Council reviews housing cooperation agreement for TOD Opportunity Center; no vote taken

Issaquah City Council members reviewed proposed revisions to the Housing Cooperation Agreement (HCA) for the Transit-Oriented Development Opportunity Center (TOD OC) at their July 7 meeting, considering waivers and design changes intended to help the project move forward without formal action.

The administration presented a set of changes it is asking the council to endorse as part of the HCA, including: allowing both buildings on the site to forgo the code-required fifth-floor stepback so the affordable and market-rate buildings will match visually; waiving the requirement to retain 25% of tree caliper within the site’s developable area; reducing facade transparency requirements where buildings face natural areas (proposed minimums of about 20–30% instead of the existing 50%); and permitting indoor bike storage that has limited exterior glazing because of security and rack placement needs. Andrea Snyder, deputy city administrator, said the goal in negotiations has been to “maintain as many units of affordable housing within this project as possible,” and that those goals guided tradeoffs the administration was proposing.

Dan Landis, vice president of development for the King County Housing Authority (KCHA), introduced consultants who addressed design, sustainability, and feasibility questions. Carissa Iris, the project sustainability consultant, said the affordable building will follow the state’s Evergreen Sustainable…