), 2025)
The city may grant a conditional use permit (CUP) for any of the following buildings and uses in accordance with the procedures set forth in Chapter 20.20 PMC:
A. 
Educational facilities;
B. 
Linear trails, long narrow parks used for walking, jogging and bicycling;
C. 
Religious assembly;
D. 
Transportation uses serving communities and regions, i.e., passenger rail stations, parking facilities, school bus yards, bus barns, weigh stations, bus stations, transfer centers, heliports;
E. 
Utilities or public maintenance facilities, i.e., facilities with a building of more than 1,000 square feet, without outdoor storage;
F. 
Electrical facilities;
G. 
Sewage collection facilities;
H. 
Agricultural services;
I. 
Commercial centers selling a variety of goods or providing a variety of services, ranging from general merchandise to specialty goods and foods, i.e., any lot or combination of lots with a store or variety of stores, offices, and services integrated into a complex utilizing uniform parking facilities;
J. 
Mobile, manufactured and modular home sales;
K. 
Food and related product manufacturing;
L. 
Industrial services and repair;
M. 
Warehousing, distribution and freight movement;
N. 
Natural gas facilities, i.e., interim propane storage facilities or natural gas dispensing station;
O. 
Swap meets (levels 1, 2 and 3);
P. 
Indoor emergency housing (see PMC § 20.68.200 for applicable regulations);
Q. 
Indoor emergency shelter (see PMC § 20.68.200 for applicable regulations);
R. 
Permanent supportive housing (shall conform to Chapter 20.96 PMC – Multifamily Housing Design Standards) (see PMC § 20.68.200 for applicable regulations); and
S. 
Transitional housing (shall conform to Chapter 20.96 PMC – Multifamily Housing Design Standards) (see PMC § 20.68.200 for applicable regulations).
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997; Ord. 1505 § 11, 2001; Ord. 1780 § 6, 2010; Ord. 2053 § 10, 2022)
The following minimum requirements shall be observed:
A. 
Lot area: None;
B. 
Lot width: None;
C. 
Setback – State highways: None;
D. 
Setback – Major arterials: 30 feet;
E. 
Setback – Other roads: 25 feet;
F. 
Setback – Rear: None except when rear lot lines of the districts are common with property zoned residentially, rear and yards of not less than 15 feet shall be required opposite the residential district;
G. 
Setback – Side yard: None except when rear lot lines of the districts are common with property zoned residentially, rear and yards of not less than 15 feet shall be required opposite the residential district.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997)
No maximum lot coverage is specified, except subject to Chapter 20.72 PMC, Parking and Loading, as to the amount of off-street parking required per use.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997)
All uses shall conform to the general provisions and loading area standards of number, area, surface, screening and maintenance as required by Chapter 20.72 PMC, Parking and Loading.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997)
Signs, advertising structures, and area illumination are permitted, subject to the Sign Code, Chapter 20.84 PMC.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997; Ord. 1394 § 2, 1998)
The following additional conditions shall apply in a HC district.
A. 
In any HC district directly across the street from any residential district designated in this title, the parking and loading facilities shall be distant at least 20 feet from the street; provided, that the foregoing requirement of this section shall not apply where such residential district is separated from the HC district by a street planned to have a right-of-way of 80 feet or more; provided further, that a screen wall and/or landscaping is established and maintained on the HC property.
B. 
All operations conducted on the premises shall not constitute a nuisance by reason of smoke, fumes, odor, steam, gases, vibrations, noise, hazards or other causes, beyond the property boundary lines, and shall comply with the provisions of PMC § 20.68.160.
C. 
All sites having a common boundary line with a residential classified property shall have erected and maintained a view-obscuring wall, fence, or coniferous hedge not less than five feet, nor more than six feet, in height for screening purposes and controlling access. Where the wall of a building is on such common property line, no separate wall or fence need be installed along that portion of the boundary occupied by the building. Public utility installations need only fence and screen, with appropriate materials such as base plantings of coniferous shrubs or trees and climbing coniferous plant materials on the fences to minimize the commercial character of such installation, with the area surrounding the fenced and screened enclosure landscaped and planted to create a parklike atmosphere.
D. 
All sites and activities in the HC district shall comply with Chapter 20.70 PMC, Landscaping.
(Ord. 1322 § 2, 1997)