Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. I hope everybody's having an enjoyable summer. I can't believe it's almost over. What is this nonsense about it being August 13th already? Well, thank you for joining us this evening. We would like to call the Planning Policy Commission to order, and it currently is 6.31 p.m. Today's meeting is a hybrid meeting. The Planning Policy Commission is in person, but staff or members of the public may also be joining us virtually or in person. Staff, do we have a quorum this evening?

Excellent. All right, the first item of business, as per usual, is our approval of minutes. You would have found those in your agenda packet. Any questions, concerns with the minutes provided in your guys' packet? All right. Getting a bunch of... I was going to say that qualifies as a no, too. So the no changes. So those meeting minutes are approved. Now we want to set aside some time for public comment because this is an important part of the public process. Do we have anyone signed up to speak this evening?

Okay, everybody else is enjoying summer. Everybody's taking the summer off. We're going to jump right in for our regular business this evening, and tonight there will be three presentations on proposed amendments related to the 2026 Comprehensive Plan Amendment process. We're going to begin with 4A, which is the Comprehensive Plan Amendments, the ICAP update. So this first presentation will be from Stacey Vinn-McKinstry, the city's sustainability manager on comprehensive plan amendments related to the 2026 Issaquah Climate Action Plan, or lovingly called the ICAP plan. So this is the update. W

Go ahead. I don't really have any questions about changes, but I was some language questions that I had yeah so land use policy d2 the last part of that says including by and planting new trees I think and is super it's not necessary there it's confusing yes by planting

The next paragraph. says require and incentivize. If you're requiring it, do you really have to provide incentives? And if so, What does that mean? I mean, developers are going to come to the city and say, what incentives do you have for me to do this?

Thank you. I appreciate the qualification. Are we also talking about EC policy statements?

Yeah, I just want to say to build off of what Commissioner Oehner said, I think and slash or would probably cover it because then it leaves it up to us if we want to incentivize, if we want to do one or the other or both. That's all.

We can come back if you have any additional thoughts on land use.

Sorry, I have a question about tree canopy. Yes, absolutely. What is the percentage currently?

So we're saying in the next 24 years, we want to increase that only by 2%.

Sorry, I don't mean to monopolize the conversation here. No, it's great. But EC Policy F4 says achieve 100% It is. Yeah.

says achieve 100% renewable energy for municipal electricity use by 2030. Is that realistic? It is, yes.

Any other comments for Stacy? I'll just make a comment. Thank you so much for the line items. That was very easy to follow and get to. Trust me, that was much appreciated, at least for me. Seems pretty straightforward. I think the goals, they all seem pretty appropriate. I know the canopy was a big discussion a couple years ago. And I appreciate you kind of filling us in on the nuance of how you guys got to the new number. Great.

Well, I hope we see you before 2035. Yes, we will.

Okay, well, thank you very much, Stacey. Appreciate it. All right. Where are we now? All right, we are moving on to 4B, which is our Comprehensive Plan Amendments, the Park System Plan Update. the second item is a presentation from principal planner kate kaney on comprehensive plan amendments related to the 2024 park system plan update kate when you are ready please feel free to go ahead oh and then fyi i know we've been gone for a little bit but If you will, when you guys chime in on your microphones, please state your name so the recorder can get it. That's one of the reasons I like to call

talks about increasing impervious surface. Is that really what we intend to do, to put more paving in? Or is it the opposite, which is to increase more pervious or permeable surfaces?

Commissioner Matthews? I was thinking the same thing. Any other questions or comments for Kate? Please, Commissioner Matthews.

I actually did have a question about, are we up to 95? I was like, am I too far ahead? Because I was looking at the neighborhoods where they're describing parks. And in the West Newport neighborhood, there's a lot of out-of-date information. And I wondered, oh, you already know. Oh, sorry.

So that was the idea, Kate, is the Regional Growth Center took precedent?

Any other questions or comments for Kate? Not done with Kate, but on this topic. Okay. Thank you very much. We'll move on to our third item of regular business tonight. And again, Principal Planner Kate Kaney will be speaking on this particular amendment related to Central Issaquah's Regional Growth Center policies. Kate, it looks like you're ready, but please go ahead when you are.

Great. Thank you, Kate. Questions, comments? A lot of numbers thrown around right there. I'm sorry, I'm drawing a blank. Commissioner Adair, sorry.

I mean, I can introduce myself too. So out of the core target of 2,170 units, how many units have we achieved already? Can you remind me of that?

So if we're doing the math, then that would be like we need 19 projects. And so roughly, just napkin math, 19 to 20 projects equivalent to the Motel 6 or Trailhead within that region. And then over the next 10 to 15 years, and by changing the numbers up, we would have to add one more. So we'd be ambitious, but it wouldn't be hyper-ambitious. Got it. OK. That was my, I'm thinking out loud.

Just since I'm already on the thing, I would say I almost think let's put down 65% and include we will strive to reach the target, something like that that shows that we're We might not make it, but we're trying to make it.

Thank you, Commissioner Adair. Just to piggyback on what Commissioner Adair was getting to with the math, and I like the idea of saying it because there's no harm in it, and you get the money. Give us the money up front. But honestly, it sounds like 267 units out of just 2,170 units If I'm doing my math right, we're at 12%, and we're already seven years into that target. I think aspirational is kind. Because I don't know how many more projects the city's looking at in that part of the valley floor. I mean, again, our bigger builder agreements are built out. They're not even in the RGC. So unle

Yeah, I would also like to see more information before we kind of talk about this, because right now we are celebrating the transportation area into development, the trailhead, but we don't have to forget that it was 10 years in the making. So yes, we are seven years into the plan, but we are actually like, we've been waiting for this for 10 years. So at any point in our area, there can be a problem with development. So if one part of me, again, wants to be very ambitious and I don't see a big difference between 62 and 65, and 65 sounds better and kind of like aligns with a Puget Sound regiona

Thank you. Can I ask a question? Chair of Voice, what's the con of putting 65? I mean, I can understand why the Puget Sound Regional Council wants a high number. They want everyone to be racing towards a high number. I understand it from their point of view. You know, they don't want to set the bar low. They're the ones putting out these funds. So I get their reasoning. What's the con of having it at 65, kind of to Commissioner Adair's point? I mean, I don't really see a negative in it. I don't I mean, I appreciate Kristen chirping in there about the 1,500 units, because that makes me feel bet

Yeah, I think, again, I know as planners, you guys probably want numbers to be spot on. I think everybody wants spot on numbers. You want to know if your forecast is legitimately attainable. I just wonder from like a funding point is, you know, and again, I think you're right. It's how you tell the story. I mean, Issaquah does have a great story to tell. We have not heard enough about high hip. I've heard it in other venues, but like you said, that's a good story. Yeah, just as long as there's no detriment as far as funding and things like that, yeah. I don't know. I mean, I want legitimate nu

Yeah, and just along those lines, to me, thinking about it as a number of projects, like this is the number of projects we've got to get going each year. Like, you know, to meet this 2044 target, we've got to get one trailhead a year. Okay, let's get zipping on it. That's really helpful, actually, to have in the back of my mind.

Yeah. And to your point, yeah, the jobs would seem to be a little bit tougher. But, okay. Any further discussion? Yes, Commissioner Matthews.

I had a question that I may be going into the weeds, so you could just say, no, we're not going to talk about that. But just out of curiosity, did the city ever talk to Costco? Are they willing to update their CC&Rs to change? Because that's possible. They just have to be willing to do that to allow housing. And where are other land possibilities? There's stuff sitting everywhere all over Issaquah. And I understand that some of the owners don't want to give up their land. So are talks in the process? to actually acquire land that could be redeveloped?

No, just that if a developer was like, hey, I really like that spot where Rite Aid used to be, but I understand the owner is like, no, I don't want to sell it. So, I mean, how does that land get freed up Are conversations happening or do we just rely on the developers to go knocking on doors to figure out if a piece of land's up for sale?

Yeah. The city can help facilitate, but that's the dirty bird for you. Um, vice chair Patterson.

Uh, thank you chair. I'll try and string together a coherent thought here. Uh, lots of things swirling, but, um, kind of on along the same line we were discussing about like the 62 to 65. Um, I think if we were talking about going from like the 37 to the 62 or the 37 to 65, like I'd probably feel a little bit more like those numbers are super aspirational. But going from 62 to 65, I think I start looking at, you know, we currently have conditional approval and we're trying to meet these conditions. And so I think we should, I guess I'm leaning towards like trying to honor those as much as poss

I think you guys want to I mean we could always we could I mean I think Jesse just put a little bit more meat on the bone for Commissioner Adair is my thought process but I mean we're still going to talk about it on September 10th. Yes absolutely. Okay so informal vote. Does anyone have any negatives or and see any detrimental reasons why 62 to 65 for the housing units would be problematic? Okay, there you go.

Sorry, Commissioner O'Leary. Yeah, just a suggestion and piggybacking on what others have said. light rail is the huge variable. And I would suggest if there's a way to work into the wording of the discussion that we submit to PSRC, that that's the huge variable. That's the asterisk to whether these are truly aspirational or unrealistic goals. I just think it would be good to add that in there because that's not up to us.

Hi, could you go back to the, I have a wordsmithing comment. If you go back a couple slides to where it's talking about the transportation city or transportation community.

I think it's before this one. Yes. I just personally feel transit communities served by a full range of transportation options is a little bit redundant. So you might want to X transit communities, my suggestion, but I just wanted to point that out.

And just note, wordsmithing never ends. You guys can always, always send emails to Kate and Kristen when it comes to wordsmithing.

I have one curious question. I noticed the boundary grew from 461 acres to 465. I was just curious if there was a story behind the additional four acres.

One more kind of going back to the light rail discussion. I've thought about it some more and I'm wondering if it's possible to look at numbers of those other cities who got light rail stations and how many units it did like spurn or spark in that area. That might be something we could leverage or look at in consideration for our numbers or like telling that story, like building it out as like, If you look at Bellevue or Redmond or that track in between, like how many units were built around there that we could kind of hope for or like consider as part of our target.

Any other comments? All right. Thank you, Kate. I believe that does it for regular business this evening. Actually... It does not.

That went quick. Any questions for Kate? Are we intending to see this again?

Want to do an informal vote? Who would like to see those come back for a full presentation? Please raise your hand. Okay.

then you know october pve review november heading to council so um thank you so much for your input tonight and do you have any last thoughts or okay i was just going to say i'm going to miss the green necklace i like that language it's cool i really liked it i've always liked it by creeks to peaks maybe it'll grow on me but i i i mean i enjoy the fact that it's going city wide so clearly something was born that was great there But thank you, Kate. Great. Thank you. Okay. That is it for our regular business. So we will move on to reports. And specifically, we'll begin with City Council updates

All right, thank you, Kristen. Any other staff updates to provide?

Everybody realizes that next week is our next BPC meeting. Yeah, so. Packets tomorrow. Packets tomorrow, that's right. Yeah, so kind of a little odd, the second and third Thursday this month. Okay, any other business or announcements from anyone? staff, commissioners. There is the aircraft.

I saw the alfresco this weekend. That was fun, too. A little bit more low-key. But it's still a lot of fun. It helps, you know, if you can get out there and support our local businesses, that'd be great. And did I see a, what is that? What is it that I saw at the Izaquah Community Center like a week ago? Did they have like some medieval play out there? Do they do that out there? I'm pretty sure I saw like a knight. Was it that? You saw it too? Yeah. Yes, okay, so Kristen doesn't have any idea what we're talking about, but yeah, I saw it too, Genevieve. Right, okay, I wasn't crazy, I stopped, a

So if you go to the Alfresco, and if you look at their plan, there is some ballroom dancing there on the 22nd and the 29th. And it's going to be me with some of my colleagues. We're going to be teaching. I'm not going to be dancing. No, no, no. I'm not dancing anymore. So we're going to be teaching 6 to 7 p.m. Just get confirmed with Christina Bruning. So, yep. Excellent. You're welcome to come and try it. So 22nd and 29th, 6 to 7 p.m. Okay. Two Saturdays.

Well, wonderful. So, again, if you can make it down there, go say hi to Katya. Well, great. Thank you, everybody. Again, we'll see everybody next week, but we will adjourn this evening at 7.57 p.m. Have a good night, everyone.