Editor’s note: This is the first of two articles summarizing a raft of proposed comprehensive plan changes — and questions about zoning on the island — which the Metropolitan King County Council will vote on later this year. A follow-up article will run later this month.

The King County Council is poised to update a sweeping set of laws that govern what can be built and where in unincorporated King County, raising concerns among some that significant changes are on the horizon for residential neighborhoods throughout Vashon.

Critics have charged that the proposed updates to the county’s comprehensive plan could allow homeless car camping, outpatient clinics, micro-shelter villages, and more in neighborhoods across Vashon.

The reality is complicated and still evolving, just like the comprehensive plan itself.

Most of the proposed changes would have little impact in most Vashon neighborhoods because of how the island is zoned. That’s because most of the proposed land-use changes are for parts of unincorporated King County zoned for residential or business use.

Outside of Vashon Town, nearly all of the island is zoned “rural.”

New zoning laws could, however, shape the look of Vashon Town, a “rural town,” in King County parlance, that extends roughly from Cemetery Road to Cove Road along Vashon Highway.

But even many of the changes — including allowing spaces for people living in their cars, tiny houses and emergency housing — which would apply to Vashon Town appear to be headed for the chopping block when it comes to Vashon.

There’s still time left to suggest changes to the process, said Teresa Mosqueda, who represents Vashon and other communities on the King County Council.

“We are midway through the process,” she said. “We have an opportunity to make sure that fears are addressed … The concept is not to have the facilities throughout residential neighborhoods. And if there’s anything that I need to do to clarify that prior to a final vote in December, I will do that. … The last thing I want to do, especially in a year like this, is to sow distress with government.”

How the plan works

The comprehensive plan guides land use and development policy in unincorporated King County over a 20-year period. It’s a blueprint for how communities like Vashon develop over time.

The plans receive a major update every 10 years, and that process began last year when county executive Dow Constantine issued his proposed changes. In January, The Beachcomber reported on those proposals, which included changing affordable housing incentives.

The plan next went to the county council’s land use committee, which includes Mosqueda. After holding hearings and taking public comment, the committee this summer proposed a suite of amendments to Constantine’s proposal called a “striking amendment.”

The result: A 689-page document that details both Constantine’s original plan and the changes the council committee has proposed. The land use committee voted in June to approve the striking amendment and send it to the full council.

Another round of amendments will be included in an updated striker, released in November, and any further line amendments to that striker will be voted on individually in December at the meeting where the full council considers final adoption of the comprehensive plan as a whole.

A summary of those changes, many of which were spearheaded by Mosqueda, can be viewed at tinyurl.com/KCCMayStrikeAmend. The entire original striking amendment can be found at tinyurl.com/KCCStrikeAmend.

Two opportunities to provide public comment loom; on Oct. 8 and on Nov. 19. See below for details.

The Beachcomber sat down with Mosqueda and her staff to learn more about those proposed changes and others, and how they’d affect Vashon.

Island zoning, today

This image shows Vashon zoning, zoomed in on Vashon Rural Town. Areas in green are zoned “Rural Area.” Areas in dark purple are zoned “Community Business.” Gray areas are zoned “Industrial.” Areas in shades of yellow, orange and red are either “Residential” or “Office.” The orange-shaded part of town is zoned R-12; all other residential parts of Vashon Town are zoned R-1, R-4 or R-8. (King County iMap screenshot)

Vashon Town — where county officials try to concentrate development — features primarily Community Business, Industrial and Residential zoning.

Residential zoning in Vashon Town is not very dense; it runs from R-1 (only one dwelling unit per acre) at a minimum to only R-12 at a maximum. All of the R-12 properties are located in the northeast section of town, near 96th and 97th Place SW. The rest of the town’s residential properties are between R-1 and R-8.

(A few other parts of the island include chunks of business zoning, including Burton, Portage and the intersection of Vashon Highway and SW 204th Street.)

Almost all of the rest of Vashon-Maury Island, however, is Rural Area (RA) zoned.

The future site of the Seattle Indian Health Board’s proposed Thunderbird Treatment Center sits on a Residential R-24 parcel, which appears to be the only Residential-zoned parcel on the island outside of Vashon Town. (The property used to house Vashon Community Care, a residential facility for seniors and others who needed such care, so its zoning predates the Health Board.)

(Islanders can confirm the island’s zoning for themselves by visiting gismaps.kingcounty.gov/iMap, and in the Layer List, checking the box titled “Planning.” Learn more about the zoning codes by visiting tinyurl.com/KingCountyZoning.)

So just what would the striking amendment changes allow?

The changes mostly expand the kinds of social and health services that can be offered in Residential, Neighborhood/Community/Regional business and office zoning.

Some also affect Rural Area zoning, but most don’t. Some of those changes require conditional use permits (CUPs), which require a public comment process and county approval.

And for several of the changes — including “car camping,” tiny house villages and emergency housing — Mosqueda has already signaled she plans to carve Vashon out in the next amendment update.

What could change?

Changes in the striking amendment that affect Vashon Town include:

• Allowing manufactured home communities as a permitted use in R-4 through R-8 zones. Currently, they’re only conditionally allowed in those areas. On the island, this change would only affect Vashon Town — however, “Mosqueda has submitted a request for a scoping refinement in the striking amendment to remove Vashon from this amendment,” according to Mosqueda’s staff.

• Allowing psychiatric and specialty hospitals in R-24 through R-48 zones, with development conditions. (The original striker also allowed them in R-12, but Mosqueda’s staff confirmed this was an error and will be corrected.) They would not be allowed in Rural Area zones. Currently, they’re already allowed, conditionally, in Residential and Office zones if using a surplus non-residential building, and outright allowed in Community Business zones. In other words, these hospitals are already allowed in much of Vashon Town.

• The changes would also make it easier to place daycares by removing the need for a conditional use permit — proposed to ease the childcare desert on Vashon and other communities. And gyms and personal care shops (think barbers and salons) would be allowed in the rural town area (not Rural Area zoning) but with a number of restrictions — part of a “neighborhood cafe” model.

Under the striking amendment, the following uses would have been allowed in neighborhood business zones and in rural towns such as Vashon’s: “Safe parking” (aka space for people who are living in their cars), microshelter (aka tiny house) villages, and emergency supportive, recuperative and permanent supportive housing (aka housing for people at risk of homelessness, recovering from substance use disorder or who need help living at home). Emergency supportive housing would also be allowed in R-4 through R-8 zones with a CUP and development conditions.

However, Mosqueda has signaled she’ll carve Vashon out of these changes.

“The intent here was to remove permitting delay, and thus reduce the cost, of efforts to scale up emergency housing. Recognizing the unique nature of Vashon, it is unlikely that these changes would impact Vashon, and CM Mosqueda has submitted a striker amendment request to scope this to not include Vashon in this amendment,” Mosqueda’s staff said.

The following proposals in the striking amendment would also apply to RA zoning on Vashon:

• Doctor’s offices and outpatient clinics are already allowed in Rural Area and most Residential zones properties, either when reusing a public school facility or as a conditional use when reusing a surplus nonresidential facility. They’re also already allowed in Business and Office zones. The amendments would allow them as a permitted use in R-12 through R-48 zones, and as a permitted use when reusing a public building in Rural Area zones.

• “Crisis care centers,” a new form of mental health urgent care facilities funded by a 2023 county levy, would be allowed in Rural Area zones or R-1 through R-8 zones when reusing public school buildings, surplus nonresidential buildings or with a conditional use permit. They couldn’t be used with a conditional use permit on Vashon rural properties, however. They would be permitted in R-12 through R-48 zones and Business and Office zones.

The county plans to build five centers. “At this juncture we don’t anticipate one of the five centers being sited on Vashon, but the Crisis Care Center services will promote connection to and services for Vashon [residents],” according to Mosqueda’s staff.

Also among the many proposed Vashon-specific changes is a policy stating general support for more behavioral and mental health services in Vashon town.

“King County shall allow the siting of behavioral and mental health services in the Vashon Rural Town, including high-quality prevention, crisis intervention, mental health, substance abuse disorder, and co-occurring disorder treatment services through equitable service delivery that centers culturally informed and inclusive behavioral healthcare,” state the proposed Vashon subarea plan changes.

The Seattle Indian Health Board’s proposed Thunderbird Treatment facility does not fall under Vashon’s rural town, so this proposal doesn’t apply to it. And Mosqueda confirmed that the comprehensive plan would not make any changes to the boundaries of Vashon’s rural town.

Planning care

So what do all these changes mean?

Hospitals would not be allowed in just any Vashon neighborhood. The only new place the amendment would allow them as a permitted use is on R-24 properties; and the only one of those on the island is the 4.6-acre proposed Thunderbird property.

Doctor’s offices and outpatient clinics would be allowed in Vashon’s rural neighborhoods, but only in specific situations and when reusing public buildings. They would also be allowed a permitted use on a the R-12 parcels in Vashon Town and on the Thunderbird property.

Mosqueda and her staff confirmed that the changes were written with the entire county in mind and did not come from conversations about what SIHB plans to do with the Thunderbird property in the future. Instead, the purpose is to update county code to reflect what state code already allows on these properties, they said.

Regardless of what happens in the comprehensive plan process, the Health Board applied to open a community residential facility in March this year, a permitted use under King County code, as The Beachcomber has reported. Whether or not the proposed changes in the striking amendment go through, their facility would still be allowed.

“They are applying under the existing regulation,” Mosqueda said. “And state code has evolved … so the ability to put state code and King County code in compliance is not nefarious, it’s good governance. I think that there’s a value add in having Thunderbird apply under the current code — and future conversations, that’s up to the island and and the community to decide how to weigh in at that point.”

Mosqueda’s Chief of Staff Erin House said: “Not speaking for what the Health Board wants to do, because that is up to them, but everything we heard from them was actually to the contrary — that what they’re doing right now is more supportive of having families and children on site, and that they’re not planning to do expanded uses on the site.”

The SIHB is nationally renowned for its care and already operates three clinics across Seattle. Esther Lucero (Diné), president and CEO of the Health Board, has repeatedly explained that the facility will not offer detox, and said that the presence of children in the facility, in a special wing serving pregnant and parenting people, necessitates a higher bar for admission.

“Though I believe code changes to expand health care zoning throughout King County will be a benefit to everyone, SIHB’s goal has always been to reopen Thunderbird as a Community Residential Facility,” Lucero said on Tuesday. “And we will provide wraparound services through our mobile unit.”

Mosqueda said she’s happy to meet with islanders to ease concerns about logistic needs Thunderbird will have, such as transportation and housing. She also said that it’s not her call whether to approve Thunderbird or not — that business resides in King County permitting and local services.

“I have met with folks who are both opposed and supportive of Thunderbird,” Mosqueda said.

Mosqueda remains supportive of the proposed treatment center. She said learning about how the facility would serve pregnant and parenting people and their children demonstrated a solution to a broader issue the state legislature has grappled with: Tearing down barriers to health care.

“If I were ever to be in a position where I needed access to treatment, not being able to see my five-year-old daughter would be an incredible barrier for me to … want to seek recuperation treatment,” Mosqueda said. “Being able to stay with my daughter … would encourage me to go into treatment and services. … That is, I think, part of the solution that our entire community needs.”

Timeline

Here’s a timeline of past and future milestones in the comprehensive plan process.

• 2022: King County Permitting reaches out to Vashon residents about proposed 2024 comprehensive plan changes.

• December 7, 2023: Executive Dow Constantine released a draft of the comprehensive plan update.

• April 4, 2024: A public meeting was held at Vashon Center for the Arts on the plan.

• April 18: The Vashon-Maury Community Council officially gives its recommendation on affordable housing density bonuses.

• May 14: The striking amendment was released. The next day, the land services committee held a briefing and public meeting on the document.

• June 5: The Land Use Committee voted to send the striking amendment to the full council.

• Oct. 8: A virtual meeting from 12-1:30 p.m. for Vashon-Maury Island residents specifically to discuss the comprehensive plan. Register for the meeting at surveymonkey.com/r/vashon-meeting.

• Nov. 14: The updated striking amendment is released.

• Nov. 19: There will be a public hearing about the proposed changes to the Comprehensive Plan at 1:30 p.m. at the King County Council Chambers (516 3rd Avenue, Room 1001) and by Zoom. Islanders can submit public testimony online to CouncilCompPlan@kingcounty.gov.

• Dec. 3: The King County Council is scheduled to take a vote on the proposed amendments and final adoption of the Comprehensive Plan update at 1:30 p.m. at the King County Council Chambers. (If delayed, the council will vote at the same time one week later, on December 10.)

For more information, visit kingcounty.gov/CouncilCompPlan. Questions? Email CouncilCompPlan@kingcounty.gov.