How big do you want Sammamish to get?

Is 4000 housing units in Town Center really a cap?

Spoiler alert: No.

Except for traffic and housing expense, Sammamish is a nice place to live. It is almost certain to grow. Today there are approximately 69,000 people in Sammamish living in approximately 23,000 housing units.

The debate today appears to be about whether Sammamish should add 2000 vs 4000 housing units in the Town Center, but there is much more going on.

The proposed amendment will change the current zoning control of density to Form Based Code (FBC). FBC as proposed has no limit on density except for building height and setback. This would allow the capacity of Town Center to be much larger than has been discussed.

How much larger?

According to the 2024 Sammamish Comprehensive Plan, Town Center is labelled with a density target of 50 – 100 units per acre under the proposed amendment. The plan lists the current allowed density as 20 – 40 units per acre. This would be a big change.

It would be great if the city would tell us the developable acreage in Town Center. A conservative estimate is 120.

The Town Center cap currently is 2000 or 3000 units, depending on which part of which city document you read. Under the proposed amendment, the capacity could be an eye-opening 9000 (75 units per acre *120 acres).

The proposed amendment includes a “cap” of 4000 units for the next 20 years. But this could be increased at any time. And the code changes in the proposed amendment would support that increase.

Perhaps we should focus on building Town Center better, not bigger.

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