Press Editorial
May 18, 2010
By Staff
Development swap is the right course
We are pleased that the city of Issaquah is pursuing the transfer of development rights from the Tiger Mountain property known as Park Pointe to the Issaquah Highlands. We have long held the position that this property should not be developed, yet funds for city acquisition have not been available.
If city officials and landowners pull off the proposed transfer of development rights, about 140 forested acres will be preserved as conservation area — 102 acres at the Park Pointe site near Issaquah High School and another 43 acres adjacent to the highlands.
There are some negatives to the complex deal between highlands developer Port Blakely Communities, the Seattle bank that now owns the foreclosed Park Pointe property and the city. King County would also need to be involved to approve moving the urban growth boundary.
The positives outweigh the negatives.
The city started work on the swap nearly two years ago. The end result would preserve open space, but would also allow Port Blakely to build 500 additional homes in the Issaquah Highlands community.
Without the deal, Park Pointe developers had planned to build 344 homes, and Port Blakely could have built one home per five acres on its 78 rural acres.
Allowing dense housing near the Issaquah Highlands Park & Ride and its future core of retail and service businesses makes sense. In exchange, the lower bench of Tiger Mountain will remain forested and will continue to provide a beautiful backdrop to the historic downtown and a key access point to the trails of Tiger Mountain State Forest.
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