Issaquah committee advances 2025 comprehensive-plan docket amid debate over community-facilities zoning

The Issaquah City Council Planning, Development and Environment Committee on March 4, 2025 moved the 2025 docket of proposed comprehensive-plan amendments to the full city council for tentative adoption on March 17, while members debated whether to remove a proposed change to the city's community-facilities land-use designation.

Assistant Planning Director Stephen Padua told the committee the docket is a state-required list that lays out proposed comprehensive-plan amendments "prior to actually pursuing those amendments." He asked the committee to identify any docket items that were unnecessary or needed refinement.

The docket includes four primary items: renaming single-family zones to reflect state middle-housing requirements tied to recent House bills; policy updates to allow co-living housing to comply with state law; a proposed change to the land-use map and rezoning of specific sites including the food and clothing bank site (proposed to be redesignated to retail); and an update to the transportation element to revise concurrency policies in response to a state requirement to consider multimodal levels of service.

Padua said staff plans to return with a full list and recommendations in the third quarter and that the committee would see potential ordinances aiming for adoption by the end of the year. "For next steps, the docket will go to city council for tentative adoption on March 17," he said.

Public commenter Connie Marsh urged caution on the proposal to remove the community-facilities designation, saying that the original zoning provides extra protections for public properties. "I don't think it meets the criteria to go on the docket because I don't think... there has been a public benefit evidenced," Marsh said, citing code language requiring a demonstrated public benefit for plan amendments.

Council members split over the community-facilities change. Council President Walsh said he supported the proposed change, arguing it would reduce costs for taxpayers and make surplus-property transactions less punitive when the city no longer needs to hold a facility. "I am definitely in support of making that change," Walsh said. Other members said they wanted further property-by-property analysis to ensure the public benefit and protections Marsh described are preserved before removing the community-facilities designation citywide.

Staff and the committee clarified that removing the community-facilities land-use designation would not change the city's ownership records: city-owned parcels would remain city owned, and development regulations from the most prominent surrounding land use would apply unless staff recommended a different treatment. Principal Planner Kristen Bateson said the review will focus on parcels currently zoned CFF and that parks and open-space parcels would be handled separately.

Committee members repeatedly noted the docket process is not the final policy decision: individual amendments will return later after Planning Policy Commission review and public hearings. Several members asked staff to track and report any necessary code cleanups tied to existing development standards that currently reference the term "community facilities."

The committee approved the January 8, 2025 meeting minutes as presented and documented a majority and minority opinion on the community-facilities docket item; staff noted the committee could remove an amendment from the docket later if further review found problems. Padua and staff said items can be taken off the docket during the project-level review but cannot be added after council approves the docket.

The committee also discussed specific next steps and timing: the Planning Policy Commission reviewed the docket in January and held a public hearing in late January; staff anticipates returning to the committee in the third quarter with a full set of amendment proposals; the full council will consider tentative docket adoption March 17.

Votes at a glance

- Approval of meeting minutes (01/08/2025): approved by the committee as presented (tally: yes 3). - Docket (COM 117) forwarded to full council for tentative adoption on March 17, 2025: forwarded for council consideration; committee recorded majority and minority opinions and directed staff to continue property-by-property review (formal council vote to follow).

Ending

Staff will carry the docket items forward through Planning Policy Commission review and into the individual amendment processes later this year, with specific rezones and policy changes returned to the committee and full council for decision.