Despite having to contend with a seemingly limitless supply of complex planning issues, the Bellevue Planning and Zoning Commission seems poised to make a preliminary decision on the proposed annexation of 100 acres in Slaughterhouse Canyon, northeast of the town.
P&Z commissioners continued to wade Tuesday through a series of key issues concerning the proposed annexation's potential impacts on Bellevue's traffic, water and sewer systems, and need for affordable housing. The meeting was the commission's third public hearing on the proposal.
Having failed to reach a decision, however, the commissioners asked city planning staff to come to the Sept. 7 meeting with a draft document detailing all the commission's concerns about the annexation proposal.
At that meeting, commissioners will likely make a recommendation to the City Council to either approve or reject the annexation proposal, Planning and Zoning Administrator Craig Eckles said during an interview Thursday.
"Everything is going to be fine-tuned," Eckles said of the document the P&Z will view Sept. 7.
Addressing the P&Z commission on Tuesday were traffic and engineering consultants hired by the city to look into the adequacy of Bellevue's traffic and water and sewer services.
Overall, their studies indicate that Bellevue could annex the property without suffering much harm.
Still, the consultants did suggest that the owner of the Slaughterhouse Canyon property, Ketchum developer Jeff Pfaeffle, should have to contribute money to mitigate the impacts of his proposed development, which would be called the Strahorn Canyon Ranch.
The news didn't seem to phase Pfaeffle, who indicated a willingness to help fund certain infrastructure improvement projects needed throughout the city.
"I hope, like the good guest, that I leave the house cleaner when I leave," Pfaeffle said.
In a related matter Tuesday, Bellevue P&Z commissioners also discussed for the first time two draft affordable housing ordinances. The ordinances, one a standard inclusionary housing ordinance and the other a less common linkage ordinance, were recently viewed and commented on by the City Council as part of its housing needs assessment.
While it is the council that will make the final decision on whether to adopt the ordinances, it's the P&Z's job to make a recommendation on them.
Inclusionary housing ordinances mandate that developers provide a certain percentage of affordable, deed-restricted housing units in new residential housing projects. Linkage ordinances require developers to mitigate for the housing demand that new construction, whether residential or commercial, creates.
Although they discussed a range of percentages for the two draft ordinances, the commission ended up adjourning for the night without having made a decision on what those percentages should be.
They did indicate, however, that the need for affordable housing in Bellevue is clear.
"The commission supports workforce housing," Eckles said.
