Citing concerns with perceptions of a planned “Energy station” and the pace of the process to allow it in the Issaquah Highlands, master planner Port Blakely Communities backed away from proposed changes to an agreement with the city at a Dec. 21 City Council meeting at City Hall.
Recommended by the council’s Land Use Committee (LUC) for approval, Agenda Bill 6025 would modify the Issaquah Highlands Two Party Agreement to allow for the construction of “Gasoline Stations” and the accompanying underground storage tanks.
But a letter from Port Blakely Communities President Alan Boeker, addressed and sent the same day to Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger, requested the item be dropped from consideration.
“We know this issue is of great interest to the entire community, which shares our goal of moving forward with the town center,” Boeker wrote. “Further discussions would help everyone to better understand where we are today and what can be done to accelerate development.”
He also wrote that Port Blakely would call on city officials again to “revisit the issue in the first quarter of next year.”
Surmising the opposition to the LUC recommendations at the request of Councilmember Maureen McCarry, Councilmember John Traeger succinctly described the bulk of the arguments in a “minority report” against the amendment.
“This is a loss of the original vision for the highlands,” he wrote, “A gas station could set the tone for low quality development in a highly visible and important location. The argument that this is a need and not a want is weak as everyone on Squak Mountain and Talus drive down the mountain to town for gas, as well as everyone in South Cove drives to town for gas.”
Port Blakely has faced repeated criticism in recent years from residents accusing them of forsaking the original aspirations of an “urban-village lifestyle” and “pedestrian and alternative transportation friendly” community, as promised in promotional literature and their Web site.
Gas stations are not presently allowed as a land use in the Highlands. The proposed amendment would be the sixth change to the agreement, entered into by the City and Port Blakely in 1996.
During the audience comments period, former Issaquah City Councilmember Hank Thomas drew a link between the gas station and an earlier amendment allowing a 100,000 gallon underground propane and heating oil tank at the new Swedish Hospital site in the Highlands.
He said he deplored recent moves to alter the Issaquah Highlands development agreement as a “slippery slope” that could lead to even worse.
“We’ve already moved down that slippery slope, but we can always move faster,” he warned. “The city often uses absolute sounding terms… But as we can see, this council has the authority to change that.”
The City Council will meet again on Jan. 4.
