BUILDABLE LANDS ANALYSIS City of Snoqualmie Planning & Buildable Sno-lutions Chris Sungjin Im Ian Garnier Nick Nielson Geography 469

Background and Problem Statement The project is to find buildable lands in Snoqualmie and its Urban Growth Area (UGA) to build 1,615 additional houses by The issues at hand could not be addressed by the City of Snoqualmie due to time and personnel constraints. The Growth Management Act (GMA) emphasizes the importance of an adequate supply of housing. Intended to guide the development of housing in Snoqualmie over the next twenty years and to meet the requirements of the Growth Management Act. With the development of Snoqualmie Ridge and prospective development of residentially designated land in the Urban Growth Area (UGA) upon annexation, the city has capacity to accommodate a significant amount of new housing development.

Need to Know Questions Identify critical areas within the Snoqualmie UGA Wetlands, floodplains, road network, city trails, streams and rivers Accumulate usable assessor data for the creation of a geodatabase King County real property assessor data table linked to the parcel layer Utilize available data as the basis for analysis and as the basis to further explore needed data types Buffer zones, initial & refined buildable lands  Quantify available acreage for housing developments Assign density per area and calculate total buildable land

Project Method

Project Results: Initial Buildable Lands Combining all initial buildable lands: Total initial buildable acreage: ac Assess location of buildable lands Once merged, can obtain total acreage

Project Results: Buildable Lands Erased buffer area from initial buildable lands Total initial buildable acreage: 1579 ac Assess location of buildable lands taking into consideration buffer restrictions Only ~500 ac lost

Project Results: Total housing Units Housing densities were summed and rounded to the nearest integer Area outside of the floodplain can hold significantly more housing units as the area inside the floodplain (as expected) Counts inside of the floodplain are estimates at best, due to strict federal laws and redevelopment capabilities of the available commercial/industrial parcels Housing Unit Totals Outside Floodplain6957 Inside Floodplain143 Total Housing Units7100

Project Results: Assigning Densities Worksheet Outside 100 Year Floodplain Planning AreaEstimate LevelAcreageUnits per Acre Snoqualmie Hills500+8 Snoqualmie Falls Low High2012* Snoqualmie Historic Area3.11 1/5 ‡ Snoqualmie Ridge I Low1.56 High2+8 Snoqualmie Ridge II Low1.56 High1.5+8 Meadow Brook2 1/5 ‡ Mill Planning Area1258 Inside 100 Year Floodplain Historic Snoqualmie 18361/5 * - High estimate of Multifamily per Comprehensive Plan ‡ - Calculated as if located within floodplain Group Totals AreaAcreage Outside Floodplain Inside Floodplain Total Total Housing Units Housing Unit Totals Outside Floodplain6957 Inside Floodplain143 Total Housing Units7100 Assigning Densities TableAnalysis Check 5 (du/ac) * Total Acreage Totals derived from analysis Check used 5du/ac as a base count, disregarding the 6, 8, and 12du/ac count used in Snoqualmie Falls, which contributes to the large discrepancy in totals

Project Results: Vacant Lot Identification Vacant lots clustered around Southwest section of Snoqualmie Ridge II Planning Area Snoqualmie Ridge Aerial Photo

Conclusions Goal was to find sustainable and environmentally sound inclusion of 1,615 new housing units into the City of Snoqualmie over the next 20 years. We have found enough land to build 6,957 new housing units outside of floodplain and 143 inside of floodplain, total of 7,100 new housing units.

Recommendations Suggestion to Others: Research Snoqualmie Comprehensive plan Consult Snoqualmie for data, cross check with other data sources for accuracy/relevancy Become more familiar with Spatial Analyst To Further the Study: Affordable Housing Analysis In depth analysis of Mill Site in particular for buildable land Strategic siting of housing units with regards to existing infrastructure