The City of Issaquah is close to approving the construction of a medical office building in the northern reaches of the city.

One of the features of the 43,000-square foot, three-level design is that at 64 feet it will exceed the city’s maximum building base height of 40 feet.

But according to senior planner for the city, Christopher Wright, the developer was making plans to satisfy a number of the requirements which would allow for the extension of that height limit to 65 feet.

“The two main things we need to see in the design to allow an exemption on the height standards are the provision of open space, and the step-back design of the upper floors,” he said.

Wright said that a step-back, or wedding cake design, referred to the total floor space of each level being less than that of the level below it, typically about a 25 percent reduction.

He said that this would reduce the visual bulk of the building.

According to the Planning Department document on the proposed medical facility, the site would also include a rear yard of 250 feet, 10 times the city criteria. The provision of additional open space is a development goal of many cities, including Issaquah and Sammamish, and is used, as in this occasion, as an incentive for developers which allows them to exceed height or density limits.

Preliminary designs also include 50 percent pervious surfaces, such as grass, gravel, or porous concrete, which allows water and runoff to filter into the ground rather than run directly into storm water systems.

This exceeds the city’s minimum requirement of 35 percent pervious surface, another qualifier for building to 64 feet.

Wright said that at this stage he didn’t expect that the application would encounter any significant problems with the city, but stressed that many development articles, such as an Environmental Checklist, had still to be submitted.

That checklist will include details on how the developers plans to provide a suitable buffer between the building and the category 2 wetland to the north of the site.

A category 2 wetland is one that contains sensitive, but not threatened, plant, animal, or fish species, or provides functions which may not be adequately replicated through creation or restoration.

“There is a paved pathway between the wetland and the property,” Wright said. “It is not immediately adjacent, but it is close enough that they will have to make allowances.”

The city’s report states that the applicant is proposing a landscape buffer around the periphery of the site, including additional native plant species along the northern border to satisfy wetland buffer requirements.

After the Planning Department Development Commission community conference on the application, which was held on Wednesday night, it is expected the developer will submit the required permits within the next month or so.

“From what we can tell, the developer is anxious to get going,” Wright said.

The question that remains now is who will occupy the building.

Wright said that SeaCon, the management, engineering and construction company that owns the land and is the applicant for development, had not divulged to the city what medical providers would move in.

Rob Howie of SeaCon told The Reporter this week that the details of what medical providers would occupy the building were “not for publication,” but that he expected to be able to make an announcement by the end of the summer.

Howie confirmed that there had been a good deal of interest from prospective tenants of the building.