I believe the proposed Vashon Community Plan will transform Vashon. There’s a big difference between developer-driven and community-driven affordable housing. To date, all affordable housing projects here have been community-driven: Roseballen, Mukai, Eernisse, JG Commons, Charter House, Vashon Terrace, Vashon Manor, Sunflower, etc. These projects comprise 38 percent of town housing. Vashon’s written comments ran 107 to eight against the developer incentives approach. But King County persists, ignoring our concerns about island water availability, town character and ferry lines.

If we need about 100 residential units, why plan for 1,500 units at half build out? The 125-unit limit was quietly removed from the plan and replaced with a mechanism that can ratchet up densities annually. It’s aggravating. This is not Vashon’s plan. This is King County’s plan for Vashon. And they have a lot of people to house.

Some say 1,500 units will never happen. Then why plan for them so aggressively? Look at the hot housing market. Developers will advertise widely. Sunflower sold out in two weeks. There are now 420 total units in the town-to-Center area. Another 1,500 is totally out-of-scale. There are alternatives.

Some want 1,500 new units. But where’s the water going to come from? How can over 3,000 new people be accommodated by the ferries?

You really need to comment on this plan. It will take five minutes. That’s nothing compared to the time in ferry lines that awaits us if these developer incentives go through at the impending Council meeting. You can be brief: “Please remove the developer incentives from the Vashon plan. They are out-of-scale for Vashon and will cause serious water and ferry problems.” Email CouncilCompPlan@kingcounty.gov and joe.mcdermott@kingcounty.gov.

— Frank Jackson