⚡ Time-Sensitive Action Needed
On Monday, November 10th, 2025, the Issaquah City Council will be voting on whether to allow Bellevue College to build residential homes on a 19-acre site behind Grand Ridge Elementary, just down the hill from Central Park.
Given the overcrowding at our high schools and recent challenges passing school bonds to build a new high school near Providence Point, we believe it's critical to ensure the Bellevue College site remains available to build a high school. Additionally, there are thousands of school-aged children and teens that live in the Issaquah Highlands who would benefit from having a high school close to where they live.
Since this site is right next to Central Park, there could be collaboration between the school district and the City of Issaquah to provide sports fields both for students and for the community.
Let's Build a High School in the Issaquah Highlands!
Critical Vote on November 10th, 2025
Make Your Voice Heard!
Please consider taking these actions to support preserving this land for a high school:
- Sign up to testify: Sign up to speak at the city council meeting and share your perspective directly with council members.
- Email the City Council: Send your support to [email protected]
It's especially important for the city council to hear from Issaquah Highlands residents! - Attend the November 10th City Council Meeting: You can testify remotely from the comfort of your own home, or attend in person at Issaquah City Hall South.
Proposal Specifics
The specific proposal the city council will be voting on is whether to extend a provision of the WSDOT Development Agreement that allows Bellevue College to build housing on the site. If the city council does not extend the housing provision of the development agreement, the land will revert back to being built for "institutional use," which includes, among other things, schools. This institutional use component of the development agreement is valid through the end of 2040.
Appendix: Fiscal Responsibility
In 2011, the City of Issaquah sold this parcel to Bellevue College for $5.2 million, which was about 50% less than the market price of land at that time. At the time, there was an understanding that it was okay to sell land at below-market prices to a public agency that would use that land to provide a public service to the community.
Unfortunately, Bellevue College is now proposing ground leasing the land to a market rate developer to build market-rate housing. This is contrary to the intent of state law (RCW 39.33.010), which requires that public agencies first try to sell land to other public agencies (e.g. Issaquah School District), and then are only allowed to sell the land to an affordable housing developer. Leasing the land to a market rate developer, while technically legal, seems to be against the spirit of the law.
Additionally, according to Bellevue College's consultant report, Bellevue College's "primary goal for this site is to maximize revenue generation" (pg. 9 of PDF). It is not the role of Issaquah's city government to help subsidize Bellevue College. Imagine if this deal were to be proposed today. Would it be appropriate for the city to give Bellevue College a discount of $5 million on a purchase of land (i.e. forgo $5 million in revenue to the city) so they can lease the land to a market rate housing developer to "maximize revenue generation"? If not, then it's not appropriate to extend the development agreement to allow Bellevue College to build housing.
There are already over 1,000 more homes planned in the Issaquah Highlands. Growth is good, if we have the infrastructure to support it. Schools are essential infrastructure. We need to ensure our kids have the space they need to learn and thrive.