The Issaquah City Council voted unanimously Monday night to seek to become a Regional Growth Center and put itself in  position to compete for priority funding for transportation infrastructure to support planned growth. Such a designation, councilmember Fred Butler said, will preserve the character of existing neighborhoods and increase the chances of better transit.

The next step is for the city to apply for the designation to King County and the Puget Sound Regional Council. Acceptance isn’t automatic, councilmember Paul Winterstein said.

“In 2012 only 10 of 34 (applicants) that were submitted were funded,” Winterstein noted.

The designation also embodies the vision for the Central Issaquah Plan said council member Stacy Goodman. Realistically it could be May 2014 until Issaquah receives the designation according to Winterstein.

The council also adopted design and development standards for the 1,100-acre Central Issaquah Plan which will support the long-term redevelopment of Central Issaquah into a more sustainable, pedestrian oriented, residential mixed-use urban community.

Councilmember Joshua Schaer voted against the standards, saying there wasn’t a funding plan and that the standards themselves contained “nothing revolutionary.”

However, councilmember Stacy Goodman pointed out that people are waiting in the wings to redevelop their property, so it was time to “road test” the standards, adding that this doesn’t mean the council cannot change the standards as time progresses.

“Is this perfect?” asked Butler. “Probably not.”

But he said the monitoring component and mandatory checking have been thoroughly analyzed.

One change agreed to at the meeting is to exclude critical areas and public parks from what is considered buildable area, or floor area ratio. Floor area ratio is the comparison of the building area to the site area. For example if you have a 10,000 square foot lot, and 2,000 square-feet is unbuildable, such as wetlands, that 2,000 square feet is excluded from the equation.

Also, building height was increased from 45 feet to 48 feet, allowing for a 15-foot first floor and three more floors at 11-feet.

For a look at the entire process, go to the city website, www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/ and click on major projects.