City planning staff and consultant Framework presented the first formal schedule and materials for a revised Sammamish town center subarea plan and a supplemental environmental impact statement at the June 3 council meeting, saying the documents will focus on land use, housing and transportation.

David Pyle, director of the Department of Community Development, said the drafts respond to 17 years of changed market conditions and recent state legislation that requires cities to expand housing capacity. Jeff Arango, the Framework project lead, told the council the draft plan and SEIS would be posted June 9 and opened to public comment for 30 days.

The draft documents compare a no‑action alternative that largely retains the existing plan with an action alternative that increases housing capacity and implements a simplified, form‑based code intended to clarify building form and streetscape standards. The planning team said the action alternative is consistent with prior environmental studies that looked at larger development scenarios but updates capacity, street‑network and traffic assumptions to reflect recent conditions.

Staff emphasized that an SEIS is a decision‑support document, not a final directive. The draft plan and SEIS will be accompanied by technical appendices and an implementation schedule; staff expects to post a draft code on June 23 and to host open houses — including a farmers‑market event on June 11 — as well as an online open house. The formal SEIS comment period runs from June 9 to July 9; staff said they will publish responses to comments in the final SEIS and continue to accept plan comments after the SEIS comment deadline.

Key planning elements described at the meeting include a reduced set of zoning districts in the town center, form‑based standards to define building frontage and relationship to streets, a clarified town square concept and updated capital projects list. The consultants described an overall strategy that keeps the highest intensity along Fourth Avenue and introduces middle‑housing types and other incentives elsewhere in the subarea.

Staff also flagged a pending technical issue with the Washington State Department of Commerce over separation and operational requirements for emergency, transitional and supportive housing; the city said it will meet with Commerce and, if necessary, return with refinements this fall. Planners said they will continue coordination with utilities, King County, the school district and public‑safety agencies as the review proceeds.

The city is scheduling a planning‑commission hearing on the draft plan in early September and anticipates additional council briefings as staff incorporates public comments and prepares draft ordinances for adoption in fall 2025.