Microhouse is currently working with a Sammamish landowner to develop his one acre parcel retaining his house and building seven cottage houses. Under the current Town Center zoning he cannot. He is allowed to develop rowhouses and apartments neither of which are suited to his beautiful steeply sloping wooded lot. Modifying the cottage housing provisions will give him flexibility to design with nature and result in a better project while increasing housing options and density, goals of the town center plan.
Currently the number of cottage housing units in the town center zones and in the proposed amendment is limited to 15% of the total units in a development. This restriction is redundant and unnecessarily restricts small scale projects. For example, in the TCB zone, the minimum density is also established at 8 per acre. Thus to do an 8 unit cottage housing development would require a 5 acre development of 53 total units. A 53 unit development is well beyond the range of most local builders. Why is this a problem?
Only large national developers like the Toll Brothers will be able to build cottage housing after aggregating large parcels of land. Small land owners interested in developing their property will be required to sell, relinquishing control of their land. This will result in large cookie cutter development that doesn't reflect the character of Sammamish or the will of it's residents.
Sammamish is blessed with a beautiful and varied natural landscape full of mature forests and waterways. Eliminating the 15% restriction for cottage housing will result in better built projects that reflect the community, meet the stated goals of the town center plan and give builders more flexibility in protecting the natural environment. The 15% restriction should be removed from the demonstration project and also from Town Center as well.
http://www.ci.sammamish.wa.us/files/document/8279.pdf
Sammamish City Council Meeting
6:30pm -10:00pm
City Hall at Sammamish Commons
801 228th Ave SE
Sammamish, WA 98075
