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Residents urge parking study and warn of safety risks as Mercer Island weighs station‑area upzones
Summary
Multiple Mercer Island residents told the council that narrow one‑way streets and missing sidewalks in the Upper Luther Burbank area make proposed upzones unsafe and asked the city to conduct a parking and safety analysis before expanding zoning near the future light-rail station.
Several residents told the Mercer Island City Council on March 17 that proposed station-area boundary changes could endanger children and seniors and should not proceed without data-driven local studies.
Fan Yuan, who lives west of Upper Luther Burbank Park, described narrow one‑way streets and places with no sidewalks and urged the city to conduct a formal parking study after state TOD guidelines are finalized. “These streets are where our community actually happens,” she told the council, asking that safety and livability remain central to any compliance work.
Brian Sloan, representing neighbors on Southeast 30th Place, said the neighborhood lacks sidewalks and that apartment buildings without parking would push hundreds of additional cars into small streets, increasing the risk to pedestrians and schoolchildren. He said the state statute allows the city to submit a parking study to request an exemption from certain TOD requirements if the study shows the conditions would make the area less safe.
Resident Kian Bradley raised affordable-housing targets and suggested larger-scale upzones in the high‑school or South End commercial areas might be necessary to meet 0–30% AMI goals, rather than only small, station‑adjacent upzones that could shift burdens to narrow residential streets.
City staff and CPD Director Jeff Thomas told the council that parking and safety analyses are expected in a later TOD phase and that the immediate boundary adoption is intended to meet a GMA compliance deadline; Thomas said the Department of Commerce’s forthcoming guidance will shape the scope and timing of detailed studies. Several council members said they want a parking study but prefer to wait until Commerce guidance is available so the city answers the right questions.
Next steps: the council approved a modified boundary for the GMA compliance process and directed staff to continue with the GMA work plan; staff said parking and TOD‑phase studies are likely to come later (anticipated in 2027–2029).
