On Monday, June 13 the Snoqualmie City Council entered into an agreement with Puget Western Inc. (PWI) to set wetland buffers in the Kimball Creek development on the Snoqualmie Parkway at a static length in order to promote the development of affordable housing.

This agreement is preparation for the city and PWI to trade parcels of land along the Snoqualmie Parkway in an effort to keep the possibility of affordable housing available in that area.

The agreement was approved in a six to one vote; Councilmember Charles Peterson opposed it.

Snoqualmie’s Community Development Director Mark Hofman said PWI owns two parcels of land on the Snoqualmie Parkway between Orchard Avenue S.E. and Railroad Avenue, which can’t be developed because of nearby wetlands.

The company also has development rights for 40 homes, 19 of which must be designated as affordable housing (for those earning less than 80 percent of the city’s median income).

As an attempt to promote the construction of affordable housing, the city has offered a trade of a larger city-owned parcel in the Kimball Creek area for PWI’s two parcels. The city’s land can be built and would allow the development of affordable housing in the area.

“We are not sure (David Yasuda of PWI) can develop 40 homes on the parcel, but he would like to try,” Hofman said. “The hope is that if this (trade) happens, what the community gets is the ability for 19 affordable units to be built and if we put in a park, we don’t then have to go back and ask to buy his land.”

The agreement approved by the council on Monday was to set the wetland buffers at 90 feet for west parcel and 125 feet for the parcel to the east so there would not be any increases during the planning or construction phases of development, possibly making the houses impossible to build on that land.

“The development agreement says as of this moment the buffers are x,” Hofman said. “To give some certainty to Puget Western, we said if this comes together in the future the wetland buffers will be what they currently are today.”

Hofman said there is no guarantee the trade of lands and development will happen, but this agreement was made to keep the possibility for affordable housing open.

“It’s a possibility there and affordable housing is a key issue for us,” he said. “That’s why we entered into the agreement, to keep the potential there.”