More than 100 people attended the forum on affordable housing last week to hear from county officials and share their thoughts about developing more housing for low-income islanders and members of the local workforce.

County officials hosted the meeting at the request of some of those working on the Community Service Area (CSA) Plan, which will guide development on Vashon in the coming years. The process to create the plan has been underway since last March and is nearing completion. No other issue has drawn attention like affordable housing has, and some of those involved felt that a community meeting dedicated to the topic was important. While tensions have simmered about the issue and at times tempers have flared, last week’s meeting was cordial, with many members of the public expressing that more affordable housing is needed, but disagreeing how best to create and sustain it. Several people spoke to a variety of concerns, from water, appropriate development and broader environmental issues, to the needs of seniors on limited incomes and the increasing numbers of people of all ages who cannot afford the increasing cost of housing on Vashon. Additionally, some questioned why affordable housing would be open to those earning as much as 80 percent of the area median income (AMI), as a current plan proposal calls for, and others stressed the need to develop housing that would be kept affordable in perpetuity.

King County planner Bradley Clark good naturedly noted the amount of feedback islanders had provided for the new CSA plan during the process so far.

“You are so committed and have so much knowledge and passion that it’s actually a little overwhelming,” he said, while encouraging additional comment.

Addressing Vashon’s current housing picture, county officials said that of Vashon’s 5,140 households, 590 have incomes at or below 30 percent AMI, which is $48,550 for a single person and $69,600 for a family of four. More than half of those island households — 320 — pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing.

King County’s Clark, who has been leading the CSA planning process on Vashon, also addressed water availability through Water District 19, which is one of several water districts on the island and services the town area. He noted that the district currently has a waiting list of 80 water units, with the expectation the district will provide 14 new water units per year over the next 20 years. He stressed that no building permits would be provided without a certificate of water availability.

He also discussed a current proposal for the CSA Plan, which would provide incentives to developers of low-income housing projects. Specifically, within a designated area, that recommendation calls for allowing any parcel zoned R4 or higher (four units or more per acre) to be developed at a maximum of 12 or 18 units per acre as long as all units are reserved for those who earn 80 percent and below of the area’s median income. The intent behind creating the overlay was to increase the supply of affordable housing and enable affordable housing developers to avoid going through a rezone process, which can be costly and time consuming.

Currently, Clark noted, there are 182 parcels on Vashon in the overlay area, with 49 of them vacant. Following the meeting, he stressed that the county does not expect a flood of development to come from adopting such an overlay, as there are a variety of limiting factors in addition to water availability, including market conditions, project feasibility and project financing.

A large portion of the meeting was given over to public comment, and many people spoke up in the moderated session, which aimed to keep islanders’ remarks succinct.

Islander Frank Jackson shared his concerns for unintended consequences of the proposed overlay, and in particular, the stress too much new housing could put on the island’s water if half the properties eligible for the overlay were built to capacity. He provided copies of an alternate plan that, in part, calls for building 10 new affordable housing units per year, encouraging accessory dwelling units and establishing new community land trusts for affordable housing.

Bob Powell, a commissioner for Water District 19, told those gathered that Water District 19 will likely only have 250 to 300 water units to issue over the next 20 years, and he stressed that he would like to see them prioritized for affordable housing instead of single family homes and market rate town homes.

“We have a one-time opportunity to improve the overall health of our community by putting water to the best use, and I encourage the community to do whatever you can to facilitate affordable housing,” he said.

In a different vein, Michael Laurie also addressed water, saying that if accessory dwelling units were allowed to have a compost toilet and a graywater system as a substitute for a traditional septic system, it could make those units more affordable and decrease water demand overall. To do so, he said, the primary home would be required to convert to all water-conserving fixtures, and if the new unit had them as well, the net effect could be less water use for both homes than the primary home alone had previously used.

Speaking to the need for affordable housing, Kate Smith, who is on the board of the Vashon Senior Center, noted that Vashon has the highest population of seniors per capita in King County, but has very little affordable housing for them.

Smith, 70, noted that she has been on the waiting list for housing with Vashon Household for two years and is 87th on the list. In that time, she has gone up one notch.

“And I am not alone. There are lots of us,” she said.

She noted she would like to see state law change to allow Park Model homes — similar to small manufactured homes — as permanent residences and for islanders and others to think creatively and use such options as water collection.

In addition to seniors, she said she is concerned about island workers.

“Why do you have to commute from off-island to work at the nursing home? That is crazy,” she said.

Others, including Terry Sullivan, expressed interest in developing additional community trusts for affordable housing. Islanders have only been treating the symptoms of the affordable housing problem, he said, meanwhile it keeps getting farther and farther out of reach — a pattern he said he believes will continue unless affordable housing is taken off the open market.

Roseballen is a community land trust, he noted, and homes there must be preserved as affordable.

“We could do that for rental housing,” he added.

At the conclusion of the meeting, Clark noted the next steps in the development of the Community Service Area Plan. Public comment on land use and affordable housing policies will be open until March 19. Comments should be sent to Bradley.Clark@kingcounty.gov. From March 28 to April 11, there will be a public comment period on the full draft of the plan; on April 4, there will be a community forum about the full draft of the plan.

The county will submit the plan to King County Council for adoption on June 15.

Following the meeting, Chris Szala, who heads Vashon Household, said that if the county council approves the overlay, the best case scenario for when his agency might begin the process of developing new affordable housing would be the fall of 2018, with an application to purchase land. The project he would like to build, he said, is an apartment with two stories and 35 to 40 units, similar in size to the one next to the fire department.

“Prettier, of course,” he added. “There are many things we can do now versus a 1970’s building.”

An “extreme green” building is also a possibility.

“I think the county would be willing to bend for us on that,” he added.

He also addressed the concerns some islanders mentioned at the meeting — that they would like to see affordable housing built for those earning 60 percent AMI and less, not 80 percent and less. To be eligible for a federal program that provides a 4 percent tax credit — which would help make the project affordable — he said Vashon Household would need the building to serve primarily those earning 60 percent and less. He added that only a very small number of residents would be at the 80 percent AMI range, but would pay higher rents, which would help offset the lower rents for those earning less.

Looking ahead, Szala encouraged people to share their affordable-housing related thoughts while the comment period is still open.

“People should make their comments to the county, and we will see where this goes,” he said.