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Issaquah exempts utility projects from some frontage improvements to help PFAS treatment work move forward
Summary
The council adopted an amendment to street standards that can exempt certain public drinking‑water, sewer and stormwater projects on lower‑tier streets from frontage improvements (subject to city engineer approval), a change the administration says will help Sammamish Plateau Water install PFAS treatment at an industrial site.
The Issaquah City Council on July 20 adopted an ordinance revising local street‑frontage standards to allow exemptions for certain public utility projects on lower‑priority sidewalk tiers when adjacent improvements are unlikely, the council was told.
Jim Jacoby, senior transportation engineer in public works, told the council the change is intended to facilitate public‑benefit infrastructure projects — notably Sammamish Plateau Water’s planned PFAS treatment work at a well site on First Avenue NE — where installing sidewalks and other frontage improvements would not connect to adjacent sidewalks and would impose substantial costs on ratepayers without producing meaningful pedestrian benefit.
The proposed ordinance narrows the exemption to public drinking‑water, sanitary‑sewer and stormwater development or redevelopment on sidewalk tier 3 and 4 streets, requires a finding that adjacent frontage improvements are unlikely in the foreseeable future, and makes the exemption subject to the city engineer’s approval. The mobility action plan’s tiering guided where the exemption applies; Jacoby showed a map indicating the PFAS site sits on a street with little nearby pedestrian infrastructure.
Council Member Joe, who chaired the committee that forwarded the change, said the committee discussed whether undergrounding overhead utilities as part of frontage improvements would yield public benefit at that specific location and noted that removal of a short span of lower distribution lines would produce little value where higher transmission lines remain.
Council adopted the ordinance by voice vote; the motion carried unanimously. Council member Boyd dissented at committee level and raised concerns about setting different standards for publicly funded projects versus private development and the potential long‑term cost implications for ratepayers; the final ordinance preserves city engineer review to mitigate those concerns.
The ordinance will be codified in the street standards and allows the city to approve exemptions for qualifying public utility projects going forward. Staff said further amendments or implementation details will return to council if the council asks for refinements.
