I'm just going to once I see the life
welcome welcome to all our members the
new members of where this is the fourth
meeting of the Joint Commission's as we
call you economic vitality human
services and planning policy Commission
where we're all working on the housing
strategy and tonight since there are
some new members your packet had a lot
of background information to try to get
you a little bit up to speed but I'm
going to run through a refresher course
very quickly although you feel free to
ask questions and have comments on it
because we the other members haven't
seen it since January so they may be a
little rusty on on these ideas as well
so we're going to do a little background
we're going to remind the group of the
three problem statements that you all
came up with we're going to talk about
the survey results that no one has seen
yet pretty exciting the housing survey
that we just did and then we're going to
talk about some of the actions and
strategies that Issaquah might try to
help us with our housing our future
housing and then we're going to talk
about next steps okay this is one of
those great graphics that we throw in
every time just so you know that how
clever we really are at scheduling this
is the whole housing strategy that we're
working on the first part of the work we
did was looking at the inventory that we
have now and what the future might look
like if we don't do anything we just let
the market continue how it's going what
would it look like and we had that
presentation in September to the council
and we found that we really didn't have
the the types of housing and the sizes
and cost ranges of housing that we
really needed if we kept going the way
that we're going so the second part is
where you will come in and we're working
at trying to figure out what do we want
in the future what kinds of homes what
is what are the problems that we might
face if we don't do some course
corrections at this point and so that's
where we are right now we're in the very
end of the needs analysis and then once
we are finished with that then we have
start talking about the policy pieces
and start talking to even some of the
developers on Ron you there's lots of
seats Ron on what kinds of what the
applet the folks that build affordable
housing and housing what do we need to
do we need to have a better discussion
with them on how can we help them
provide the kind of housing in our
community that we would like and then
the last part is actually wrapping up
with the housing strategy that would go
to council for their blessing and we're
sort of using you three the three groups
as sort of part of our public outreach
because housing is trickier than a lot
of the other pieces and parts that we
work on but you really kind of have to
get into the guts of it so we've been
using youth regroup the three groups
because you all come from different
areas of expertise and just to get you
guys to help us because you're sort of
the mini community here so we rely on
you to help us move forward with this
the first thing you all did the ones
that were that we're here but the ones
the new ones is you figured out a
mission statement to help you with this
huge task of creating a housing strategy
and this is what you came up with and it
seems to cover sort of the whole body of
work that you're working towards because
it is so big we wanted to be sure we
weren't going down the rabbit holes as
we as we were working through things
once we were done with the mission
statement we started narrowing it down
to what are the what are the problems
we're trying to solve for the future and
these were the reasons that you all came
up with problem statements to sort of
help guide you guide us as we put some
packages of strategies together and now
drum roll this was the first problem
statement and it might not be a surprise
to you all overall housing affordability
in Issaquah has decreased for households
at all level missed isn't just our issue
it's the region the regional issue and
in your packet there are tons tons of
charts and graphs and data all that good
stuff but I thought for the public that
we would just make it very general on
the fact
that we found to support this problem
statement the second one the second
problem statement you all came up with
as individuals and families cannot
afford to choose to work and live in
Issaquah and again there was a lot of
data and charts in your packet that
supports this problem statement or
supports that that this is a finding and
this is one that we're working on as
well for the future the third one is the
housing types are not meeting the
diversity of demand and the data
supported that by showing that the sizes
of homes that it seems that we're
building are not really the sizes that
seem to be what folks are looking for
and so that's another issue that we're
working on another I should have
mentioned in addition to working with
you all we've also had seven different
focus groups that we've met with from
large businesses in town smaller
businesses in town school district
supportive services senior services the
realtor's I'm probably missing some very
important group but they've been great
helping us from their niche of the
housing that they see that's needed the
groups that they're servicing and the
different issues that are presented by
the smaller group so that's that
information has been funneled in as well
the survey the survey says the survey
was open for almost four weeks ten
questions hopefully you all were able to
perhaps answer the survey I know that
the members that were already on it I
sent a few emails hey check out the
housing survey
there were 171 responses and I'm just
going to go through real fast
I wish we would had the results before
the packet went out so you could kind of
ponder it but but we'll get that to you
as well the first one was when you're
looking for a place to live what are
your top five factors daily being near
daily services was a high one thing cost
is a high one price rent
quality schools which we're very lucky
to have so that was I think the answers
weren't too surprising and if you want
to stop me and ask follow-up questions
feel free the second question which of
these statements reflect is the quad
today so we were trying to figure out
how do people feel about what they think
is out there now and these weren't too
surprising there's a lack of very small
houses people seem to agree with that
there seems to be demolition of existing
housing a lot of people were neutral on
that that they weren't really sure if we
were getting rid of of housing we talked
about seniors do folks think that
seniors are able to live in their homes
most people agreed with that although
still a lot we're neutral this is the
same list are there opportunities for
families a lot of people agreed that
there aren't that as many housing
opportunities for families and
especially younger families that was
interesting
lack of affordable housing scored very
high that folks agree with that and then
lack of housing with access to good
transit that seemed to be most folks
agreed with that lack of homes that
accommodate extended families a lot of
neutral kind of on either side and
overall housing stock
most folks agreed with that question
three have you or anyone you know had
trouble finding a place to live yes the
majority said yes they knew somebody in
the last five years and what kept you
from finding or someone you know it was
mostly cost so that was we're telling as
well this then we were having people
looking to the future what would be
successful in their idea in their mind
for the future of housing and the first
one you know as a good mom and apple pie
one that it's all stages of life that
you should be able to live here all your
life whether you're you know right out
of school college first-time family
empty nester the whole gamut
most people agree that that's that would
be a really good thing aging-in-place
scored really well that people would
like that in the future local employees
we were trying to get the live work
bound so more people can work and live
here cuts down on the traffic as well
would they like that to happen and most
of the folks are in the agree part still
in question five would people think the
future should have housing affordable to
a range of incomes including lower it
was more spread out there the next one
the city helps stabilize neighborhoods
by preserving existing housing that one
was pretty spread out as well the city
helps increase home ownership
opportunities with a wider range of
household types mostly agree but still
pretty pretty balanced this still is the
same future question do you this should
the city include higher density housing
opportunities I was pretty balanced
throughout the housing should fit and
preserve the character of the existing
community and protect critical
environmental features that one would
strongly agree that one all of a sudden
we we went out of balance and that was a
strongly agree young households students
entry-level workers that seemed to be
pretty balanced and there is more
single-family housing for families that
was agree and neutral do you work in his
cloth most had no but some said yes for
how many years ten five to ten seem to
be the biggest category and then your
annual income pretty balanced foot to
the higher and then how much do you pay
in mortgage and rent and then which of
the following best describes your
current residents and most of the folks
are owning a single-family home or condo
and those were the survey any questions
on there we'll make sure you get a copy
the same kind of ponder but I was it was
kind of fun to see that the results we
were we were pretty happy that we got so
many folks yes was it
in terms of the balance of homeowners to
renters does the survey reflect the
distribution in the community or is it
out of it can tell us that by who
registered but we didn't have the time
to to try to correlate different things
because we just received so you don't
know what percentage of the people in
Issaquah rent as opposed to own oh not
of the survey I mean just about how does
the I'm sure that I'm sure we know that
I don't know I don't know that right off
the top of my head does that might tell
us something about the answers right I
just don't know what off the top of my
head you might get slightly different
answers from people who own than you
might get from renters right absolutely
and that's why we were trying to send a
survey out to not only folks that lived
here but to folks that worked here
thinking that they met they would have a
really some really good ideas on perhaps
how to make their chances better of
being able to live here if they wanted
to thank you thank you any other
questions
yeah I wanted to ask something really
quick how did you decide to how did the
people here find the survey it was
online and we did email things off the
website and we mailed the boards and
commissions that I had addresses to we
tried to hit everybody that that we knew
of that was already either affiliated
with the city or was affiliated with any
of the focus groups that we had the
small business large businesses school
district service providers and realtor's
we tried to sort of go out with as many
directions as possible knowing that it's
just one type of outreach and we're
trying to do multiple types of outreach
but yeah I'm sure we could have figured
out a
in other different ways but it's a new
survey tool that the city has so I think
this is one of the second or third
surveys that the city's done any other
questions okay
strategies and actions the first group
of strategies and actions are good
perfect timing
are because I'll back up a little bit is
that council approved a temporary
moratorium last September because they
felt that the in the work that we've
done on the central Issaquah plan in the
last three years they felt that it
wasn't the developments that we were
getting weren't completely in line with
the vision that the council had going
into the central Issaquah plan and one
of the issues that they saw was that in
all the housing that was being built in
central Issaquah there weren't any
affordable units yet that were being
built so they added affordable housing
to the list of items that were supposed
to be studying during the moratorium
which was why when we first came to the
Joint Commission on what strategy should
we look at the first group of strategies
we looked at was affordable housing to
sort of get those in the think tank
before we started looking at other
strategies and there are only a small
part of the housing strategy the housing
strategy will be all types of housing
but it's just the part that council was
most interested in getting the results
sooner rather than later which is why we
started that and then as I say in that
little footnote you get to look at the
other strategies as well but we just
started with the affordable housing ones
yes so what's the the percentage of
affordable housing that they decided on
and how did they so how do we define
affordable housing affordable housing is
defined through the region through 80%
of King County median income which i
think is one of the slides that's in
this slide deck of all the data that
we've received and it starts at like
see the 80% median income and then
there's the mid is goes up to the 60 and
then low income so there's three sort of
levels if you will that are all
affordable but they're different levels
of affordable and then a hundred percent
is like market rate okay and and so okay
thank you
and will that match what is in the kind
of vision for a Sukhois yeah we talked
about it in the vision on trying to
provide housing for 80 percent or below
median which would be the the top range
of what's considered affordable I mean
how much percentages so if when you look
at the percentages will it match what we
need in Issaquah in low ink in low-end
affordable housing the percentages of
how much we need that can be part of our
vision I'm not sure that anyone in the
region thinks that we can actually
provide as much as we need but if it's
an aspirational goal for all of us for
the other region knowing how difficult
it is to provide and so I think all the
jurisdictions that I've heard of lately
everyone's got the same issue that
they're trying to figure out another way
to figure it out that Keith was just
saying it made the cover of governing
magazine because they're they're
figuring it out too so sort of all in
this together
but good questions it's a there's a lot
of data involved in in housing so good
question this I'm not sure if you're
able to read the fine print so I'd print
it out
this was from not the other two this was
from the January packet and what we did
here is the blue line up at the top are
what you all said and the focus group
said of the issues that that you felt
it's a claw faced and then the data is
in the orange or peach or whatever color
it shows on the screen to show that
there's there were two pieces of
criteria we were basing what the
affordable strategies on the right left
side the actions and the checkmarks show
which actions meet all of the criteria
that you mentioned and that the focus
groups mentioned and because it's got so
busy and since some of you weren't here
we thought we'd show it in a different
way just to have everyone's brains
explode and I printed this out so we
wouldn't all get eye strain you want to
go annoying I will keep it happy for my
eye we did here is we took the
strategies the first one I'll use as an
example accessory dwelling units and
those are sometimes called mother-in-law
apartments sometimes carriage houses
sometimes granny flats they have many
names but they're when you have a
single-family home and you put another
unit in it you either put it in the
house in the garage in the loft somehow
but it has a bathroom it has a kitchen
and it has a separate entrance those are
very affordable they're considered at
the 80% level and so one way of getting
more affordable housing is if you get if
you have more ad use accessory dwelling
units in your community we have at least
40 now in the city and they seem to be
working really well so what I put what I
did here is so you all could see the
discussion that went around the January
meeting when the folks that were on the
Commission at that time talked about him
and most all of the comments that we had
on ad use was positive that night
there was one set of issues about delay
to use add more vehicles to the
neighborhood and can the infrastructure
handle that between the the roads and
the parking our are there any questions
on assessory dwelling units or how does
this make any sense to try to remind us
all of what you all talked about in
January and the strategies yes so
looking at a to use the idea that it is
a lower about an 80% adjusted median
income as far as rents I was looking
into the information on Portland which
is known for its a to use and their
rents are actually the same market rate
for a to use as other units mm-hmm and
no I would just put in a little question
there as to whether or not this is an
effective strategy for affordable
housing particularly low-income housing
all right and I think it serves other
needs
but right and it's the quantum rules is
that they can't be they have to be
smaller than the existing unit so often
just the fact that they're smaller makes
the price point lower than you would get
in a regular run I'm not sure what
Portland's if they have that same kind
of regulation or if they can be as big
yes do you have an expert you have to
come up to the microphone though this is
Arthur Sullivan our housing expert from
arch a regional and coalition for
housing for those of you that don't know
Arthur yet everybody had a bad accident
in town so that's why I'm late so I'm
sorry to be late
fortune I was not in it so on the ATU
question it is under the quote more
affordable housing strategies but you're
correct in that they don't explicitly
create affordable units however a couple
we've been looking at this issue for
several decades working for cities and
are two elements that have tended to
make accessory dwelling units affordable
at 80 percent of median or less now when
we started doing this average rents were
more like 80 to 90 percent of meeting
and now they're closer to 100 percent of
median so the overall market has changed
but just sort of a couple things from
research that have been done on
accessory dwelling units and I don't
know I'd have to look at Portland more
carefully in more recent years but
cities in Easton County including iskele
require owner occupancy of one of the
two homes also there is a size
limitation on the size of the accessory
dwelling units the general research is
shown over the years that for the same
square footage and accessory dwelling
unit will typically rent for about 20
percent less 15 to 20 percent less than
that same square footage in a commercial
commercially operated multifamily unit
and it's partially because of kind of
just how they operate they're more
mom-and-pop operated I can Anatoli say I
used to own one and my wife would not
allow us to raise the rent on our tenant
because she liked the tenant and we
shared dog-sitting with each other but I
also knew many people in the Berkeley
area where I used to own mine that there
are stories like that all over the place
that accessory dwelling units are a
little bit different in how they behave
and they have a tendency for what they
are to be an electic less expensive than
what you see in commercial properties
any other questions on on that is it
helpful yes
since you're up there can I ask you
about about rent control and I know
Seattle is looking into that and New
York City has it in some in some
sections and so if we're trying to do
the you know it's a we're trying to
incentivize people to live and work in
Issaquah is there anything on the can on
the table to do some kind of rent
control for people who actually work in
the city or is that not a viable
strategy
I don't think the word is viable the
word is legal illegal it's not legal
this state has a law against rent
control with the one exception being
that if you provide public funding or if
you have a land use program like you
have in which a developer is required to
have units at a certain affordability
level those are exempt from the state
rent control laws but other than that in
the general market you're not allowed in
this state to do rent control to
statewide law and that was adopted I
don't know after whatever city maybe
tried to consider doing it okay is it
helpful to go through as a reminder of
parts of the discussion should I just
keep on number two is to support
preservation of existing affordable
housing and most of our affordable
housing has covenants as Arthur
mentioned where it's either a 30-year
covenant or a 50-year covenant but
there's some let's say excuse me like an
old town there's just some darling
little bungalows that are affordable but
they don't have a covenant on them
because they've just they're older
they're smaller and so those would be
things those would be units that we
would want to preserve somehow but we
don't have that control that a covenant
gives us that you you have 30 years of
the affordability of the of the rent or
the mortgage not to change so that's
something that came up as all positive
except we just don't always know which
units might be lost because they're just
either single family units that are
owned privately that all of a sudden
could someone could buy them and decide
to tear them down and put up something
else so that the problem with that is we
don't always know when there's a chance
that we could jump in to try and buy it
save it do something like that
number three was the housing levy to
propose a housing levy and this is to
sort of share the cost of affordable
housing not only with the developers
that build housing but also with the
community at large
it would be sort of an extra tax that
the council and everyone would have to
vote on but that would provide funding
that we could buy land for housing we
could get into a partnership with
developers to build affordable housing
we would have an extra bit of funding to
help in whichever way we thought helped
us the bus as a city so that was on the
table and most folks thought that was a
good idea other than we would have to
really look at you know what we would
use the money for that kind of thing
number four was transit oriented
development including multifamily tax
exemption that's something that we're in
the midst of trying right now through
our economic development department so
this is this is pretty exciting that
we're we're starting to to sort of dive
into this one this would be putting
housing near the Transit Center and
trying to provide for incentives so that
there would be more affordable units in
that project number five is to
inclusionary zoning is that in a certain
areas of town in the centralist qua area
specifically if a developer comes in to
build housing they have to build a
certain percentage of them as affordable
no one has built in centralist equai yet
since that regulation was adopted but
we're thinking of either raising that to
to require more housing or two to make
that requirement in the rest of central
Issaquah or even in the rest of the city
we haven't figured that out but it
seemed like a good idea to just have it
right on the books that it's required if
you build housing and it's a Qui you
have to build some affordable housing
with that project so I don't think there
were any oh there was a one potential
concern is you have to make sure that
you don't make it so that you discourage
anybody from building was the one
comment and we're there any more on that
one just at the bottom of the page I
can't read what's on the bottom of the
page
okay and the next one so those were all
the comments that you all had in January
and here's we've got a new chart I can
tell you're loving research I also
printed this one out this one actually
has the problem statement at the top to
try to focus us on that are affordable
are in the black printing those are the
ones you all talked about in January and
tonight we're going to talk about the
three new ones and these refer to other
housing not just affordable they could
be affordable but they're sort of going
beyond the affordable options that we
talked about in January and those are
some of them you actually did talk about
in January that changing the zoning and
building code to provide opportunities
for single room occupancy or many units
or different kinds of housing types
which we don't have right now also to
allow I like cottages and different
infill kinds of projects in
single-family areas perhaps and also
different housing options and services
to allow seniors to stay in their homes
yes you know me I always have a question
no it's good so I know that the council
so we've the council's we've we've
provided approval on a number of
high-density housing there's this
empowerment's out there that have not
been used yet it retroactively Lee could
we go back and ask for give providing so
this is just so I don't know much about
this but I'm just asking we go back and
and and provide incentives for them to
actually build affordable housing
because the concern for us is and it
took me 20 minutes to drive three miles
today is that we are all the
infrastructure is already so strange
and so we've already approved all the
tight-end city housing and we're adding
more to this into a strained
infrastructure and so can we go back and
say rather than building new units this
is talk to the developers that are
already going to build new units and
provide incentives to change kind of
that conversation so that we accomplish
this as well as you know reuse their
permits right if we've already approved
a permit with an applicant the only way
because it's sort of a contract between
them and with us the only way we would
be able to modify something like that is
if it was a mutual either they came to
us and said we would like to amend
whatever it is we'd like a new unit we'd
like commercial we'd like and then we
could say well if you would like that
then we would like this but but it once
they have their permit they're pretty
much good to go and unless we were to
contact them and say hey we have this
great idea I mean they don't have to
entertain it at all we can in fact win
resented to write to fight I was going
to say I mean that is a possibility I
think one of the things to think about
especially with newly built is that the
financing they received is based on the
projections of rents and such and so
maybe a little more challenging so I
don't think the subsidy the city can
provide may be able to make up but what
is necessary there so I think it's more
effective thinking about going forward
and looking at because typically when
you're looking at affordable housing
there's many sources of money coming in
and supposed to just what the city could
provide so it's an interesting idea but
I think but it may also be something to
think about for preservation of this if
there are units that are have been on
the market for have been built for a
while thinking about it have is there an
opportunity to make sure that they don't
rise as fast as some other ones but I
think for newer one's a little more
challenging so doesn't mean it can't
ever happen but you know part of this is
we there you want to product find the
things that are going to be the most
bang for your buck be the most ability
to do things so thank you
okay it didn't seem like there were any
comments any more questions on on that
one okay
were there any I want you guys to be shy
were there any comments on the
affordable housing ones for those of you
that weren't here or even those of you
that were here on that first list yes
what do you mean comments or questions
like basically do we approve what do we
think of a to use versus em FTEs etc
right or do you say or do you see
something that just doesn't sound right
at all to you that you think there's an
issue with one of them or that something
just doesn't make any sense or something
is we should put all our eggs in one
basket kind of thing I have some
concerns about the cost-benefit ratio
for the multifamily tax exemptions as
far as the number of units that it would
provide compared to the cost because
when you're looking at that you're
looking at giving the developer a 12
year tax exemption for the entire
building even though they're only
putting in 20 to 25 percent affordable
first of all I would really really want
that to be low income rather than
affordable because I think what we've
seen in the data is that we have a huge
deficit in the 50% ami range and not as
much in the 80% range and so I think we
need to focus our push on that area but
as far as that I'd like to know a little
bit more information I looked a little
bit into Seattle's kind of the tax that
they wouldn't be collecting compared to
the number of units that they've been
able to grow and it was fairly expensive
per unit to make that difference and I'd
like to compare that to the potential
for you know even without the housing
levy for the city
to acquire land and what the cost per
unit would be there if we did something
like we did with the YWCA where we're
gifting or providing low-cost land to a
group that's going to provide much more
housing part of the description of this
is you know that there really isn't one
tool that's going to solve this problem
it's really kind of populating a tool
box with a lot of different strategies
that you know potentially all of them
are going to provide different types of
housing opportunities and you know I
agree there's needed every income level
doing part of what we've talked about is
that creating a city with a diverse
housing stock is one of our kind of top
goals and that's that's anything from
market rate housing down to housing for
homeless right and so these different
tools give us different opportunities
and I think what we talked about was if
we feel as a group comfortable with
everything on the list not as one anyone
as a silver bullet but as a group of
strategies then we would forward that to
the City Council and let them then chew
on the rationale because you're right I
mean the different tools are going to
have you know you don't want to use a
screwdriver to try and pound something
into a wall but there might be a hammer
in there that would work better and
similarly some of these depending on
what we're really trying to achieve
might work better for certain things
like like very low income you know the
city purchasing land or MFT ii could be
a better tool than maybe trying to get a
to use because i agree with you that ad
you might or might not be affordable at
the end of the day and it'll change over
time is kind of the rationale you know
maybe at one point it's market but then
it's a place for your kids to hang out
and you don't charge them anything I
don't know so and carthoris something to
say - yeah
you were sort of getting at what I
wanted to sort of put out there to the
group is that what we're looking to do
right now and is what we did began at
the last meeting we you sort of want to
just redo it again because several of
you weren't here is we're sharing you
the kind of comments we heard these are
strategies that as chief said we're not
looking for one strategy here we're
looking for these range of strategies
what are your perspectives when you hear
about them and those can be perspectives
of do they you know reinforce some of
the areas yet this could really see that
this could help address this need we're
trying to hear from you representing a
different cross-section of the community
your response is when you hear those oh
that sounds like a good a because it
might address this need and then the
other is we're not writing the ad
ordinance here with this group we're not
writing the MFT ordinance but your
comments would say if the council wants
to proceed with those what are things
that should be done as part of the
evaluation so yours is a perfect example
and yes every city we've helped with MFE
we've done this elaborate chart that
shows how much you're giving how much
you're getting and stuff like that so
we're looking for those both of those
kind of comments that's why you see
there's pros that's sort of the why is
it a fit in the community and then the
others are the issues or potential
things to deal with and we just thought
we should revisit those for each of
these topics Before we jump into the new
ones because as I said there's some new
people and you maybe had a time chance
to think about it since the last meeting
so that's all we're trying to do right
now we're not trying to get to a bottom
line conclusion per se we're trying to
just get your thoughts so that we have
so that the council can hear other
perspectives as they're deliberating as
we advance this report to them okay I
had one comment I've been talking with
people about affordable housing and
development and one of the things that
I'm hearing from people is the
development is happening very rapidly
and that it seems that even if you
required affordable units from the
developers it would not discourage them
from building in this area because it's
like everybody wants to develop
something on the east side so if we
discourage them even a little it might
help us to catch up with the
infrastructure so just one overall
thought about that as the economic
development director for the city is so
part of the problem about affordable
housing is supply and demand right so
the more housing you have it has to
compete with less buyers and therefore
the housing typically is not as high
priced the less available housing units
we have the higher the price will be
because there will be less dock for
people to actually purchase so it
actually took slow growth actually
pushes up housing costs so that's
economics okay but you might at least
get some balance so a couple a couple
things here when talking about
affordable housing there is I call a
Lockhart affordable housing and then you
have full services affordable housing
what's your preference on full services
versus ala cart and should we include
policy verbage to require full services
can you explain a little more what you
mean by a Lockhart versus full service
oh all a cart would be a development of
affordable housing where the people
simply pay the rent
then you have full services that we also
include things like childcare services
social services they may have counselors
on hand to help people with life needs
what a force training workforce training
things like that okay when you get into
affordable housing sometimes you also
have other issues that are or other
stresses on that that segment of the
population so not everybody who is in a
in affordable housing care because they
just can't get a job maybe it's because
there's other issues as well so what do
other people have reaction to that
question before I make any comments I
mean I think we need both if we're
looking at the highlands which I know
well we have the full services down with
the YWCA we also have various individual
arche subsidized houses throughout that
provide just the ala carte so I think I
I would be in support of both within the
city other thoughts and reactions
generally I'll put a sort of qualifying
statement out that so if you recall we
use the term moderate income which is
median income now is 96,000 for a family
of four so we're getting close to a nice
round number to be able to start
thinking about the math a household that
we consider moderate is going to be
eighty percent of that figure and and
for smaller family it won't be the full
ninety six will be more like eighty
thousand it's like eighty could have
almost a hundred thousand is sort of the
median income for small versus a large
household so at eighty percent of median
you're looking at about eighty thousand
down to about sixty sixty-five thousand
if it's a single person okay and for
lower income that's fifty percent of
median so you're looking at thirty to
forty five thousand dollars a year
another way to translate that in your
head pretty easily is the magical $15 an
hour number you see thrown around a lot
if somebody had a $15 an hour job
full-time it would be thirty thousand
dollars a year just simple little
figures to have in your head about hat
about forty percent of all households
are going to be under 80 percent of
median income as we grow in other words
there's a community grows from all the
jobs they have
they will generate new households that
doesn't mean that might be who's living
in the town because you only have big
homes you're not going to see that but
as your workforce grows you're going to
typically see about 40% of your
households will be in that moderate or
low income range so often when we're
dealing with housing affordability we
are dealing people who are working or
might be dealing with students we might
be dealing with seniors on fixed income
and they're all falling under one of
those income categories when you start
getting into the services you're
generally dealing with households who
were probably well below 50% of median
income they may be unemployed they may
have gone through a health crisis they
may have gone through a number of things
they may be homeless or they may be very
close to being homeless and we just had
an interview with a number of service
agencies and one of the comments they
have made is that the general increase
in housing costs in the region have put
more and more households in a housing
tenuous situation long-term not
short-term like it used to be they used
to experience but long-term and as they
experienced that the kind of issues that
Ron talked about start to emerge and
grow because of the pressure that
they're under to survive day to day and
so what we have been doing in the last
ten years
is for people who are lower-income there
have been more interest in getting
programs associated with housing so that
people can maybe help being a more
stable environment for a period of time
so they can get back on their feet and
get back and be more independent going
into the future so that's to give a
little context so usually the ala carte
is for the more at 50 and 60 80 percent
of median or even higher like first-time
homeowners you all are seeing what the
home prices are you mentioned the rh
units which are really sort of basic
wide units created through the iskele
highlands of development some of those
are targeted to households at median
income because the markets new units all
right 120 150 percent of median so this
goes back to Keith's comment earlier
that there's such a wide range of needs
which I think the data that you solved
was showing you and so the city has
looked at
different types of strategies because of
different needs but generally when the
services are there you're targeting
towards households who are under 50% and
often well below 50% and the more
Alucard are in the 40 and up percent of
median income and sometimes they're
targeted to seniors and sometimes not
but that's just sort of distinguish you
from the comment you made you wanted to
follow up it was like so the question
comes for and looking at the median
income that's at 50% if we cater to that
audience we decide to do that if we do
not offer full services for that segment
and maybe that's the only segment we we
target for full services then we would
be putting possibly undue burden on
other city resources to support that
target audience and not in not enabling
that specific community to be successful
because we're depriving them of those
resources so we're providing a place for
them to live but not a way or means to
be successful so Kay okay and again I
think what my comment would be is at 50
percent of median income what you're
describing might be true for the 20
percent of households maybe a little bit
more and they some of them might benefit
from light touches of services support
if you're at 30 percent of median that
percentage is likely to be higher okay
50 percent of median right now is 45042
96 divided by two so $48,000 for a
family of four so there's a probably a
lot of people who are earning that who
are doing you know fairly stable
lifestyle but I think the point you're
making is our we conscious of that need
in the housing that is being created and
supported when it's explicitly targeted
to a certain income level if that may be
a fair way to represent what you're
saying yeah I don't want to abandon
those people if we say okay we're going
to allow this community to exist I want
to give them
their means and resources to be
successful because when you're out of a
50 range or 45,000 we may think wow
45,000 seems like a lot but sorry living
on that and if you just sneeze you're
backwards right sometimes having those
resources keeps that person moving
forward as opposed to having a potential
catastrophe right okay so how do you
restrict to people that live and work in
there to work in this city so we've got
cities that are a number of cities that
are within 20 miles of us right and so
potentially we could take ourselves into
a place where we're solving this problem
for a bunch of cities right and so I
know that there is some collaboration so
I mean in your experience how do you
restrict that to two Issaquah on people
who work in Issaquah without getting
into any you know legal right kind of
situation it is kind of a trickier -
that's a great question and it's when I
come up against a lot or deal that gets
brought up a lot and part of it is I
volunteered to come to this organization
when it was formed and it was formed by
Bellevue who said wouldn't we all
benefit if everybody on the east side
was working on housing and had the
resources within the government to help
them work on housing issues because a
task force just very similar years
concluded that just because a building
is over the city boundary in Bellevue
doesn't mean Bellevue isn't benefiting
or if Bellevue is the only city doing
something and the other cities aren't
then is that benefiting them and so the
whole idea behind arch is the YWCA had
funding from ten cities in East Kent
County now it's a clause helped fund a
project in Bellevue so we have moved our
money around with the goal of making
housing happen in every city okay so we
want to make sure the philosophy of the
city this is formed by the cities is we
all need to try to do stuff okay both
and all these different types of tools
do we go as far as saying let's
fine-tune it and say we want to you know
do we get people from our community
that's a trickier question what we have
done is try to work with the agencies to
market locally when they have
opportunities the YWCA we actually and
we're and we're going back and we're
asking the developments that we funded
are the people coming from this area
when you create the affordable housing
what we have tried to do in the past is
have them market to local businesses
when they are opening and stuff like
that that's getting tougher to do under
the Fair Housing Act and so there is
some issues that are rising there but
we've been very conscious that the
reason we're at this table is a local
need so what are we doing to try to have
the solutions we do address local needs
a certain amount is just naturally you
know who wants to drive into this
traffic if they don't have to right so
what we are finding is generally people
we think people are coming from the
communities in which the housing is
create or maybe they didn't live here
but they work here a lot of times but it
is something we're always conscious of
but because we're getting funding
assistance from the county and the state
they're also like they don't love you to
sort of be explicitly restrictive to one
community where people can come from but
we have tried to find ways and we are
actually going out this year and
surveying because this kind of question
does come up but the main way we do it
is doing outreach to local businesses
when buildings are being filled up and
try to reach out locally and to make
that be the case because we do
understand that's what's motivating this
conversation okay
so I want to reinforce one point and I
want to make any point the point I wanna
reinforce is the point she made earlier
about rent so I've heard
the nightmare stories of friend
literally getting doubled as soon as
Uli's ends they understand rent control
is legal in Washington but this is
something I would be happy to deliver I
think we should deliver it more on okay
the other point I wanted to make I don't
see it here is one of the price drivers
or house prices and this basically
affects everybody not just middle-income
families is or iners from especially
right now Vancouver that don't live here
that don't have a work visa coming here
and buying property all cash and this is
very pronounced it's become very
pronounced in recent times and some
localities like you know the Highlands
where I live
buy the property the sign a lease right
there to leave the country and as you
know Vancouver they included a 15% tax
which is basically driving them for the
south
it used to come to the Bay Area now
they're here and this is something I
think we should talk about okay I'm
working in four cities right now and
this point has come up by groups like
yours in every city on the east side so
I don't know maybe we'll maybe they'll
be enough for this being raised as a
question so we'll that's what we're
trying to do tonight is we've given you
the four or five three or four four or
five our many for affordable housing and
what we were going you're sort of
jumping ahead on the agenda but that's
fine which is did we miss anything so
it's good that you're bringing these
general issues up but please also feel
free to comment on any of the ones on
this matrix as well okay be specific
about that but the general comments are
helpful
well so does Lord yes right one very
quick one here for affordable housing
before we move on and do we as a group
want to discuss affordable housing for
first responders and for teachers now I
understand the laws and so on for first
responders is going to be different from
teachers and that teachers could be
funded different ways
oh maybe having a formal housing plan
for these audiences might go through a
non-profit or some other means but maybe
we should include that into our
discussion because it'd be great if our
teachers could live here I think they
would like it and I think our students
would like it and I think that might be
absent from our current discussions okay
how do others feel about that comment
I'm seeing that there's a lot of
turnover in teachers because teachers
have to commute so far in order to find
a place that they can live and traffic
is not good and the stress causes them
to leave very quickly so I'm going to
ask Trish is going to show you the
matrix with the three and I'm going to
ask for that comment it's noted but to
be held and when we have the full list
up there I'm going to then ask you the
question or any of these strategies when
you add the affordable plus to general
ones ones that might in particular help
address that point that need okay I
don't want to limit it to just this part
of the list as I think there might be
some stuff on the other part of the list
that would also help address that so I
want at least in other words say I want
to take your statement one step further
and say and of the strategies that we've
been talking about here are some that
might be ways to direct that I know
about your questions in the past about
that I'm taking all those answers that
you've given me into that framework that
I just mentioned so I still remember all
those things right okay appreciate it
okay all right other comments on the
Affordable before we ship
/ and add the over the other strategies
to the conversation so if the what I
understand that what we're trying to do
right now is you want us to comment on
these six and say whether we like these
tools or whether any of these six have
things that we might be concerned about
right where you go if you are going to
look at these more here are things we
want you to think harder about it so I
think the one I just look at is number
two if you take Keith's point on supply
and demand that would supporting the
preservation as is of affordable housing
would restrict supply so I would modify
that to maybe say if there is an
affordable unit put a covenant that says
what what comes into that next could
have more units but those need to be
affordable units otherwise you're just
kind of going to be stuck in place with
bungalows and not enough so what you're
saying is a sub-element of number two
could be saying preservation might be
allowing redevelopment but you're
replacing you know I just have to keep
the thing as is yes because otherwise
you're just going to end up with a
really old bungalow and people are they
I couldn't work that right there may be
times we're keeping some below because
another example of preservation would be
we haven't had cities do that around
here too much is here's a neighborhood
that we're going to allow mooring but
how you're going to did this I went back
our loan it was our length not Arlington
but Alexandria Virginia no I know it was
Arlington Virginia and they what they
did is they had an area right around
there new rail stations for metro and
there's a base zoning and then they said
if you won and it had a lot of housing
they're already like garden-style
apartments and stuff and they said
there's a couple different ways you can
go higher than that babe zoning and one
of those is you can buy air rights from
another building and then that building
will get preserved and we've toured a
couple so there's the point I'm hearing
from you is think about the idea of
still having growth occur but preserving
opportunities that are there okay all
right
others died bid a arrow Hadron I had
recruited sorry quick question on for
number one by a to use as an ad you have
to be a separate dwelling or can it be
part of the primary building actually
almost the vast majority of the time
they're part of the primary building
most a to use are not separate cost too
much most people find it's very easy to
carve out space and a house to work for
an 8000 Eddie you could also be a room
for rent an ad you must be a legally
separate you to be a native you can rent
out rooms people can rent out rooms and
that's just people can do that but an
Adu is when you go through the effort of
creating a separate legal unit from a
point it may not be it might not be
legally separate in terms of being able
to sellable
but it's firewalls separated and it has
cooking and it has bathing facility it
has all living needs independent of the
rest of the house but would a I'm
thinking I'm squawk mountains we have a
lot of single-story units that have
daylight basements provide basements
have seven foot ceilings guess which
sheetrock on it that becomes a cigarette
and half foot ceilings is that literally
would that be legally considered as a
edu or the ceiling if you go and get the
permit and do enough firewall separation
you could potentially make daylight
basements are a prime opportunity for
the town where I own mine was a hillside
community and most of the ad use were in
daylight basements in the basement in
the basement area that had been it took
the base back right I mean everybody
knows the layout you take that bathroom
on the lower level and those two rooms
that are each side of it and boy it's
real easy with not a whole lot of cost
to create a separate unit from that so
it is very common split-level you can
probably vision how you can do that one
I mean so yes most of them are just
carved out of existing living space and
existing units using primarily existing
plumbing with minor you know some
plumbing modifications but the main
you have to have the cooking you must
have the bath the bathing and you must
have fire separation there's probably
some other technical but those are the
main ones and then you must have at
least at most cities say you must have
at least one more parking space than is
required under the code for that house
now most homes already have that you
have more than you know so if the code
requires two and you have somehow four
parking spaces in your driveway you meet
the requirement so those are generally
what the basic rules are to create an
Adu
there's some other subtleties like
design features if you do an addition or
something kind of things and stuff so
you wanted to make a comment earlier um
yes thanks I also had a follow-up
question on the ad use so is the
strategy to somehow support addition of
abs into existing structures or would it
be encouraging developers to develop
when they develop new homes to also
include ad use I'm just wondering what
the mechanism is for encouraging me to
use in the strategy what do people think
good question so I think because ad use
serve multiple purposes in addition to
affordable housing they allow
flexibility for the owner as they age
and perhaps their kids move out they can
move into the smaller unit and rent out
the larger unit it provides that
flexibility of additional income and
things like that so I think it's very
important to think about it in existing
homes it also helps with the
preservation when we're looking at the
valley floor yeah I think most of the
housing addition that we're going to get
is going to be you know part mint sand
things like that that are higher density
so we wouldn't be able to include a to
use and that so I think that's often the
story behind a to use but let me make
tell the story about the new and see
what you think of that and new if the
Builder knows the community allows a to
use it's pretty inexpensive while you're
building a unit to think about how could
I lay this house out so that in the
future it could very easily accommodate
an ad you so I had a friend in Mercer
Island who essentially rebuilt their
house and as they rebuilt it they were
thinking about the parents and they're
going I want an ad I want her to have a
space so as they design the house they
designed it to be incorporated in fact
another city a commissioner said maybe
we should require new bill homes to be
plumbed so that they could have an Adu
that was an idea from one commission so
yes well so all the friends I have that
that have it that something that could
be an Adu they use Airbnb and so in in
high in high-cost areas the amount of
money you can make off of Airbnb is much
higher than na tu so that would be a
consideration here so we'll make a note
if you do a to use is there a side issue
of the air be short-term use and what
does so you think about we don't to
solve that tonight we can make that an
issue out there okay any others up here
is I want to take all night on this I
want to get us to some new ones to the
number six is blank on the handout that
I have evaluate slash consider efforts
to remove barriers to call elements
right that part of this discussion or
upcoming discussion that should I think
I don't know how that is on the
affordable one but but it really I think
is as much appropriate for the new ones
but the reason it's blank I'm not sure
why it's blank but I know what it means
and and maybe that's that could be the
great transition to the new ones if you
live or if someone died because we can
still come back to the first six and
stuff but if you don't have a dying need
to
you say something right this moment on
the Affordable one we could use his
question as a transition and do that one
is the first one under the land use sort
of or the broader housing needs issue
people okay with that okay so this one
is and do we do have a slide than you
have within the one so we didn't jump to
that you're asking go through those
right this is what six right so okay so
for this one remove barriers to condo
development does anyone knows a story
behind what the story here okay
so the story here is least this is the
story we hear is that the kind of
condominiums that were being built up
until the recession are not getting
built and what I mean by that is like in
Issaquah highlands there's a number of
condo developments that were built up
there and that is the same kind of
buildings as the new rental housing that
you're seeing built now and we're not
seeing that we're still seeing high-end
condos being built like in downtown
Seattle and downtown Bellevue you're
still seeing those kind of condos built
and what we've heard is the reason is
they're so high up on the market that
the builders can in for afford the
really expensive insurance costs to deal
with condo association liability okay
but for the kind of condos that were
built the issue that we're hearing is
out there is that NIF state the condo
liability laws to the builders are
written in a way that puts them at
jeopardy that within a ten year period
they will be sued and therefore and be
liable for the material workmanship of
the buildings and therefore they can't
get the insurance or it's so hard to do
that they're just not building it and
given where interest rates are being so
low rental housing is doing well before
the recession when rates were a little
bit higher the kind of builders were all
building there was no rental house
being built because the economics often
works better so the whole issue appears
to be around this state's condo
liability legisla and builders therefore
making it difficult for them to consider
building something which from my
background and looking at everything
going on in the market I can't
understand why condos aren't being built
it doesn't seem to be a market demand
issue ok it seems to be that and so it
seems believable what they're saying
during the recession when they say that
yeah well maybe they're just saying that
because they're trying to make your life
easier but right now you go they're
still not building them but you are
seeing townhomes being built because
those are built as fee-simple so they're
not that sorry condominium association
so here is a form of housing that has
become in East Kane County since I've
been here that's the first form of
ownership for people is condominiums and
we're not seeing it built right now and
so the idea here is two cities get
behind and tell legislators we have this
big gap in our market that is not being
met and it seems that maybe legislation
is part of the reason why and should we
do something or maybe either like you
know it's been a tough one for the
legislators because the attorneys come
in and say no we're protecting consumers
okay so as with many issues there's two
sides to it but that's what the story is
behind this one and so there's nothing
explicitly for the city to do at this
moment other than to maybe get behind
the legs the issues that the builders
are saying they're having with that
issue okay are you very high level
what's the difference between a condo
and a townhouse a townhome can be a
condo a condo is when you don't own the
ground condo is when you own this you
own you don't even know in the building
you own the air within the the paint and
end of your unit and the Association
owns the building and you and that's why
you pay dues to take care of the
building and stuff so you own your unit
but you don't own the grounds and you
don't own the infrastructure of the
property whereas in a townhouse
the way they're building them is they
are subdividing them into individual
units or if I think it might also be to
keep the number of units under a certain
size and I'm not sure I haven't filed
the legislation closely enough but with
a townhome you often own the dirt
underneath your unit and you own your
your the whole building and the shell
okay but daily they may look the same so
the thing is is if it's a paper
difference it's you know you may walk
down the street and there may be no
visible difference between a condominium
and a townhouse project it's whether the
townhouses as Arthur said are typically
on platted Lots so every individual unit
has a piece of dirt that you own
underneath it wears on a condominium you
own that dirt in common with all your
neighbors and also obviously then when
you go to stat flat you know flat one
above the other obviously that can't be
a townhouse that's got to be a
condominium so they've been able to in
some cities been able to get around it
when you use a townhouse you know up and
down configuration but the kinds that
you saw Peninsula Highlands that were
being built and that we saw you know
downtown Redmond several of those
buildings are condoms that we're
building it but none of them are now the
new ones are all rental wear ISM and the
pre-2010 several of those were built
even as flat as condominiums okay and
that's probably where the biggest gap is
is where in all this new development
that's now at sort of the four storey
type stuff none of that in the last
three years or four years has been
ownership so there is there is a way to
build a stacked flat project as an
apartment as a rental unit and actually
turn it into a condominium later so
after that liability time lapses you can
do that but you have to build it a
certain way to start so that you can
then segregate it out individually later
so it takes a game plan and right now I
think as Arthur mention because rents
are so high right now most builders
aren't looking long lens and they
about that as they build right now it's
builded as cheap as you can charge as
much as you can when I was a developer
in the 80s in California we built rental
housing to condo standards so that we
could do what Keith was just describing
so you have to build it I decided to
build it differently but I doesn't feel
like the builders are doing that right
now they're not okay is it Arthur is it
safe to say that Honda's are part of a
more comprehensive housing mix and
should be a part of any successful
affordable housing that entertaitment or
a question it's I guess it's a question
I kind of heard you stating it okay so
you think I need a statement what do
other people think I mean how do you
react to it if you think I made a
statement how do you react to the
statement okay I'll play this I think
you made that statement I agree with
that statement I would say just and from
personal experience I think pointing to
like Los Angeles big city expensive city
very spread out but I think one thing
that keeps it relatively affordable as
we look to move my mother-in-law back
there as there are condos and you can
purchase those so she won't be saddled
with rent increases right she will get a
mortgage we will get a mortgage for her
she'll have a place and that will be the
thing and at the end of it you actually
own something versus 30 years of just
paying rent so I think it's the other
benefits obviously I tend to be smaller
units so if we have a difference in mix
and we're lacking in the one in
two-bedroom things for home ownership
this allows you to get in and actually
own something and build equity so I
think it's a central so Arthur one one
suggestion here is we're talking this
through because it seems like most of
the group is is liking condos as a part
of a diverse housing stock so besides
the the lobbying efforts that we can do
in Olympia maybe one other thing that we
can do is look to see if there is a
permitting disincentive for building it
to condo standards from the get-go
because if there is maybe the city can
look at ways of lowering those barriers
so that if I'm a builder and I could
basically if it's just the cost of the
materials and there's no additional
like permitting fees or impact fees or
anything else maybe that's a way to
potentially help facilitate okay so I
want to take I want to put Keith's
comment but I want to make sure that
what he's what his statement was is true
in your mind I don't want to put words
in your mouth yeah
I sorta did so you asked kind of two
questions you let in by making a
statement about it could be part of a
continuum of needs so the first question
to you is and I think you know we showed
you data showing a wide range of needs a
basic question is should the strategy
overall try to achieve a continuum of
housing types in the community or should
we focus on certain types and the
continuum can be at two levels one is
cost and the other is type of housing
choices so let me put that question out
and see if we get affirmation on that
general point and then I want to come
back to the in those ownership condos
fit in that series but first let's talk
about the big picture so we see if
there's consensus on that point or not
or if there's a different perspective on
that you look at the urban core and we
would be looking at condos right because
you can't do townhouses and do
high-density and we're almost out of
real estate in terms of doing
single-family homes or duplex type lot
so it looks like about the only way we
could move forward would be condos
unless their apartments and we my condo
at least gets people owning and gets
moving in the right financial direction
so we have a choice okay so that's
you're answering the second question
first first I want again I want to make
sure and and if we're good with the
first one I don't need to belabor it but
I just want I've got the group here I
want to first talk on the continuum and
you've made a really compelling argument
for the condo one and would look come
back to that but when I first take care
of the continuum question because our
job here is the document for the council
your thoughts and so you've raised a
really good question that I want to make
sure I see what perspectives and range
yes
with regard to the continuum I mean just
from personal experience I lived in
Southern California where you know real
estate is very high or not high on but
just expensive so you get pushed out and
you know our first you know property was
a condo it got us into the market got
collateral to the point where we moved
up here when we sold it we had enough
for a down payment to now go on to a
townhouse with that said we just had a
baby now we're starting out grow and
we're going to have to now move towards
to a single-family home so I mean I can
see this have you know a condo being a
part of this whole continuum work you
know what kind of cycles and then by the
time you have your single-family home
and you're now an empty nester you want
to downsize and you have what do you do
then a lot of people go back to having
condos because then they don't want to
have to deal with blowing their own lawn
or dealing with roofing or whatever so
you go back to a condo where all you
have to do is you know downsize in terms
of your mortgage and then you just pay
an association and gets taken care of
okay so I think in terms of that there's
there's a cycle that maybe if there's
not a lot of stock or market for condos
it's something that you know explore
looking to any other comments about the
Kinze yes I'm fine with building condos
as long as you don't build it in the
highlands and you're okay now so the
obvious points one is you're always
trained on infrastructure like we
already pointed out you don't have
enough roads you don't have enough
schools and condos means packing more
people in the same area that's what one
the second thing is the obvious thing
you want a sense of there's enough
demand there's enough condos that are in
Bellevue and Seattle that are sitting
vacant do you have a I might have to get
data alright and but that statement
definitely wants to I know two or three
years oh okay two or three years ago is
not today the world has changed
significant
yes well actually that I had that on my
list of what is the occupancy rate right
now for four apartments and four for
smaller condos okay idea what who did so
I'm not going to do that off the top of
my head we but we have that kind of
information and in general vacancy rates
have been going way down in the last
couple years to a point where that's why
we're seeing a longer rental
construction period than we probably
seen in a really long time and part of
that because vacancies aren't having
been moving and part of the reasons they
think vacancies haven't been moving is
because they're in condos being built so
people don't have the ability you
mentioned you got into the market with a
condo but you still have to save up a
downpayment and you still need that
first rental unit I mean the ladder
starts before ownership for most people
they don't jump right into ownership yes
this is anecdotal I work at a apartment
community here in Issaquah we have 125
units and we're currently working
through a waiting list of 50 people that
we have had for a year this does
anecdotal for rental capacity yeah
arthritis on your question about the
continuum or the suite of solute I'm
going at the at the mission statement
for the housing strategy that we work
through and I think it's still good even
after all this discussion I think it's
still valid then it includes you know
the the words writing a diversity of
choices to meet the needs of people who
choose to live work and play at school
and I think in order to do that you have
to have that continuum so okay great all
right so I've heard
sorry yet look at the mission say when
we've been sort of saying it I just want
I'd like to revisit some of those things
once in a while to make sure as you get
into this more you still feel the same
way so that's why I ask the question
I wasn't assuming you know but this is
we want to keep reiterating from the
beginning what's the core where we're
coming from so now the condo I've heard
a number of arguments for condominiums
and I've heard
but a careful part of condominiums which
is related to a comment we heard earlier
is infrastructure so if you're going to
do density do or densities right but its
density is okay condos can be part of an
answer more to add about condos or
should we jump to the next one and again
we can keep coming back as we go but
anything right at the moment yes so I
think we recognize that the central
Issaquah plan has a goal of density in
the valley floor and so if we're going
to do that it would be more supportive
of the workers and the people who are
choosing to live here to be able to have
ownership availability with condos
rather than fill it completely with
apartments so I think that's saying what
would you say two minutes ago right
right you're saying the same thing so
that's I'm hearing that in particular
for Central Issaquah it would be good to
have both never read that comment from
two people they like the idea of there's
obviously a lot of development on the
table for apartments that's why there's
a moratorium I'd believe and maybe one
of the things that could happen during
this moratorium is looking into exactly
what was discussed by key Thanks
improving the standards of what we're
building so that it could potentially
become condos in the future okay so so
I'm hearing an amendment or in addition
to that one also look internally to see
if you know probe with builders maybe
and say hey are we part of the issue if
we take care of issue a are we right
behind with another issue and that's
something we should acknowledge in our
work I'm seeing a lot of head nodding on
that okay great
let's see what's the next one
accommodate single room occupancy or
many Suites in multifamily zones so
there what we're talking about is a
phenomenon that started in Seattle about
ten years ago where builders came up
with this concept
of within when it actually goes back a
long long long time but this is when it
started getting some traction and some
new traction and new development most of
the time in the past old hotels might be
converted to residents and it became a
very affordable form of housing I in
Bellevue in 1995 if any of you are
familiar with downtown Bellevue there's
a building called Pacific in and it
looks blue and yellowing kind of aqua
green and if you look closely enough
it's all maritime themed architecture if
you look closely enough that's what they
were kind of doing that builder was from
California and the city actually
provided him some funding assistance
it's generally a market rate project but
it's all at the time they were
considered very small units they're like
three hundred square feet and smaller
and this builder got this notion from
doing development around the west coast
that places like Seattle have old hotels
that can be converted and have been over
the years and former very affordable
form of housing for retail workers and
people like that who work in the
center's but in suburbs you don't have
that stock and so he figured out a way
to build it from scratch
ok Brill did news don't because there's
no load hotels to convert in downtown
Bellevue and so he builds them and it's
specific in Marvin gardens he names them
all actors of Monopoly pieces and the
light blue and the first two sections of
the track ok and he and and he was doing
that like 25 years ago then in Seattle
the next evolution was builders figured
out a way around the land use rules in
Capitol Hill and they could build these
small buildings that were big
comparatively speaking to all the other
homes in the neighborhood and those
homes would be sliced and diced up to be
and even though they were licensed
there's only three units they slice and
dice each of those six bedroom units up
and have 18 people living independently
in them and that got a little
controversial because it felt like kind
of a mismatch so you'll notice here
we've made the statement in multifamily
zones so we're not talking about the
Seattle experience we're talking more
like what the first example I gave you
is a builder coming in and just building
really small units there's a builder now
who's been building in Redmond and
Kirkland and he builds even his units
are like two hundred square feet and
maybe a little smaller sometimes and a
little bigger so 150 to 300 square feet
and build it borrowing a little bit from
some of the approaches they do have like
a shared kitchen but all the units do
also have microwaves and stuff so the
kitchens aren't used very often they're
more disordered common areas that people
share and he's been building those as a
market rate builder and so that's kind
of what we're describing is units that
you historically would not have seen but
he finishes one and he starts another
one so what is that telling you well
he's a rental right there's a demand and
you know why there's a demand does
anyone know why there's a demand he's
getting more rent per square foot than
any market rate builder because people
need a place to live absolutely is the
lowest absolute rent in town and so
people are sacrificing space for a price
point and he has found a way to get to a
price point of under $1000 in
residential unit he's renting them for
like eight hundred dollars still not
inexpensive but compared to everything
else out there and downtown Redmond you
have things with the Japan and you have
others campuses and downtown Kirkland
you know so he has found a niche in the
market but he's also needed a little
help from the cities to get there he
tried to get a little less parking in
his buildings but he's all
demonstrated that the parking demand is
very low I mean he's done lots of
studies with cities and stuff like that
so the question is should the city look
at if they you know the market wants to
build that is there any it's sort of
like the same comic keep made about
condos is there anything about our
regulations that if a builder came in
and wanted to build that kind of housing
that the regulations would get in the
way of it is there any is there at the
potential need for something like that
here that we should be sure that if the
market wants to build it they could I
thought on that the first thing that
talked to my mind was a pod meant that
kind of name okay yes so I think this
could be a good small part of this
bigger puzzle but I'd be concerned about
kind of opening the floodgates on these
and letting them just be scattered
everywhere I think this could really
work in a very select zone I'm mostly
thinking about like I think transitory
and development is kind of a separate
thing maybe but it seems to kind of fit
into that type of zone where this could
work right next to a transit station
where people that use transit I want to
live in this setting or maybe right next
to a big retail zone or something like
that and where it becomes walkable to
places that people work so that's my
thought okay other reaction so one thing
I think we need to look at Arthur is so
if you're creating 150 square foot to
200 square foot units the thing we'd
have to look at is does our zoning
allows that level of density even if
it's a small building my number of units
per acre could be huge right yeah so I
think we need to look and see if if
there's a barrier there right and if so
to John's point you know how would you
potentially undo that in a limited way
mm-hmm if that's the concern right right
so that's right so that's the example if
you have an area that uses a density per
acre overlay you're not going to see
this it's only in areas where you use a
floor area ratio where you're allowed to
build to the box
kind of thing so that's pretty much
unless there was a small site
just couldn't make other stuff work he
built one right next to our office in
downtown Redmond that was it it was to
single family lots you know just sort of
like and it's now 120 units but it's
it's fine it does it's you know it seems
to be working just fine anyway other
comments on this idea so I've heard the
don't open the floodgates there's one
comment I've heard other perspectives on
it a new one have a counter perspective
or concur with that or some other
thought again remember this is as much
keep this in mind with an idea as well
as you like an idea though so two
comments about that one in addition to
it would be thought of coop housing
I am heard that discussed yet which
would work with 100 or 200 square foot
units because you would have shared okay
shared spaces like kitchen and bathroom
facilities but also in can you describe
co-op housing a little bit more in case
other installment well so co-op housing
would be a ownership stake in a large
flat I guess you usually call it a large
flat where you might be 20 units per
floor and someone would actually own be
incorporated and your shareholders which
would be your third tenants go to piece
of the corporation and then you live
either you could have shared facilities
like bathrooms and kitchens and in some
cases co-op would also supply maybe a
kitchenette or something like that in
each unit second question is if we do go
with a hundred or tutor square foot unit
and that means our pasty for higher
density would then increase based on our
limitations in terms of our amount of
land that we would be able to use so
you'd have more people per square foot
part of our policy or part of our plan
do we want to actually limit and put
restrictions on what
minimum requirement would be free space
per person so if we're going to have
these really high density units it may
be on the surrounding sides of the
building we would want more space right
because if all said we have all these
extra people living in dezik wha does
the city have the resources to be able
to handle all these extra people not
just where we're going to put them
because we figured that out if we can do
hundred square foot or tuner square foot
units we have lot more density do we
want that much density okay that feels
like the infrastructure question raising
its head against them and and if you
have that much entity in a small area
will you be able to preserve more of the
trees and surrounding environment that's
disappearing so rapidly the other
question I had was what would be the
difference between single room occupancy
and boarding houses probably not a whole
lot I mean a boarding house you usually
if you think of the old term of it
you've got your food - when you live
there and SRO you typically don't single
room would be the difference would be
the shared kitchen and dining facility
I'm not sure from a code point of view
I'm just saying from a impression of
when you think of a boarding house you
often think of people also getting their
meals and in an SRO people don't get
meals now from a building officials
point of view I'm not sure to what
extent they see differences maybe yours
a little more firepit units are more
independent and then SRO so there might
be building code issues we'd have to do
a lot more exploring to see the
difference between a boarding house per
se in an SRO I mean I was particularly
thinking for aging populations many
people
do not want to have the burden of doing
all their own cooking and so single room
occupancy with services might be very
appealing so okay now from time to time
read between lines or try to put things
together that I'm hearing so I heard
co-op we came out and we started with a
pod minutes or srl and now I'm hearing
co-op I'm hearing boarding home I'm
hearing a few more ideas on small spaces
little more communal type living but in
different shapes and forms is that any
kind of a theme here or that should be
expanded on because the next one is more
about in neighborhoods these that you're
describing feel more multi-family in
nature number eight is going to be sort
of the same question of diversity
related to cottages and duplex multiplex
but this first one is sort of about
diversity small forms of housing that
are maybe a little higher density and
more rental and nature is I'm kind of
just winging it here so reactions so
problem statement number three shows
that 30% of the escolar residents live
alone yet under 10% of the units are
one-bedroom or less I think that would
probably be part of answering this type
of question because those will either be
individuals or maybe couples
what are they currently choosing as
their housing and would that type of
individual choose something like that or
is there not a demand in a sack off for
that
so a question you asses their demand
well I'm going to let you you had your
hand so I don't want to get off-track
and not let you make your comment to
before Oh actually I was going to talk
about something that that Therese said
about the ownership piece mm-hmm the
what was my concern with having the
smaller unit and if we if we have them
in condo form is that they'll just get
sold and then they all turn into into
rentals
there's just some people will just show
up and but buy a whole bunch and then
turn them into rental so that if we do
that and want to restrict to cut to
owners then we have to have some kind of
owner-occupied rules along with it or
else it'll just be you know it's the
same problem all right so that's a
concern area for us to note okay yes so
re on a condo right now and one of the
restrictions is you have to be there for
two years as the owner you cannot rent
the unit so you know there could be
restrictions such as those placed that
you have to be there and actually the
loans right I'm sorry is that three year
loan or the Association yeah that's a
rule the association of the Association
okay all right so we can bet thing to
note and so now back to the response of
here's how many households and this is
how many units we have which is
something we point out in an earlier
meeting again number six number seven
these of all others in the coop so the
coop is different ideas ownership form
the other ones SRO boarding house
those are rental so they're both sides
of this story of small units are they
both part of this continuum we talked
about 30 minutes ago or 20 minutes ago
is this part of it or is it just doesn't
feel like the fit in this town you you
know to some extent we don't do any of
the building the city doesn't build they
just enable okay and so the so I think
the question to you is should our rules
enabling if the market wants to do it
and if we do want the market to be able
to do it what kind of things do we want
as a community so that it feels okay
that we've allowed it to happen
so your point about gee we'd like if
it's an ownership form of housing for it
to be ownership if we can okay if that's
the intent of that one but we've got
some examples that their intent would be
rental and the boardinghouse might be
for seniors who don't want to have to do
all you know it's sort of a lightweight
group home right but group homes you got
to have medical stuff maybe somebody
wants that but they don't need the
medical they just want the meals right
it's sort of what you're saying if you
think about it if you go to senior
facility I mean it's interesting you say
it that way because if you go to senior
properties now the big commercial ones
what do they do live on your own you can
take the meals or you can go for
full-blown health and meals and they
give you the ability to go back and
forth between that so one question would
be well so those same kind of choices
potentially be there for seniors but not
in large commercial developments and
that's if I think you know the boarding
house versus the adult family homes
versus just living in your home the way
you are would be sort of a comparable to
what's going on in the commercial
industry to help seniors stay in their
community in a boarding house wouldn't
have to be restricted to seniors you
know no but right exactly people who are
starting out and before retiring all in
the same place I see a light next to
yours yeah so we have a local nonprofit
that supports people with disabilities
that has three adult family homes where
caregiver lives with five individuals
and it's so it's very flexible it works
great it's in neighborhoods so I think
that that's really important that we
keep that in mind too okay so we have
quite the population here okay so little
stuff let's I also noticed that this
conversation seems to be absent from our
debate right now is what about senior
living what is the city's current plans
for senior housing
I believe it's up I'm gonna you know
you're always a step ahead of us
you just ready to go cuz that's number
nine so I'm not quite ready for that one
we don't want to skip over number eight
I just think it's a couple more comments
you guys make maybe a general comment I
mean I think we're everything we're
saying is right it's just I think every
everything has to be on the table
the I would say the city should you know
work hard to lower burdens on developers
wherever possible and then let the
market drive it to some degree because
everybody says oh yeah we want people to
you know be able to live in this wall
that also work here and we want all
kinds of people to be here out stuff but
and then we got at the same time say oh
but we don't apartment and so I think we
just sort have to put our money where
our mouth is and and we and it can be
done in a smart way I think that
decision probably should be made at the
project level it should be part of the
strategy I think and then we can make
those decisions at the project level
that's okay and so what I'm going to
maybe sorted to your point that I'm
trying to put out we've been asking for
all evening but just to sort of give you
another way another example of it is we
helped a lot of cities write rules to
allow access regulators mother-in-law
apartments but they're not just outright
allowed there's some condition like
owner occupancy or if you do it in
addition to your house it has to match
you the door can't be right next to the
front door the door needs to be on the
side or hidden landscape that we did
there needs to be one more parking so
it's not a new parking space but it
leaves enough parking for one extra car
the things to make it so that if it does
happen it feels like a good fit so on
all of these you're giving us comments
that sort of help us what are the things
that yeah if we're going to open it up
because right now you have a moratorium
going on because maybe it didn't feel
like it was quite the right fit and so
that's what this conversation is
important for is what are some of the
things for us to think about that might
make it a better fit okay so and or no
take that one oh that's just not a fit
in this town you're going to get a
matrix at the end of the meeting where
we took out manufactured housing
communities because one town I work for
does have them but you
so we just took it off the list I'm not
hearing anything so far that says these
ideas are missing the mark which is good
because all of us have staff looked at
them and we try to come up with ideas
that we thought could be good fit but
we're going to give you a chance at the
next meeting to also add other ideas too
okay so this is not the list you've
already given us a few ideas tonight
okay so let's talk a little bit about
number eight which is the diverse forms
and this is more like in single-family
areas so this is cottages or even
duplexes or a multiplex usually means
like a triplex so what's your thoughts
about that idea that was fast
so what I've heard and I saw the housing
Le'Veon rent all fixed income that is
that is a big concern for seniors
staying in their homes if we continue to
increase the costs on them particularly
a fixed income you're going to have to
leave and so out of that how are you
correlating that to this item so I'm so
it's options and services I made it
it's so I saw it more as enabling
seniors to to stay in their homes may be
having some exemptions for certain
people I don't know whether that's
possible that's just my side oh I
thought we went oh I thought we jumped
at nine already no I'm sorry
I was I was out oh that's not number
nine I thought that might have been any
okay oh oh that's odd I was got other
comments about eight today is one that
has two sides of a coin potentially for
sure so Chris has already mentioned the
adult family homes in single-family
areas mm-hmm they don't seem to be
causing any problems
we're already doing it on a limited
basis okay now those are houses that are
physically the same as the rest of the
other homes in neighborhoods but that's
a good point
you have adult family homes in your
neighborhoods now kind of thing if you
feel I don't know some people in some
communities that's that's been in some
questions so I thought I saw something
over here because I think I'm missing
number eight isn't this already loud
just like you're saying allow people to
build all sorts of sources wait I'm
missing the point sorry so this is to
say looking at like in a single-family a
typical single family area would you
allow and usually with your allowed
cottages you're allowing more cottages
than could have been built otherwise so
if somebody has enough land for three
single-family homes they might build
five cottages so this is and this is one
that so so this is when you're right
this is allowed now and I think that's
the question really more for the city
right now is do we allow that to be
something that can happen so for example
what's happening in Bellevue right now
is in a lot of neighborhoods a
single-family house is being torn down
and in its place is basically three or
four larger houses because it used to be
a very different housing to land ratio
right and so for us the issue is coming
up in Old Town and and the issue on a
scale perspective is about tearing down
one 1950s Rambler and putting back a
duplex or maybe subdividing into
duplexes and so so as an issue and for a
group that's talking about housing and
housing issues is that something do we
see enough benefit for the added
capacity but at some point do we lose
potentially the character that makes the
city a little bit different than maybe
some others that's the dilemma with I
think eight more than anything and so
you're right that what's allowed now is
it can happen
if that's fine if everybody says you
know what we need the additional housing
stock then we just leave that one on the
table if there's some issues there maybe
we need to unpack it a little bit in one
of the positive examples is just a few
blocks from your compassion house which
is a duplex which looks no different
than the other houses around it other
comments on this topic so I think one of
the things that would be a concern and
I'm putting aside I'm assuming just
market housing not anything for for
adult homes but I think considering that
then is I do think there's a character
point to be made so there certainly I
think we all probably enjoy front street
not the traffic but being there and
walking around the traffic will get
worse and it wouldn't feel like French
Street anymore or that area would feel
different and so I don't know that it's
a no not anywhere ever but I think
there's probably certain areas of the
town that we would all say like hey
probably not here where that balance is
a little different
my other question I guess would be are
we assuming this is I think the other
concern maybe this is longer term
because I you know the high winds being
a relatively new development but that
was already built to a certain density
so you know there's no extra parking
spaces that was already all thought of
so you know ten years down the line if
we start you know where there are single
family homes putting triplex is there
that area is going to be a disaster and
I live there
so I'll just caveat that with with you
know sort of thinking about the longer
term effects of that in areas that were
maybe built with a certain amount of
density already built in so those would
be a couple considerations that I would
say not know but sink sink deeply about
where and when their current code for
zoning restrictions as to where it's
allowed currently or is it just overall
if it's
residential you can do this so that so
the zoning code will state whether like
a duplex is allowed
right now the city doesn't have a
cottage ordinance other cities do and so
part of what we're talking about now is
should we enable a cutting a cottage
ordinance with the idea again that
creating other types of housing stock
might maybe at a smaller scale could be
more affordable than than what's
available otherwise and so most I'm
going to say this Trish without knowing
what I'm talking about so if I'm wrong
just speak up I believe that most
single-family zones allow duplexes most
but not all so but zones are can be
anywhere in the city right so in other
words you have a certain kind of zone
and where you think it's appropriate so
I'm going to put my foot in my mouth and
maybe get in trouble given the comments
here which is the question would be
potentially in looking at these you need
to be more refined geographically than
just your traditional single-family you
know for however you do your
classifications and and when I'm almost
hearing here is it needs it maybe needs
to be more refined geographically
somehow and I'm not sure some cities
just aren't geared to do that others are
here to do that where they could say in
this neighborhood it's okay and in that
neighborhood it's you know you could
have excess one in two different
neighborhoods but in one you allow the
cottages and the others you don't some
cities will do that I don't know if
that's something that for this idea to
go forward that the qualification that
it should have and if so that might be
the killer for the city or not I'm not
sure maybe that's that's why I'm sort of
hearing from the comments is it's not a
carte blanche idea wouldn't want to
change zoning in south is a part because
now you're going to be putting a lot
more traffic through main Issaquah to
get to arterioles like 90
but it would be appropriate for areas
like the urban core or communities
around 90 or have easy access to 90 it's
more than the the traffic the
infrastructure because it's waters who
are all the the other infrastructure
that is going to get strained if you put
too much density so I've heard
infrastructure including traffic I've
heard character is another consideration
cuz I did I hear that I thought I heard
that I think right like I wrote that
down obviously yeah all and every one of
these only applies to certain areas I
think we've kind of established that I
think when I think about cottage housing
I think it could be really successful in
an area like Old Town where it's been a
lot of time talking about preserving
character and I think the critical part
of this whole cottage discussion would
be like I guess I picture like a
community being kind of created like a
it has to be at a certain size a certain
number of units call it four or five but
that requires more than just a single
family plot of land to do with the
character that we're talking about so I
don't know how many places cottages
could really successfully work but I
think it's something that the city could
potentially look at saying okay
developers we're going to create
opportunities for these collection of
properties to be combined if they are
turned into caught a certain number of
cottage units so you just described
something that might be something like
what Redmond did in one neighborhood
Redmond has a neighborhood that's an
older neighborhood but more spread out
so there's a lot of infill going on and
they create an ordinance that says when
you and sometimes people put two plots
together and that's enough to do ten
homes or teen homes is the Roseville
area and they made a rule it says when
you do that X percent of the units plus
Bender certain
because they didn't want all the homes
to be to stay wanted so it's like one
out of ten or one out of five has to be
under 1,500 or 2,000 square feet so they
actually put that in their code that
says we want units of different sizes if
your development over a certain size and
I've never seen any other so you do that
but it was totally a response to a
neighborhood concern of we're very very
we got such a diverse form of housing
now and we don't we want the new stuff
that at least some diversity in it so
that was something they did in one
neighborhood so we just had the survey
on old town and part of that was talking
about housing and the character of
housing and there was a very strong
disagreement if I remember correctly
with the idea of consolidating lots and
ending up in that area with multifamily
units and things like that
I feel like cottages could be an
exception to that that would fit that
feeling it wasn't presented on the
housing survey because I guess we had a
lot of it at that point but it could be
a way that the neighborhood would be
comfortable with consolidation of lots
if you're keeping that character okay I
want to make sure we save some time for
senior because with that one got some
quick attention because we're not going
to I want to make sure we cover all
these tonight and then we want to give
you your homework assignment so I could
you know 40 okay okay I'm sorry I
thought wind is happening that is very
fun once my wife
so we're at eight and I thought we had
till 8:30 so sorry but seeing your just
if anyone else has some comments about
quick comments about senior housing and
then we want to give you a homework
assignment but you've been sort of doing
part of the homework assignment but we
want to give you a more explicit one
that's related to that so kind of thing
but any other quick comments about
senior and we'll continue that at the
next meeting we can do that but any
quick comments on this comment that I
hear two different things from seniors
some seniors like living with other
seniors and others want to stay in their
home or neighborhood partially because
they want to be with people who are not
all seniors right I would love to see a
community in which it's possible for
seniors to survive on their fixed income
and still live around people that they
know so kind of related to that but also
to get back to what Ron said earlier
about supportive services that would fit
with seniors as well as well as the low
income is the nearest place for
supportive services that would allow
people to stay in their homes or to have
like mostly independent that gets some
services is hopefully again they're all
the way up in Redmond we could encourage
hoping to build an office here in
Jessica LA and that would be amazing
because there's really nothing here and
is a clog that allows that for seniors
or low-income either one this one that's
come and I actually just want to refer
back to Teresa's comment on sort of
condos being a step in 2000 or cutand
also step out again I think that just
fixed understanding of what you're going
to be paying as I understand if your
senior fixed income fixed cost is
helpful so to me it just underscores the
importance of making progress on that
condo issue okay we presently have a
senior strategy
what do you mean by a senior strategy
the city presently have a plan to
address senior housing so our current
plan is to let the market determine so
this is why we're talking about it right
if you want a different plan when you
talk about it right I mean you do have
senior assisted housing in your
community but it's been through the
market right with it but you do have
some and there's a new senior rental
project going in with gateway so on
Newport so I mean senior housing is here
and it's being built but there's no
strategy at the moment so it's just and
which is how most housing is the market
builds to asking in our community but
cities have done things to encourage
more diversity fossil has an overlay for
seniors housing and if you ever go to
the fossil Northshore Senior Center the
North right and Bothell right across 522
from downtown and you look around it and
it's all senior housing that's a
single-family zone that had senior
overlay and the senior overlay made
that's a more desirable use and now you
have five different developments that
are geared toward seams right around
there Senior Center because of what city
did with their zoning so you can be more
proactive about it or not so in the
interest of time is we had this whole
measure to hand out okay so explain
there's a practice slide if you want to
oh great the practice light thank you
so what we're going to hand out is this
list that you've seen is from a much
longer list that we've developed and
you're now going to get to see the whole
list okay and but you've seen a listing
of things we tried to show you how you
started with data and you identified
needs in a mission statement and all
that and we gave you what we thought
were strategies that helped best to
address those needs that you identified
but we might not got it all right you've
given us some other ideas tonight so
what we think would be probably good is
we will attempt to get written up the
notes from tonight and Adam to that
matrix we just had on the wall that will
fill in the ones that weren't filled in
we'll also go back to the focus groups
and add in notes from their comments to
see where they match up if any of them
make comments about any of the specific
strategies and then we will have that
for you and then you can start reading
through this on your own and the idea
the next meeting is now you see our
collective list of strategies how does
that feel to you okay and how does it
feel to you both in terms of the
comments and the reservoir of Al and
also have does this feel like a good fit
as again the idea being these are the
most important ideas what you see there
are the full range some of those things
the city has already worked on that
might be some of the reasons they're not
on the list here but we want to give you
an opportunity at the next meeting to
challenge the list a little bit and see
if there's one or two things you would
like to add to the list from looking at
this or any other ideas that pop in your
head from reading that list okay and
again this is about all kinds of housing
not just affordability it's about
housing in general in the city of
Issaquah so at the next meeting it's a
combination of how does the collective
list look how do the comments look that
we've been developing over the last
couple meetings and do you want to
supplement it in any way okay or after
you've thought about it more take off or
really challenge any of the ones that
are on the list okay so that's what we
have is there more
tres bien mic is May 25th so it's two
weeks we weren't sure if we would need
it but we put it on your calendars
anyway does that still work for I guess
we'd have to send it to the new folks
because they might not have gotten the
first invite but it would be in two
weeks and we'll try and get all our
homework done and sent to you all a week
before the meeting so you would have it
and as soon as as soon as we can get it
to you are they're quick yes sure
yes we're still on as um so if so I
won't be happy out of the country
okay so can we send you notes sure that
you can add them absolutely
also if you all have questions between
now and then of things that just didn't
make sense tonight feel free to email
any of the staff members as well with
your questions - we're happy to help you
through any of this in all of this other
thoughts before we oh where does anyone
want to make public comments that have
sat through this into a cloth seat shirt
hi my name is steeper 117 Northeast
dogwood Street about ten nine years now
so first of all thank you all for being
here and contribute your time and effort
to make this issue something that works
for Issaquah so a couple thoughts
the first was goes to mr. Falls comment
our group can require certain people we
offered the affordable housing like
first responders or teachers I'm glad
that issues being looked at so I won't
talk about it further the second issue
was talked about public funds for
keeping seniors in the existing housing
my concern is not to be mean but just if
you build a house you have the asset it
goes with the community if you have
affordable housing that gets used to
subsidize them that public trust or
public funds goes to the senior when
they sell the house or to the heirs when
they sell the house it doesn't go back
into the public fund for a continued use
in public housing so I just want to see
if there's a way of talking about that
issue to recovery part of that funds
third issue was there I'm not hearing
enough of the talking about the when we
talk about affordable housing mean
though we talked about a 70 10-10-10
split and what the market rates are on I
just wanna make sure that we keep that
as a focus next issue we've heard talk
about cottage houses I've also heard
about tiny homes as an issue and I
haven't heard that talk about as much
I'm one make sure that gets part of the
discussion the last issue was we talked
about maintain the stock of affordable
housing it seems like there's an
opportunity with the providence Heights
community person SRO or the idea of a
place that already has drum tories and
living spaces for staff could be used
either transitional housing or permanent
housing before we lose that as a stock
within these quartz community I'd like
to see that be part of that discussion
of can that be included or in fold it in
I think there's just a real potential
for a loss of affordable housing if we
lose that existing stock that
be used thank you
anything else for many of you so a lot
of this discussion I find it very
difficult to have without learning or
the city's answer on infrastructure
development I know I keep going back to
this but I feel a pain every day with
the traffic what's the best way to
figure out what's what's the city's plan
for infrastructure development let so
this next six months for just
transportation or for water no and not
just transportation but schools
everything and everything comes with a
you have to provide the whole it's not
yet right and there's there's plans
actually on the website are you know we
have a five-year water plan five-year
sewer plan those kinds of things the
school districts have their own plans
for growth that are every six years that
get updated every year and those we can
get you a link to those but we do the
impact fees for schools so we have to
have their annual plan but we can walk
you through and the transportation plan
we have an EVC meeting next week we can
talk about that Oh excellent they can
they can mentor you right through there
but that's a great question because
there's so many pieces to the puzzle of
any city great any other thoughts ideas
economic vitality Commission meets next
week so they're going to sounds like
they're going to get a nice primer on on
and learn you can see it on TV because
it's so it's not oh you guys aren't
oh lucky
so it's Wednesday at 5:30 City Hall
Northwest Pickering room okay one good
to know this compact fixture for for a
cape it would be nice if you had a nice
model and you plug stuff in and and
could tell how it infrastructure changes
so the city the city just purchased a
software called city and Joanie engines
and we have to build the base but what
it would allow you to do is to as we get
these development projects that
come in you could then see what they
look like in the neighborhood in a 3d
image and it gives you the ability to
change your perspective along the street
to see how it will impact before it's
even getting permitted so we're getting
there
but we're in the process now of building
the base thank you yeah cool before I
close just for planning policy
commission members if there's any way
that you all can meet at 5 o'clock
remember we were going to do today at 5
o'clock to do the transportation
improvement program our engineer can't
be here when he was supposed to be here
so he asked if we could meet on the 25th
before this next joint meeting but at
5:00 and it sounds like that you won't
be here but if I can get you all to
think of your schedules and let me know
to see if that could be a viable and it
would only be an hour so we'd really
have to focus but I'd rather ask you to
look at it and not good to look at it so
I'll be emailing you tomorrow morning
for RSVPs ok just to have that in your
head as you drive home but thanks if you
all did really well tonight considering
how many new members and the barrage of
data that we gave you thank you very
much first I just want to thank Arthur
for thinking of the barrage of questions
absolutely absolutely
it's good to have an expert in the house
thank you all we're off camera
you
you