Issaquah may have a health and human services campus in the near future.
After hearing from several community members and concerned citizens in a public hearing, the City Council on Monday voted to approve an amended agreement with the Talus development that would give the city more than $1 million for a health and human services campus in Issaquah, among other things.
“We are a city of great compassion,” citizen and Issaquah School Board member Connie Fletcher said at the public hearing. “It’s a logical solution that truly will jumpstart this community project.”
Council members voted unanimously to approve the changes to the agreement that city staff and Talus representatives have been working on the past few months.
The original agreement between the city and Master Developer of Talus was agreed upon on Dec. 6 1999, and has undergone a few minor modifications but has never been modified by the council, Councilman John Rittenhouse said.
The rights and obligations of Talus Master Developer was transferred last year to Talus Management Services of Maple Valley, and a discussion between the city and TMS began.
The new amendments are:
• Improvements to Newport Way with a sidewalk on the north side, pavement widening to accommodate two 10-foot travel lanes, a five-foot bike lane next to the curb on the north side and a four-foot bike lane on the south side, as well as street lights.
• Mitigation certifications for unused developments with water connections charges, sewer connection charges and street fees.
• Property that will be set aside for Talus zero energy demonstration project.
• Remaining residences on parcels 7, 8, and 9 to be constructed in accordance with “4-Star Built Green” standards.
• A revision to the Phase 2 affordable housing requirement.
The last amendment spurred the most discussion during the public hearing.
In the original agreement, Talus was to build 100 homes that qualify as “affordable housing.” Fifty homes have already been built. However TMS determined that they would be unlikely to be able to find a developer or builder for the remaining homes in the agreement. The amendments would instead allow the developer to build any housing they wish on the land. In return, the city will receive $1.5 million that will go toward building a human services campus in Issaquah.
If the city is unable to find land or for some other reason can not build the campus by the end of 2010, the money will go back into the affordable housing program.
Even with the loss of the 50 houses, which city staff agreed would be difficult to find a builder for, Issaquah will be still about 50 houses ahead of the city’s goal with the addition of the YWCA affordable housing planned in the Highlands.
“To truly have a vibrant community,” Rittenhouse said. “We need to have services to support their needs. This gives us the opportunity to get creative.”
The affordable housing project in Talus was geared for those with 80 to 100 percent of median income, which some have said did not go far enough.
“There are lessons we can learn out of this,” Issaquah resident Elizabeth Maupin said. “Housing that is ‘affordable’ at 80 percent of median income is still not ‘affordable housing.’”
Talus hopes to recoup the $1.5 million in the sale of the land for non-affordable housing use by developers and builders.
In other business, the City Council approved:
• The completed construction contract for Signal Electric, Inc. for phases 2 and 3 of the Intelligent Transportation System project. The contract was initially awarded in June 2006 for the amount of $1.15 million, but was changed to $1.17 million. Signal Electric, Inc. completed the ITS Signal System for a total of $1.13 million.
• Acceptance of McDonald & Co. bid of $620,210 for the construction of Squak Valley Park South. Plans for the park include soccer fields with sports drainage, play area, restrooms, a 72-car parking lot, irrigation system and planting.
• McDonald & Co. was also approved as the contractor for the Talus Neighborhood Park after reviewing their bid of $522,110. The park will include a large grass area, play area, gravel path, restroom, parking lot, irrigation system and planting.
• Receiving tax levy funds as approved by King Country Ordinance 15670. This was part of Prop. 2, which was approved by voters last August. The $.05 per $1,000 assessed value, six-year levy will generate an estimated $16.8 million revenue in King County and will be used for trail development, open space acquisition and recreational enhancements throughout King County. Issaquah will receive about $61,276, officials said.
