good evening good evening Commissioners
good evening staff
feels like I'm starting to see you guys
less and less after a big uh beginning
to 2023 but it's good to see everyone
tonight
I'd like to call the March 23rd planning
policy commission to order and it is
currently
stole my clock
it's 34. 6 34 pm
tonight's meeting is a hybrid meeting
the planning policy commission is in
person but staff member or members of
the public may be attending virtually or
in person
uh Kristen
do we have a quorum this evening we do
have a quorum and commissioner Milligan
is has an excused absence tonight great
thank you
our first item of business is to take
care of some house cleaning we have some
minutes to approve
uh it's our expectation that everyone's
read their packet so we'll begin with
the February 2nd meeting minutes are
there any corrections to the draft
minutes that were provided to you
hearing none the February 2nd minutes
are approved
as well as a February 23rd meeting
minutes are there any corrections uh
staff needs to be made aware of
the February 23rd meeting minutes are
approved
in our next item of business is public
comment
the guidelines for public comments are
as follows for all of those who would
like to speak during public comments
speak clearly and pause frequently state
your name each time before speaking and
if you are attending virtually by
computer or by phone and would like to
speak during public comments in addition
to the above please mute your microphone
when you're not speaking and if you're
having any technical issues please try
to join the meeting using a different
device
you can use the call and information and
the meeting invite to call in
public comments are important we take
them seriously and they are factored
into the decisions that the planning
policy commission makes
comments may be general or related to
the topics we're going to discuss
tonight
please note that our comments are
limited to five minutes
do we have any comments tonight Stephen
sure voice we don't have any attending
virtually or in person for public
comment
I'm gonna have you pause for a minute
because there's a technical issue with
the video
oh
I think we all remember that one evening
right
keep going
all right well there being no public
comments we're going to move on to our
regular business it's the evening and
that is the comprehensive plan the
housing element overview
I believe this is a continuation of our
101 with staff
as far as what we're going to be
learning and doing over the next coming
months
staff will be presenting existing
conditions state and County requirements
and gaps in issaquah's housing stock
well Kristen please go ahead with your
presentation when you're ready
good evening
so Kristen Leeson senior planner with
the community planning and development
department and I have my friend Mike
Stanger with me from Arch a regional
Coalition for housing you all might
remember him he came earlier this year
and talked to us with about affordable
housing then
so as with any element or anything that
you're doing or want to change you
probably need to know what it is in the
first place so tonight we're going to
talk about not just affordable housing
but housing in general the cost of
housing what you know how many people
are owners how many people are renters
how much we have how much we're supposed
to have that kind of thing so that when
you do make your decisions you have a
better basis for decision making
that doesn't want to work
so I've already said what our purpose is
there we go
Direction needed so tonight at the end
we'll while we're talking you all
consider a few things one is does the
housing Vision correctly capture the
intent of the housing element and the
policies and goals that are in there are
there other specific topics that you all
want to cover primarily what we're
covering are state requirements County
requirements and is then is there
anything else that you guys want to
consider as a policy change and then any
is there any information or feedback
that you guys will need to help you make
a decision that we haven't provided so
far okay
so if we're going to ask you to consider
the vision we had to tell you what the
vision is so preserve and enhance
neighborhoods while improving improving
housing opportunities for the city's
diverse population and local Workforce
that's what it is now okay
currently we have or as of April 1st of
2022
we had 17 849 housing units in the city
this is we every year we submit
information which I'm about to do again
but we submit information to the office
of financial management about how many
things have been permitted how many how
many units have actually been completed
then they put together and how many
units are included in each of those
building permits and then they submit
back to us our total count and along
with population estimates for us and
populate population estimates for each
type of housing too because they
estimate that you know maybe 2.4 people
live in a single family house but maybe
1.7 people live in a five unit or more
um complex
so for existing housing and the
breakdown we have just over 8 000 single
family houses here
520 duplexes
930 try and four plexes and five and up
or eight that more than eight thousand
uh five units and Ops of multi-family
buildings
again that's from the office of
financial management so of these of our
units 60 of them are owned and 40 of
them are rented
by the way you guys feel free to jump in
and ask questions at any time you don't
have to wait
so I'm going to talk about housing
Target so we have just you know almost
18 000 housing units right now right
so
in 2018 we were 2019 we were at last to
do a building a a buildable lands
inventory which shows us how much land
is vacant how much is redevelopable and
how much can't be built on at all
so
when we did that we look at everything
that's built up through 2018 right and
at that point we had 12 159 we had room
for 12 159 Acres okay so we go through
these negotiations with the county and
all the other jurisdictions that are
called core cities which is what we are
of a certain size
and we determine targets that are then
approved by King County by the Puget
Sound Regional Council and then adopted
by our city as well
um our Target from 2019
through 2044 so 25-year period is that
we need to accommodate
3 500 units out of the 12 000 that we
have available which leaves us a
capacity of still 8
659 units so our adopted housing Target
is 3 500 units so that's much less than
our actual capacity for housing
I'm going to let Mike jump in here
I was going to forget
that so we're going to dive in a little
bit the shallow end of the affordable
housing topic here
um
and just to refresh your memory we'll
cover some basic
definitions and
guidelines so that which will come into
play with some of the data that I
present later
so
um
one term that we need to understand to
begin with is the area median income
this is the basis for income limits in
affordable housing as well as they are
used to calculate rent or Price limits
for affordable housing
it's the standard uh use that that is
published by Hud every year usually in
the spring
and the area in the area median income
they generally correspond to
Metropolitan statistical areas if you're
familiar with that term or that are
defined by the Census Bureau
and in our case our area is King and
Snohomish County combined
so basically HUD takes the immediate
family incomes that are found in the uh
American Community survey
the most recent one and then they update
it to the current year using the
Consumer Price Index and local housing
costs and other factors and they
determine a median family income for a
family of four
and we sometimes call that the 100 Ami
for a family of four
then to come up with income limits for
affordable housing programs we adjust
that for family sizes
um
70 percent of the
four-person family will be a one-person
family and eighty percent of that will
be for two people and a ninety percent
for three people and so on
then if the city has or a program has
affordability
goals or limits that are you know below
a hundred percent median that say at
fifty percent or eighty percent then
we'll take
that percentage of those
figures
those then become the income limits for
initial eligibility to live in an
affordable housing
I just provided a few sample figures
here to give you an idea of what those
look like
um
but it's also interesting I checked
these against the minimum wage
so if you're interested interested a one
person minimum wage is because fifteen
dollars
47 74 or something so annually that's
thirty two thousand seven hundred and
forty dollars a year if you work full
time and that equates to 34 percent of
Ami for one person
a couple two full-time minimum wage
earners
uh would be 65 000 about 65 500 and
that's about 61 percent of median if if
there are just two people in the family
but if it's a three-person family
then that uh equates to 54 Ami and if
they have a four-person household then
it would be 47 Ami so you can see how
these things are scaled according to the
family size which is
a reflection of
um then becomes a reflection of how much
money you need to be able to support
that family
I should also note here that if you
compare this to King County figures or
Seattle or some others you may find some
slight differences because there are
different agencies or programs may have
different uh
ways of calculating we calculate from
the 100 Ami four-person HUD also
published publishes a 50 Ami
and those are used by some agencies to
calculate income and rent limits so it
can be confusing sometimes somebody says
well how come
you know this program has these income
limits and you have these well
there's just some flexibility to Define
things a little differently but they're
usually within a hundred dollars or so
of each other
okay so let's convert this to what
people can then can actually afford to
pay and how the rent limits are set as
you probably know housing is considered
affordable if it costs less than 30
percent of the residence gross income
in our the land use or tax incentive
programs that we administer we set the
rent limits at 30 percent of the maximum
income of an eligible household
regardless of the household that's
actually living in the unit so
um
the household may have a lower income uh
or bigger household or something but
they're but the rents will be based on
this schedule
that's a little different than what you
might hear from some public housing or
subsidized programs where they actually
the resident actually pays 30 percent of
their own income
most land use tax exempt exemption
programs things of that nature use this
method where they're they're just you
know regardless of who you are this is
what your maximum rent could be
but still we do the adjustments for the
the size of the unit the number of
bedrooms and the affordability level
that the city is looking for
sure I mean he could do this too but in
the city
um we have 1032 affordable units and
when I say affordable units in this case
that means that these are units that
have covenants attached to them so they
are affordable for either 50 years or
for the life of the project
and we have 819 that are at or below 80
percent of the area median income and
213 that are between 81 and 120 percent
of area median income
yes I'm curious of those units how many
locations is that how are they spread
across the city
I actually have a map of it but not with
me and it's coming up just did the draft
um but most of those the ownership is in
the highlands escort Highlands
um well everything from 80 80 81 to 120
those ownership units are in the
highlands there are
I can't remember exactly how many in the
highlands but they're only 33 in the
highlands that aren't ownership
at that at that level but as far as the
rest of them they're spread out pretty
evenly throughout the city
yeah
but Highlands for those who don't know
God so many they had 350 at 80 percent
of below that they were supposed to
provide in 350 between 81 and 120 as
part of the development agreement so
that is why the Highland that's one of
the reasons the highlands has so many
so this doesn't include project-based
vouchers correct so like Discovery
Heights for example has a certain number
of Project based but that because that's
not covenanted that wouldn't be in this
number
well they actually do have a land use
Covenant as well they do okay
um and this this doesn't include
tenant-based vouchers but it does
include project face it includes sources
uh other than uh City incentives as well
it has some um
uh housing authority projects and some
tax credit projects as well anything
that's that's regulated in some form
yeah okay
so
um let's talk about the the population
overall the current population in
Issaquah majority of the households make
over 120 120 percent of median income
35 percent make uh less than the median
and
27 make uh 80 Ami or less
including 11 at the lowest income group
that's zero to Thirty Ami
now let's compare that to the
affordability of the housing that we
have now
and this is this is data from the
American Community survey So based on
what people reported are their housing
costs
and
here the housing costs make 37 percent
of the homes affordable for people
making median income
or 17 percent are affordable to anyone
making 80 percent of median or less
there's not a lot not a wild discrepancy
but a noticeable one there
but the affordable uh affordability
shortage becomes more acute when you
consider that many middle and higher
income people spend less than 30 percent
of their incomes and housing
so my family for example bar have lived
in the same house for 20 years and we
didn't buy up when our incomes Rose we
stay in the same house so
and the Housing Industry doesn't build
lower cost housing without subsidies or
incentives
so that means that
fewer and fewer housing units are
available as the city grows
and its consequence lower income people
are have higher cost housing to choose
from and we end up with people who are
what we call housing cost burden they're
spending more than 30 percent of their
incomes on housing
if they're spending more than 50 percent
on housing and we call that severely
cost burdened and we find that those are
people who
the housing costs are eating in so much
of what they would otherwise spend on
medical costs or food clothing and so
forth that they're really on the edge of
becoming homeless
at the last count
20 percent of the renters in Issaquah
were severely cost per another 22
percent were cost pardoned
so one of the requirements that's being
considered right now is by the county is
that they would assign affordable
housing targets to
individual jurisdictions so in the past
we've all just sort of accepted the
County's Target which was we want 40 of
our units to be affordable but that just
isn't coming out right regionally and
the spread it's just it's hard to
achieve for one and it just it hasn't
produced a good balance so what the
county is doing is that they have looked
at
the targets the thought that 3 500
number that I gave you every city has a
different Target right you know
Kirkland's is like 21 000. Redmond's is
22 000. ours is 3 500. so they look at
the targets and of those
new units that are coming in they're
also looking at what affordable units we
have in place already we're saying
they're looking at it saying there are
gaps
in the 80 to 100 percent area so
Issaquah needs to take more of those but
they're looking at our Target and
they're saying X percentage of your
units need to be affordable extra
percent of your new units be need to be
affordable and we're breaking it up into
these different Ami categories does that
make sense
right so this is actually coming from uh
changes in the growth of States growth
management act that were enacted a
couple years ago and it says and that
every housing element has to include
inventory and Analysis of existing and
projected housing needs that identifies
the number of housing units necessary to
manage projected growth that's the 3500.
as provided by the Department of
Commerce including units for moderate
low very low and extremely low income
households
and emergency housing Emergency Shelters
and permanent Supportive Housing
so what we had at isqua in 2019 is in
the top line there
30 Ami
breaking up the the income groups from
30 Ami and breaking up the 30 and Below
into permanent Supportive Housing
or not that's what the psh stands for
and then the middle row 24 20 20 44
total need
is what the Commerce Department said
well Commerce gave each County
county-wide figures and that the county
wat the King County groups in
collaboration with
city planners elected officials and so
forth have come up with an allocation
member method which is shown in that
middle row
and so these are the numbers that are
proposed for Issaquah
and then the the difference is in that
bottom row
that bottom row from in the tan colored
columns to the right of emergency that
those add up to the 3500. total growth
Target
so um
actually
little clarification
it's not 3 500 because that would mean
that every unit that came in every new
unit that came in we would expect to be
affordable so it actually but it does
come out to like 3 100 units that
they're hoping would be affordable to up
to 120 percent
this is the uh the same data just shown
in percentages kind of comparing the
Baseline to what the total need is
um and I want to make clear that what
the uh comp plan is accountable for here
um
is to plan for and accommodate is the
words that are in the the growth
management Act and the countywide
planning policies
housing for these needs by 2044.
the city won't be held accountable for
what actually gets built or what the
actual affordability is
as long as the city implements the plan
so you can't adopt you know a housing
element that says we'll do these things
and then set it aside and not do it
that would make the city vulnerable
but you do have to you also have to have
a plan that shows it's
you know it's reasonably possible these
are my words these are not official
words I'm trying to paraphrase that's my
ability here but it has to be a
reasonable plan that that shows that
that affordability left sort of those
needs could be met
over uh the next 20 years
so we wanted to take a little bit of
time here just to reflect on what this
cause already doing what some options
are
you know by looking at what other cities
have been doing
and then
see where our conversation goes oh that
we want to talk a little bit more about
the state law okay
so if you might recall from the last
time I was here Lindsay Masterson I
talked about some of your programs
and issco has done a lot over the last
30 years
to create and preserve affordable units
the vast majority of those about 860 of
them I think came through development
agreements
mostly on Issaquah Highlands as Kristen
said
but there are other Provisions in the
code that you know provide opportunities
for development agreements like for
cluster housing and things that also
lead to Affordable units
um you have inclusionary zoning and
Central Issaquah District
which has only produced 11 you
affordable units so far but has a lot of
potential to do more there I believe all
or nearly all the affordable units in
Issaquah have received a fee waivers or
partial fee waivers or exemptions from
Impact fees that kind of thing
um
and then the cities contributed a lot to
the arch trust fund which has leveraged
funding from other Arch members and
other funders to help produce
affordable housing here and
across Arch sphere
and the city has actually been also one
of the leaders in
offering public land either free or
reduced costs for to make feasible
housing by non-profit housers
the big difference between Issaquah and
other Arch members from my standpoint
other cities have relied more heavily on
inclusionary zoning there's a mandatory
affordability that comes as a result
from up zoning
or things of that nature and other
cities have also used the multi-family
tax exemption
Issaquah has a provision ready to go
and if the city decides to make that
available on a wider
Geographic part of the city I think that
will
probably get a lot of use
commercial linkage fees I have to admit
are not a real thing yet
it's kind of something that one or two
cities have adopted but haven't
made much use of but all of our cities
are looking closely at this as a kind of
a equivalent of an inclusionary housing
for commercial development where the
developers would pay a fee
to help support affordable housing for
the demand for housing they're created
through their increased employment
and like Issaquah other cities have used
uh have
funded the trust fund and
helped projects with public land
we should also
um
not feel like the city has to do
everything here
that a comp plan can and and really
should
um
spread the responsibility around right
after all the city doesn't build housing
we know that
um
the King County Housing Authority does
and has been active in Issaquah for a
long time
but there are other actors that
I think it's fair to say should be part
of this plan and the
cpps and state law actually require that
the plan include collaboration
collaboration actions in concert with
other
other actors so
so that will be part of the planning
process going forward
foreign the affordable housing
needs are just one of the challenges in
this housing element update
and
the you'll see a lot of
cross-pollination between the GMA
amendments and the new CPP amendments
I've bulleted here what I think are some
of the major substantive additions or
changes some of the other
cpps and there are several pages of
housing
policies but they may they have stronger
language now than they used to but
they're they're basically not changed
these are some of the things that I
think reflect the emphasis of the cpps
that we'll have to take into
consideration for the housing element
update
there we've just shown you a tip of the
iceberg on the data that we have but the
cpps require some quite a bit of
additional data and Analysis
that will present to you
that would be part of the process of
actually evaluating the effectiveness of
the programs that you have in place and
the resources that have been available
in the past and trying to identify
gaps also there is emphasis on
identifying and documenting racially
discriminatory and exclusive land use
and housing policies risk of
displacement
other exclusions in housing and policies
to
make up for those gaps
and then
the cpps also provide for a new level
of comp plan review that has then has
been done in the past so
I can't say exactly what this is going
to look like I'm not sure anybody knows
for sure they're still working on the
policies that will Define what the
process will be but
um
the both the affordable housing
committee and the growth management
planning come out Council of King County
will be examining all of the housing
elements closely to try to make sure
that
um as I indicated earlier that
the policies and strategies and the
plans
you know show a reasonable level of
support and confidence that those needs
can be met in the future
so as I mentioned they were both County
and state requirements that we're doing
and they overlapped quite a bit as Mike
said so the inventory and Analysis the
state is requiring they want to identify
capacity of land for all housing units
so from very very low income up to 120
percent up to special needs
um identify and address policies that
result again in racially disparate
impacts and displacement and exclusion
and then address and begin to undo
racially disparate impacts displacement
and inclusion on housing
so
I don't know why I find that funny um in
2021 the state adopted house bill 1220.
and it requires that cities accommodate
and plan for
very low income through uh
or extremely low income through moderate
income housing so everything that we've
talked about
and we do that we allow it everywhere
right now
they also ask that we accommodate and
plan for emergency housing Emergency
Shelters and permanent Supportive
Housing those we don't do so that'll
have to be a change both in our policies
and in our development regulations
and then adopt anti-displacement
policies which we don't have in our code
and inventory and monitor we actually
have an inventory right now
what I told you I just map but haven't
bring with me and to monitor it which we
kind of do but we haven't we do we
monitor it pretty well it comes out in
the housing report card every year so
not a whole lot of changes here but
there are some that need to be made in a
big discussion that needs to be had
because there are different ways to
accommodate for the emergency housing
and the Emergency Shelters
and then one that's being talked about
it's been passed in the house and it's
on its way to the Senate and will likely
be passed as house bill 1110.
and it says that we must allow three
units per every lot that is that allows
primarily housing on it or every every
Zone that has that's
zoned for primarily residential use so
that would pretty much be our
multi-family High zoning all the way
down through Conservancy residential
and then you would be required to allow
six units within one half mile walking
distance of a major Transit stop they
haven't quite defined what major Transit
stop is yet right now based on the
definition we don't have one
because we don't have rapid Area Transit
yet any kind of so um but it hasn't been
fully defined so we'll see what that
turns into and then four units would be
allowed anywhere in the city on a parcel
as long as one of those units is
Affordable at 60 or 80 to 60 percent
uh was it 60 rental and 80 ownership
so those are things that are being
talked about they will probably get
passed and there's a little more to it
but I didn't you know we'll get into the
finer details once they figure it out
themselves so
so that's what we have as far as
presentation again we want to we want
you guys to start talking to us now
let's have a discussion about the vision
which take your time with the vision it
has to doesn't have to be done tonight
when I do Visions I will actually write
out my outline first and then go okay
here's the thesis of the vision so you
know people work in different ways so it
doesn't have to be decided tonight and
are there any topics that aren't
addressed here that are being required
by the state and County that you want to
see us talk about and then is there
information or feedback that will help
you that we didn't provide aside from
the map that shows everything that we
have and where
so that's it
would you like me to stop sharing
no I think we can keep these up okay
well thank you Mr Stanger thank you
Kristen
commission it's our turn
please
yes it was commissioner Alma um just a
quick question the what's been proposed
in that bill is that the minimum or or
the maximum for in in regards to six
units and or or three units per lot
if a developer oh go on please the
minimum okay very well thank you
and if I understand this correctly
Kristen both bills these are what's
allowed it's not necessarily that it's
what's going to be built so am I getting
this right this these bills don't have
as much teeth as it sounds
it's true it's like our targets they say
that we have to plan for and accommodate
3 500 units but we don't have to build 3
500 units we're not developers so same
thing here
right is that they would say that you
have to allow three lots or three units
per lot but we don't have to build that
we don't have to require that you just
have to allow it right because that was
something in the very beginning I'm
getting a little hung up on I understand
how it works with development agreements
I understand how it works with
multi-family how does that work with
like a single family house like a single
family residential that someone is
either using a builder or building
themselves I mean does that even equate
does that even become part of the
calculation or
not really I mean I see how it works
with multi-family I just I can't get in
my head like single residential housing
how any of this works so there are a few
different I live in Kirkland where this
is already allowed
and there are a few different scenarios
you know I know in one case I just saw a
house that was for sale
and there was an existing house and they
built 280 use behind it and in Kirkland
you're allowed to sell those adus
even if it's on one lot
so that person went in they had their
single family house they had a really
big backyard they put in two much
smaller single-family houses and they
sold those
or on another one where they're doing
more of is you have a deeper older lot
and you put three small houses on there
with a driveway that accesses all of
them so when it comes to private
property it's more about enticing either
the
the seller or the property owner to be
able to utilize the land a little bit
better to make a profit themselves sell
it and then offer more affordable
housing to
the next group of people that are moving
in behind them right and again these
don't have to be affordable the three
units they can be one of those adus was
selling for over a million dollars so
they don't have to be affordable
self-subjective right okay they just
they have to be allowed now if you're
going to do four one of those does have
to be affordable
Louis
I'm curious I think one of the holdups
for me as I've been following this bill
is thinking about level of service and
specifically for our community how we
think about sewer water
transportation right that there's um
there's more to the story than just
housing units and how the state expects
us to be able to accommodate for that in
a community like ours that has a very
geography right it's very interesting to
me because not all communities are the
same we're very unique and I think that
this right now leaves a lot of questions
that Issaquah needs to be prepared to
say this is what we will and won't do
which means having policy discussions
with the public in these forums to be
able to say this is how and where we're
going to do it to be very specific
because as I read it it means that when
we get single Lots asking to have zoning
up you know to be up zoned right now we
say well we want it in the valley floor
right we're following our policy
decisions but this changes that pretty
dramatically and so it it's um
concerning might be a good word right
right and you know you bring up a very
good point and we've had lots of
conversations about that internally and
our mayor has spoken with other Mayors
and legislators and said our topography
doesn't allow for this in some ways
because we need transit to accommodate
all these people but we can't get
transit up on the top of squawk mountain
or up Tallis those roads are too steep
especially when it's snowy or yeah the
infrastructure we need water we need
sewer we need all these things and we
have to be able to accommodate that in
in some places it's just not possible
so I think what's interesting then is to
think about how we measure
um
how we measure the The Fallout right
what we know we need to meet and how we
do it means what are the things that
need to come in line for it if you're
going to build in this way then what are
the other costs that are going to be
associated with it
um you know obviously these homes aren't
going to be able to have um
a septic drain field so that means that
we need to think about how our system is
able to accommodate just you know our
Wastewater alone it's a complicated
um puzzle
yeah this is Sarah Vader um this might
be a dumb questions because I don't
really know how the process works but is
some of that
well some of those like can this law
accommodate this or not just kind of
happen naturally through like land use
code or building code
um that sort of thing so that this
development can only happen on lots that
actually can
accommodate and just kind of increase
density right there's not going to be
any there you know there wouldn't be any
lot line adjustments to make sure that
all the Lots can accommodate this or
anything like that yeah it would just be
a matter of amending our code to say
this is allowed here yeah and then if if
you can fit three great do three
you know
commissioner Kennedy
well one I'm really looking forward to
that map because that was my question
too I wanted a map with all kinds of
dots of where single-family homes were
multi-family homes versus affordable
housing so I'm looking forward to your
map question
um we have to accommodate for this
housing but what I'm hearing you say is
it's not mandatory so is there a system
for encouraging it
how does that work if it's we have to
accommodate for it but we
we're not builders
how does that work do we have
enticements
for affordable housing yes
um you know Mike mentioned all the
incentives that we have with the fee
waivers and land and sometimes we
actually require it in the case of
affordable housing like inclusionary
zoning or if you're going to do
development bonus then you're going to
go above your base height or above your
base if we are then you're required to
do it but as far as the market rate
housing goes no you're right you just
have to say in your code
this is allowed here
and then if somebody wants to come build
it I don't think that there's going to
be a whole lot of enticing that has to
be done in some cases in some locations
but
um yeah they would uh there's no forcing
of it
yeah that was something I was looking at
too is as far as
Mr stanger's presentation it shows you
know the things that were working
and that was another question I wanted
to ask but as far as the things that are
working we have the development
agreements we have waivers City Partners
like Arch
funding through the city through Arch
and then even a little bit of land use
but ultimately
seems like those are the ways people get
it again like you said you can have
inclusionary zoning if you're starting a
new development like Talus or is it
called Highlands I don't know how many
more of these down the pipe but for the
most part it sounds like enticing people
is how we're going to get what we want
and then allowing certain developers to
build which kind of scares me a little
because once they have that uh that Long
Leash they can you know we don't want
tenements by any means
but am I getting that right it really
has been enticements for the last
20 years yeah
yeah I'm trying to pull up I am
listening to you
I make this cool idea
I I pulled up the map I'm going to share
it with you
this is just not the best way to see it
do you see it
well I'm gonna let's see I'll just try
it this way
okay
uh yeah this is going to be hard to see
because I don't know how to make this
little ribbon go away
but
starting from the top you can see we
have two unit we have some units over
here South Cove Providence Point we
don't have any affordable units up there
you can see that in Issaquah Highlands
there are quite a few and these are all
the 80 belows quite a few and it's quite
Highlands and then you get a lot down
here you start to get some in Old Town
and down on Old Town and squawk Mountain
down here so really kind of this Central
and South Southeast parts of the city
and then over here in Dallas this is
Rose Crest that has 50 units and then
there's only one unit right here in
Dallas but then this map also includes a
table of
all the units the names where they're
located whether they're rental or
ownership total units affordable units
um and then at what Ami each of those
units is so this hopefully will come out
next week and I'll send you guys the
link but there's one in here for the up
to 80 and there's also one that's above
80 and you can see that this is Issaquah
Highlands and that's where they're all
located
chair voice I think to your point I
remember uh this commission did a lot of
joint commission meetings back in I
think 2016 2017 we spent about two years
really trying to work a lot on how we
were going to get a more affordable
housing in the City of Issaquah and it
was very interesting because we had a
lot of options in front of us and we all
wanted the enticing route right we all
wanted the carrot and not the stick we
looked at a lot of different things and
we chose that as a community and I think
what's really interesting is to think
about how we're tracking it whenever we
do our housing report card we like to
see who's utilizing what what's being
used what do we need to kind of think
about how we're changing those
incentives and what's working and not
working but being able to track what are
we getting a real result from it's going
to be a very interesting thing moving
forward in terms of especially the state
Bill and making sure that we're
attracting and managing it in a way
that's kind of slow rolls that I think
in a way that we're able to get a hold
of
I know we got more questions in this we
got more questions in the tank
Vice chair Bader
yeah I have questions to take us down a
little bit of a different path
[Music]
um
my first question is is there a waiting
list
um for affordable housing in the city
we don't keep a waiting list per se we
have
um what we we call it a mailing list or
a contact list or kind of a registry of
people who are interested in affordable
housing through our programs and you
know in our community so we'll contact
them when opportunities become available
whether it's home ownership or rental
okay
so do we have a sense of like I know we
have our targets but like to actually
meet demand for affordable housing how
many units we would need or
how many off we are
to meet uh to not from that waiting list
which your question makes me think of
though is that is
you know how you know just basically how
many to me do we need right and the
county is defining that is telling us
what that is that's that number okay and
then
um in terms of those whatever it was 3
100 units that kind of fall and that do
we have targets for how many of those we
want to be rentals versus ownership
good question no that that's not defined
in there
you know the city could Define that
yourselves
because I'm thinking about like then the
kind of goals and policies around like
discouraging displacement and that sort
of thing and like encouraging paths to
home ownership
as part of this the um uh I think
there's kind of a natural
um
I'm not sure what the right word is uh
barrier is not exactly what I'm looking
for but
um
home ownership would is is going to be
very difficult for people who make less
than 50 percent of median uh regardless
even if the entry prices is Affordable
to them so that's going to limit your
ability to produce affordable units you
know at those price points
and then last thing and that I think
would be interesting to see too is we
kind of talked about numbers as a whole
but to see that kind of um the same
breakdown by race and ethnicity and what
that looks like across the city
um I think would be another kind of good
data point to have going into these
conversations
I'm sorry would you repeat that just
looking at the data by race and
ethnicity instead of just the population
level yeah yeah we
commissioner altimore thank you I just
wanted to speak to Vice chair Bader's
first question
um so if I take off my commissioner head
and put on my day job hat this is what I
do all day and I didn't recognize you
Mike when I walked in because I don't
normally see you here
um but uh it's hard to talk Geographic
city lines when you have the need
conversation because the there is we're
also close together right if you're
looking at Snoqualmie versus Bellevue uh
is called red or Redmond Kirkland
but I know that the work I'm a member of
the Eastside housing Roundtable and the
work that we've been doing on the needs
assessment around what those needs are
the numbers are astronomical and so the
big conversation was do we actually put
out the real number because it would
freak people out too badly or do we put
out a number that is a little bit more
accessible right that that people could
actually accept and as an employer here
on the east side that is non-profit so
we pay unfortunately lower wages I know
that our staff continue to live further
and further and further away and so
that's another part of the need in
speaking to what is the need in the City
of Issaquah versus what is the need for
the employers within this region to
actually be able to have people who live
closer so the numbers that when I
mentioned a couple weeks or months ago
about the targets being the floor I
really do see the targets being the
floor because the the need is so
excessive for people who don't make the
the very highest wages in the region
again
your day job will come in handy
thank you commissioner altimore
how do we compare to other cities I know
it's you don't have to name them
but as far as Issaquah in terms of our
disparities with people at different
Amis
are we as out of whack or out of balance
as other cities are we doing better I
mean I know our numbers provided by King
County the 3 500 number that's in
relation to our size and what our
capacity is
but as far as how we're doing what like
if we were to get a report card would we
be doing better than
other Puget Sound communities other East
Side communities
I will be more than happy to bring in uh
you know real data that that you could
make those comparisons but
um
having
you know done some presentations to to
show you know kind of what works and
what doesn't including some with Kristen
um
compares favorably with cities of your
size
um but if you look at you know the
those gaps or that that affordable
housing need that you need to plan for
for the county-wide planning policies
every city is just you know those
numbers are enormous and it's
um
they're all big
right and it speaks to commissioner
altimore I mean the need right but as
far as just as far as we've done so far
with what we as far as many cities
effort in the past goes it Compares
strongly with other Arch communities and
the reason I ask is it goes to
commissioner Lewis's point about the
things that we're doing well you know
there's things we can improve on but if
if this carrot is continuing to work you
know is that the method we want to go so
that that's kind of more of where I'm
interested in is if we're doing a good
job and we're favorable to cities of our
size
um you know maybe maybe the carrot
method is working maybe we just need to
expand it to try and reach targets that
we're getting hounded down now from the
county
um
see if we can't spice it up a little bit
well you know um
when I've uh classified the the data
there are mandatory programs in their
voluntary programs and then there are
development agreements which are sort of
uh neither fish nor foul right I mean a
developer is as I understand it it's
kind of worked like this a developer
comes into the City of Issaquah and
wants to do something different than is
allowed in the code
and the City offers well we might let
you do that but we'd have to do a
development agreement
and you'd have to convince us that we're
getting enough in public benefits as
we're as the value that we're changing
to allow you to do what you want
and if you don't convince us then we're
not going to give you the development
agreement
so
I've never been really sure whether to
call that mandatory or voluntary
um arm twisting
and uh issquare has been very productive
with their development agreements much
more than any other community that I can
point to but how much
can you continue to do that I don't know
well that's yeah that's a point I was
going to bring up is that you know most
most of our units have come from
centralist Aqua development agreement
but the city's trying to move away
yeah sorry Escala Highlands but the
city's trying to move away or is
starting to move away from development
agreements one is because we don't
really have the land to do it anymore
and two is because they create an
entirely different code
and one of the reasons we just did Title
18 was to try and get everything into
one place so you know trying to move
away from those which means that we need
to find other ways like multi-family tax
exemption in conjunction with
inclusionary zoning or something like
that I don't know what it is but that's
top of my head yeah oh that's good to
know like you said if one of our tools
is getting dull need to find something
else to replace it
commissioner Lewis
to talk about this
or with our jobs numbers right it's hard
to separate the two and I think it's
worth bringing up that uh there's been a
lot of discussion but not a lot of
movement on how we really accommodate
the live work play in our mission and so
while there is great need and not
necessarily everybody wants to live
where they work being able specifically
to have civil servants teachers
firefighters right the vital roles that
we need to keep our community moving
having the ability for them to be able
to live in our community is something
that's very difficult right if you make
a teaching salary you're not able to
afford to to buy an Issaquah right and
being able to have that equity and to be
able to build true assets for your
family is something that's really
important and so how we support that how
we do that is some A continuing
discussion that when we talk about the
housing element needs to not be
forgotten is how we say yes all people
are valuable and there's also very real
roles in our community that need to
exist and we need to make sure that we
make room for them and how do we do that
absolutely
may I ask what other information can we
bring back to you
I'd like to know a little bit more
about the emergency housing again I I'm
you know and I know that's unclear
because the bill currently I believe is
still going through nope that one's
already passed that that one passed
that's House Bill 1220. okay so I'd like
to hear more about that what that means
what that looks like what because you
mentioned that there's two areas where
Issaquah has been successful or we've
already been proactive about it and I
think that one is where you said we we
haven't really done anything about it
um so yeah the two areas where we
haven't done much and I know you guys
were already going to tell us but yeah
that that's a question mark in my mind
that one the anti-display displacement
policy both those things I'm interested
to hear more about
and I will let you know so
uh the state had asked us to do the
emergency shelter requirements to ask
cities to do that a long time ago but a
lot of cities postponed it for various
reasons
um so right now we default to the
state's draft ordinary ordinance that
they've adopted which means that
shelters currently can go anywhere where
hotels can be located
so right now they could come here and it
would be under the states but it would
be under the state's ordinance
yeah yeah I mean again more of the more
information about that the better I
don't know if these are
transitional housing again you know not
to get controversial I don't know if
these are
facilities for people that are having
mental health problems or addictions I
mean there are two very different things
so yeah the more information we can get
on that I'm sure the public would
appreciate
uh one piece of information I always
find very interesting is age differences
right of our population and pouring over
census data when it's released is always
really interesting to see especially for
Issaquah as a community traditionally
thinks of itself as
um as a family
um a family place right and we think
about that with our housing units is
what we're accommodating but Evermore I
think it's over 30 32 percent of our
population is actually single people and
being able to have the data of uh who is
in our community who are we trying to
serve also along age lines
um how are what percentage of our
population is looking to age in place
and age out right are important factors
when thinking about housing units and
what we need also from that perspective
commissioner Patterson sure thank you
you mentioned at this point uh they have
not uh defined what a was it Mass
Transit Center uh is yet however there
are requirements like you know the six
units within a half mile
um however there's one uh large project
that comes to mind which is the light
rail which was within the target of our
2044 uh Target Zone here and I'd imagine
there's a pretty long Runway to identify
the area and place that goes and the
development around it so I was just
curious
um is there any specifics on that at
this time of
where that would go and what the
development would be around that
we do have some ideas but Stephen
were up on that than I am
so we have an ongoing Trend to study
that's going to be looking at some of
that information of figuring out what's
going to be required from the state
what's going to be required from Sound
Transit and also how to coordinate with
King County Metro and how we're going to
build out our transit system so that we
can have a little more comprehensive
understanding of okay if light rail goes
here how does that how do we increase
the access to that via our transit
system or any other Mobility connections
we can create in the city and and then
build on that like now can we build the
trail systems around that can we build
walking and biking and that'll help kind
of influence some of the discussion on
okay housing commercial how does that
build out make it so we can make it a
walkable area we can achieve that vision
for where this area is for Light Rail
and so those discussions are coming as
part of some of this and you'll get more
information on that in the coming months
as we discuss more on the land use and
housing side as well as the
transportation side gets developed
through the transit study
and then I had one more question as far
as the affordability Mr Stanger so is
there any type of data that shows the
people that are utilizing affordable
housing that are able to either move on
from to purchasing their own home or to
be able to get out of that particular
circumstance
do we have any data points on that
that it was being utilized that they
were able to make the most of it I mean
again a positive thing we all know that
home ownership is a weight
towards middle class so do you guys keep
track of any of those that information I
believe that we have made an attempt to
uh
ask for information like that it's kind
of hard to gather from
rental housing where we are not the
property managers and uh
were rarely
aware of
when they're
leaving
but I think we have
we may have tried to capture some of
that voluntarily and all
I'll try to see what we have yeah just
be it'd be great to see you know how
successful the program is to find out
benchmarks things of that nature
commissioner altmore
I should offer the
answers are not
go ahead
okay so um one of the things that I have
run into again day job um
so you have a bunch of capital sources
that go into building these affordable
units and you have to go to the most
restrictive of the capital sources and
follow those rules for those 35 or 50
years so for instance Arch has a policy
that says that they do have to move on
if they reach a certain income threshold
but home dollars which is a federal
source that comes down through the
county
says you cannot do that and so you have
to go with the home dollars the city of
Seattle has the levy so they don't use
home dollars so the home dollars get
spread out in the county which is why
you see that more outside of the city of
Seattle than in the city of Seattle so
so yes a lot of the providers like
imagine housing or or other providers
would know that information but often
can't actually do anything about that
and so it's that relationship building
it's that engagement with your community
versus the the stick
thank you for that inside baseball
commissioners
yes so when we when
um housing units are allotted for the
afford the for the affordability and
let's say somebody and this is piggy
backing off a commissioner Voice's
question
um and the individual or family that
lives in that home moves out
um is the developer or or HOA or
whichever
have to provide that same unit for
another family within those okay I see
you shaking here
are you thinking of a home ownership
home ownership yes so what happens there
is that the uh
when the project is being built then the
developer in the city have an agreement
or a covenant on the land that
determines how
the uh you know which homes will be
affordable and how they'll be sold and
how the buyers will be qualified to buy
them and so forth
once the when a buyer comes in and
closes on the home then they sign a
covenant with the city and when the all
the affordable homes are sold then the
agreement with the developer goes away
because the developer is out of the
picture now
so then the obligation is
is between the homeowner and the city
and when they one of the provisions
there is when the homeowner wants to
sell then they contact Arch and we begin
the process of
you know preparing of setting the
maximum price that they can sell it for
the the eligibility of the next buyers
marketing the home
uh established or qualifying the
potential buyer and so forth and and
then that buyer signs a covenant with
the city and just so it perpetuates in
that way
okay okay very well so and and when
you're selling that or they're selling
the home and in in concert or in
collaboration with the city
um market value
would in play a big role in that or will
it only if the uh Market is going down
in price there have been occasions where
the market price is actually becomes
lower than the maximum affordable price
because there's a formula attached to
the resale pricing if that happens then
then the seller usually has to sell for
less than that that affordable maximum
affordable price
very well thank you yeah
yeah all right well thank you
um I'll spell spare you all the pain of
a round robin does anyone have any
further questions as far as information
that they want
because I'd like to move on to Vision we
want to supply a staff with any
suggestions as far as or questions about
the vision component
so again I'll spare the round robin but
okay and obviously we you can always
email staff more information if it comes
to you later
moving on to vision
anyone would like to either comment or
add or
speak about uh
the vision that they want to see for
this particular element of the comp plan
commissioner altmore
apologies in advance because this is
kind of vague but when I read this it
feels very Now versus looking toward the
future so I would love to see something
sort of aspirational in the wording
there to say that we are you know
prepared for future changes that are
coming within the community or even
really the regional needs
great that's great suggestion
and these Visions can come to you late
at night they don't have to happen here
on the days so
anyone else commissioner Patterson
I I'll read my note that it's recorded
on this
um to me the vision statement seems to
be in line with the intent of the
housing element the housing element
emphasizes the importance of housing as
a vital component of a community forming
neighborhoods and contributing to the
living environment uh the this idea is
reflected in the vision statements focus
on preserving and enhancing
neighborhoods
I think the vision statement
acknowledges the need for improvement in
housing opportunities for the city's
diverse population and local Workforce
which corresponds with the housing
elements emphasis on promoting a mixture
of housing types and affordability
so overall the vision statement appears
to capture the intent of the housing
element by focusing on the preservation
and enhancement of neighborhoods as well
as improving housing opportunities for a
diverse population Additionally the
mention of an updated analysis of
existing housing income levels and other
factors for the upcoming update shows
that the city has a commitment to the
data-driven decision making and
addressing the identified gaps in
housing so in in summary I think it's
pretty good I mean anything can use
Improvement but uh overall I mean I
think that they mirror each other well
enough to be in concert with each other
thank you
thank you commissioner Patterson anyone
else like to add to the vision
Vice chair Bader yes I had a very
similar reaction to it as commissioner
altimore that it just felt like almost
like with The Preserve being the first
word that that means the status quo is
okay
um and so I don't know if it's just a
exiting that and starting with enhancing
neighborhoods because I crossed the
board I don't think anyone's going to
say I don't want my neighborhood to be
enhanced
um and so maybe that would help with
that because I yeah I think starting
with preserve doesn't feel very
inspirational or aspirational
um
I think there's some probably some
Nuance around like the affordability
piece that we could add into here as
well as
um
equity and
all of that but I'll leave I'm not
nearly as well I thought I was
commissioner Patterson
commissioner Lewis I wouldn't mind my
neighborhood being enhanced uh my only
comment on it was I wish there was
something that addressed the word growth
right we know that our housing needs to
be growing and so I think somehow being
able to have the word where we talk
about the direction of where we're going
I wish I'd been into much of a futurist
as you but for me that was what was
missing was knowing it more how do we
want to do more so growth was the best
word that I could think of because I was
like oh I know Kristen really likes we
it's always good for us to be able to be
like well tweak it a little but it's
always nice to have real comments so
all right any further comments
foreign
okay well again you can always email
staff with any ideas that come later as
far as Vision or again information that
you want
I believe that's it
well there was just one other question
and it's do you all do you have any
other topics any other policies that you
might want to
discuss
during this you know potentially include
I am interested about to Steven's Point
about how it works with the
transportation facilities again I won't
name names that would be rude I've seen
uh one particular East Side City where I
think they kind of built out their
downtown core and lost its charm because
they thought that's where their Light
Rail was going to land so that kind of
concerns me and again that's why I like
the element Vision preserve and enhance
but I can be persuaded to drop preserve
but again keeping our our neighborhoods
looking all while at the same time
growing and being enhanced but I'm
thinking of a particular City that did
not do that and and change the charm of
their city and not for the better and it
was it had a direct it was directly
because they were trying to plan for
light rail and I definitely wouldn't
like to see that I mean I know we need
to build
um infrastructure around those places
but that would be a concern of mine
commissioner altimore commissioner Lewis
I'm just wondering if there has been an
assessment of uh racially disparate
policies that would we could know about
that maybe historically that need to be
addressed
there has not there has not okay
but there's a lot of guidance on how we
would do that so we're hoping to
capitalize on
on some opportunities on that
I don't have any clear answers at this
point one thing I was going to ask to
piggyback on commissioner altmore real
briefly is is because Issaquah is a
smaller Township going into a proper
City
would some of that stuff even relate to
us I mean we're not a Seattle we're not
in Bellevue I mean again I'm not saying
it doesn't happen but like you know some
of those
things from the past
um where Seattle might have gotten in
trouble would that even apply
to Issaquah when we I mean like I said I
think we're what 37 000 people
so and that how much have we grown in 15
years so again I that's kind of my
question
um because we're a smaller Township
would those things really apply I can
see trying to build things in for the
future but how much looking back are we
doing
for what has been traditionally a town
turning into a city
proper no I I agree and I don't think
the size of the city which is just over
forty thousand
um I don't think I don't think the size
of the city has anything to do with it I
think it has you know the government now
has been governed in the past would have
something to do with it
um
but I do agree I don't think compared to
other places it's going to be as
um
obvious or prevalent as it is in other
places but it's something we still need
to look at I mean you know maybe things
that we haven't thought about before
that even come into play
yeah
thank you Kristen commissioner Lewis
you know Krista one thing I was trying
to think about
um with this
um last part question is to really think
of the flip side and is to wonder what
is our boundary what are we not willing
to do right what are what are we will
we've talked a lot about what we want to
consider but what do we say in Issaquah
um is not on the table for us and being
able to clearly Define that I think may
help as we move forward
um the transit example is a good is a
good one we know we recently I think as
someone who's looked at it a lot I'm a
big proponent of the lid I think we need
a lid much like Mercer Island I think
the 90 divides our community and I think
a lid would solve a lot of problems and
the idea that we would just put sound
let child Transit go wherever they think
is best is um you haven't met Issaquah
we do things our own way right and so um
you know we recently applied for a grant
and we're denied by Olympia to be able
to have that study done right there's a
lot of pre-steps that need to happen
before we even think about placement and
so again thinking about where we not
willing to put things where are we what
are we not willing to do might be an
interesting way to also frame the
conversation when we think about um
you know what are you know what what
um what is either the direction of the
administration or a council or within
the community that we know it doesn't
really matter what sound transit says it
doesn't really matter what developer
says this is what we're not willing to
bend
thank you
just a point of clarification because
it's not 100 clear to me where um the
previous point about this kind of
harmful policies landed
um because I think glossing over that or
saying because we're small is in itself
kind of a harmful practice
um and so I want to make sure we give
this you know these three kind of final
new elements like their proper do
because unfortunately structural racism
exists everywhere and it exists in
Issaquah whether we want to say it does
or not
um and so I think we just need to be
conscious of that and who and what you
know I don't I don't know if there was
like there probably wasn't like
redlining in the same way there was in
Seattle and Issaquah right
um but that's not to say that there is
not
um things that have been done that could
have been done better
um and so I think it's you know worth
giving this this 3M
requirements there they're Fair kind of
time at the table
all right
fantastic discussion thank you everybody
is there anything anyone would like to
add before we uh toss it back to staff
okay Kristen is there one more
we're really done this time okay thank
you all
right well thank you Mr Stanger and
thank you Kristen fantastic presentation
uh I believe now we're going to move on
to reports
okay just just one last word if if
you're gonna call her Kristen you can
call me Mike
fair enough thank you Mike
it did sound a little formal saying
Kristen and Mr Stanger but uh thank you
Mike we always appreciate you coming in
and and helping educate us
all right Kristen or Steven
who wants to share the reports with us
I'm looking at Chris and make sure
there's not one more thing before
so for Council update just the quick
update with Title 18 council is going to
be holding a public hearing on Title 18
on April 17th
and then
um the plan adoption for Title 18 is May
1st and so I just want to update you on
what's remaining of that project
but on March 28th there's going to be a
discussion about the comprehensive plan
with the Planning Development and
environmental committee if anybody wants
to see that
all right
busy spring
is there anything else Steph would like
to ask
or present
okay I'm going to move on to other
business and announcements and um
I have some very bad news and sad news
uh that I just learned this evening
this is commissioner Lewis's last uh
evening with us and I'm very sad to hear
that
commissioner Lewis has not only been a
leader and a fantastic commissioner to
work with her historical knowledge
on our commission has been invaluable
so this is bad and sad news not only for
our commission but also for our city and
on a personal note I'm going to be
losing a friend on this Deus so
very sad very bad news but I know Joy
will be rooting for us wishing him the
best and providing us commentary
whenever she feels like it
uh commissioner Lewis would you like to
say anything
uh
um
I'm so grateful for my present and past
Commissioners and staff right we've had
amazing support and I'm so glad that I
had the chance to serve so
thank you for that that was very sweet
Mr Lewis
okay no more sad and bad news
may I say thank you Yes actually step
please yeah so Joy I've been on here
since you have actually yeah since you
came on but um
I've always appreciated how ridiculously
prepared you have come to every single
meeting and it's it's hard work and
you've done it every time and you've
always been a good contributor to the
meetings and I've enjoyed to getting to
know you besides that so just thank you
so much for everything that you've put
into this Commission because I know it
means a lot to you and it's been a lot
to us
second map
all right everyone if there is no
further
um comments from the Commissioners
anything else anyone like to add we are
going to adjourn and we will adjourn
tonight's meeting
at 7 57 7 56 P.M
thank you and good night