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Mercer Island opens comment on draft station-area boundary as staff move to Phase 1 upzones in town center
Summary
City staff said the draft station-area boundary (half‑mile walkshed from the light-rail station, excluding parks/I‑90 and noncontiguous parcels) is open for public feedback through March 13; Phase 1 rezones would focus density into the town center and adjacent MF‑2 zones to meet immediate GMA land-capacity needs.
City of Mercer Island staff opened a public comment period on a draft station‑area boundary and described a two‑phase approach to rezoning the area around the forthcoming light‑rail station.
Jeff Thomas, the city’s planning director, said the station subarea boundary is defined using a half‑mile walk distance from station entrances and that council guidance directed staff to exclude city parks and the I‑90 corridor, remove noncontiguous pockets, align edges to streets where possible and use zoning lines when alignment to streets is not logical. The draft boundary was presented to council and placed on the city’s Let’s Talk page for public feedback through March 13, with council review scheduled for March 17.
Thomas described a phased compliance approach: Phase 1 (the darker purple area in the city map) combines the current town center with adjacent MF‑2 (multifamily‑2) zones and would be the focus of 2026 rezones and code changes. The proposed Phase 1 changes under consideration include raising town‑center heights to eight stories and MF‑2 zones to six stories to increase unit capacity from about 667 to 1,698 in that area.
Phase 2 (the lighter purple area) remains reserved for later work required by the state’s transit‑oriented development law (House Bill 1491), which directs jurisdictions with light‑rail stations to demonstrate an average 3.5 floor‑area‑ratio across the combined station area by Dec. 31, 2029. Thomas said no Phase 2 rezoning is planned for 2026; staff will wait on guidance from the Washington State Department of Commerce about implementing the TOD law before starting that work.
City Manager Jessie Baughn urged residents to use the Let’s Talk page for comments and said staff will collect public feedback and present it to council. She said staff plan additional council and planning‑commission meetings through spring and summer as the city develops land‑use amendments and anti‑displacement policies.
Why this matters: The station‑area boundary defines where the city will concentrate much of its near‑term rezoning and policy work to meet the Growth Management Hearings Board’s land‑capacity and adequate‑provision requirements. Public feedback in March will directly inform the station‑area boundary that shapes Phase 1 rezones.
