Questioning how a new Issaquah Highlands housing development would fit into the area, city planning commissioners Dec. 15 delayed a decision on its development.
The proposal, called Block 24, drew criticism from the city’s Urban Village Development Commission (UVDC), at an earlier Dec. 1 meeting. Commissioners complained Port Blakely Communities hadn’t adequately explained how the residential development would fit in with the surrounding development plans and voted 6-1 to delay their decision until the beginning of next year.
Bellevue developers Devco, Inc. are seeking permits to move forward on building a 240-unit multi-family rental housing on a 9.5 acre plot, located east of Highlands Drive Northeast and south of Northeast Discovery Drive. The problem, say commissioners, is that decisions on land already subdivided and roads already designed or built were made in anticipation of a lower-density use. Design guidelines for much of the Highlands call for “narrow” streets, intended to benefit vehicle and pedestrian safety and walkability.
The UVDC is the city’s decision-making body on planning decisions made in the master-planned Talus and Issaquah Highlands communities.
Chief among the critics is UVDC Commissioner Dr. John Milne, Medical Director at Issaquah Swedish Medical Center. He specifically mentioned the approval of the High Streets retail project and worried the combination of the two sharing Discovery Drive and the approach slope along Highlands Drive could create traffic concerns moved to postpone the decision. Milne moved to postpone a decision until their next meeting, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 5, saying it would give Port Blakely time to respond to UVDC concerns.
“We’ve been fairly clear with the information we’d like to see to make an informed decision,” Milne said. “We needed to understand the larger context and we look forward to understading that going forward.”
A number of other UVDC commissioners commented that the project would further imbalance already disparate land uses in the Highlands. The Block 24 project would bring the total number of housing units in the Highlands close to the maximum allowed. Milne compared the Block 24 decision to residential and retail platting — or subdividing — to decisions of the Copper Ridge development in his own neighborhood in nearby Talus and how the context of development is working with existing planning.
“We wouldnt be doing our jobs if we weren’t responding to concerns,” he said. “None of the plats happen in a vacuum.”
Commission rules allow for three options on how to handle the project at their next meeting: They could approve the permits, deny the request or take no action, automatically referring the matter to the city’s Hearing Examiner.
The UVDC must act within 30 days of publicly receiving the development proposal.
Referencing his employer during deliberations and during a subsequent interview, Milne sought to avoid the appearance that he was acting on behalf of Swedish Medical Center, explaining that his involvement with the UVDC predated the company’s acquisition of property in the Highlands — soon to be developed into a 175-bed hospital. He joined the commission in 2006.
