The second night of the public hearing on the proposal for 100 more housing units in the Issaquah Highlands at the Feb. 21 Issaquah City Council meeting ended with the council voting to continue the hearing on April 17, and sending the proposal back to the Council Land and Shore Committee while more information is gathered.

The proposal, put out by Bellevue-based developer Polygon Northwest, would add 100 Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) certificates to Polygon’s Westridge Development project, located west of Safeway between Northeast High Street and Fifth Place Northeast. This move would increase the development’s total number of units from 265 to 365.

An addition of 100 more units to the Highlands neighborhood would necessitate the council’s approval of a major modification to the Issaquah Highlands Development Agreement.

Additionally, Polygon plans to add 25 units of affordable housing and a group home for five people with disabilities on a tract of city-owned land just west of Northeast Falls Drive and the Forest Ridge community, to fulfill the Issaquah Highlands 30 percent affordable housing requirement.

The public hearing was first opened at the Jan. 17 council meeting. At the Land and Shore meeting the next day, the committee members expressed that they were not in favor of the measure, and recommended denial.

The comments during the first segment of the hearing on Jan. 17 centered largely around the question of density in the Highlands, with the majority of speakers opposing the additional homes. However, the comments during the Feb. 21 portion of the hearing focused on the TDRs themselves, and saw most speakers coming out in defense of the right of Polygon to use the TDRs in the Highlands.

TDRs, according to Director of Economic Services and Development Keith Niven, are “the exchange of zoning privileges from areas desired to be preserved, such as critical areas and open space, to areas better able to accommodate higher densities.”

The TDRs, which were purchased from Regal Bank, had orignally been intended for Tiger Mountain’s Park Pointe. However, the intended urban village at Park Pointe was never developed, as this area was conserved as 102 acres of open space.

“By not honoring the identified receiving areas, you are undermining the concept of this program and the viability of its future,” stated Jennifer Anderson of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.

Duana Kolouskova, the attorney representing Polygon, told the council that Polygon’s application “is not a legal or appropriate venue for the council to reconsider the TDR program policies or as a referendum on the already legislatively-adopted receiving sites, which include the Westridge property.”

“We urge the council to consider the ramifications were the council to take away Polygon’s right to use the TDRs on the Westridge property and the reality that doing so will seriously jeopardize the critical, regional nature of the TDR program itself,” she continued. “In the future, if the TDR program is not supported, potential TDR users will have no choice but to question the reliability of this program by looking at the track record of the city.”

Council members responded that they were very supportive of the TDR program, but were still worried about how the infrastructure of the Highlands could support the extra growth.

“This is not … a referendum on the TDR program. I support the TDR program. I support the purposes and the goals — it’s a very good thing,” Council President Stacy Goodman stated. “The concern is about what the standard is … making sure the infrastructure can handle it.”

“The TDR program is not what we’re voting on tonight, we’re voting on a development agreement,” Deputy Council President Mary Lou Pauly affirmed.

Goodman referenced Issaquah Municipal Code 18.10.2030, which states that TDRs may not “cause any of the existing or planned infrastructure to fall below the infrastructure’s capacity to handle the maximum density as set forth in the development agreement.”

“I certainly feel that it’s my responsibility to make sure that the proposal complies with the specific provision of the TDR code, the Issaquah Municipal Code, that makes sure that we watch out for the infrastructure needs in the urban village,” Goodman said. “It is not about not agreeing with the TDR program.”

Other comments were supportive of other elements of Polygon’s proposal, such as the affordable housing and the group home proposed by Issaquah nonprofit Life Enrichment Options. Rose Finnegan, who with her husband founded Life Enrichment Options, said that in King County alone, 800 people with disabilities are living with aging parents.

“Our organization is proactive in providing young adults with the opportunity to live as independently as possible,” Finnegan said. She added that the nonprofit had already received 20 applicants for the proposed house.

Goodman motioned to continue the hearing on April 17 and send the agenda bill back to Land and Shore so as to have some more time to study the infrastructure of the Highlands and how the additional density would affect residents. The other council members were in agreement with the motion.

“There are a number of things I really do think we need more information about,” Councilmember Mariah Bettise said. “Is there the sufficient infrastructure?”

“I think it’s reasonable to say we need a little more information and I think 60 days is a reasonable amount of time to get that,” Councilmember Bill Ramos said.

The motion passed unanimously.

The Polygon proposal was on the agenda of the March 2 Land and Shore meeting. The meeting occurred after the Reporter went to press.