Mercer Island planners briefed on Growth Management Hearings Board remand, July 31 compliance deadline

Mercer Island planners were briefed March 25 on a Growth Management Hearings Board decision that remanded parts of the city’s 2024 comprehensive-plan periodic review and ordered the city to address shortfalls in affordable‑housing capacity and related policies by July 31.

Principal Planner Adam Zack said the hearings board considered five issues in the appeal and remanded four of them for city action: the residential land‑capacity analysis, adequate provisions to increase affordable housing, adoption of a transit‑station subarea plan, and a narrow anti‑displacement policy element. "The hearings board set a July 31 deadline that the hearings board set for the city," Zack said, urging commissioners to treat the work as substantial and time‑sensitive.

Why it matters: the board assigned Mercer Island a 20‑year housing target totaling 1,239 units, broken into affordability bands (for example, about 339 units in the 0–30% AMI band and 178 units of permanent supportive housing). Zack said the city must demonstrate sufficient development capacity at each affordability level or adopt code and policy changes that close any gaps.

Staff outlined a two‑phase approach. Phase 1, which staff recommended for this project, focuses on the town center and immediately adjacent multifamily zones; staff proposed increasing…