If 45 years ago the Council decided their citizens were better served with a golf course on Pioneer Park, today we would perfectly and unknowingly accept the “wisdom” of this decision. Although we have many neighbors who have lived on the Island for decades, we are actually a transient population. We experience a 50 percent turnover with the Island’s population about every 10 years.

If we had a golf course on the south end, it wouldn’t be too long before the majority of citizens would know nothing of Pioneer Park and more relevantly, citizens moving to the Island would be more drawn to golf courses and perhaps less to parks and open space. Otherwise they wouldn’t move to a community with a golf course.

Island turnover and our natural adaptability means only the most negligent policies will be redeemed over time. It is this reality that concerns me as the Council and Town Center Stakeholders and Liaison Group update the Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is the plan guiding development and land use for the next two decades.

The proposed Comprehensive Plan before the Council is edited to read “the overall proportion of single family housing would only decrease from about 77 percent to 65 percent of the City’s total housing supply.” This means that the 1994 Comprehensive Plan noted a 77 percent single family density that was predicted to decrease to 71 percent by 2015.

The current Draft Comprehensive Plan predicts the single family density decreasing to 65 percent in 2035. Our housing and land use policies are predictably decreasing the Island’s single family household  percentage from 77 percent in 1994 to 65 percent in 2035.

Another concerning issue is the policy of increasing density on the Island. For comparison, our population grew 3 percent from 2000 to 2010. Present policies in the Draft Comprehensive Plan has the Island growing 6 percent from 2010 to 2020 and another 5 percent from 2020 to 2030. My feeling is this community must start adopting policies recognizing the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of a “built out” community.

Policies and plans that decrease single family households are not trends we should promote on the Island. Our high  percentage of single family households is a situation to embrace. A situation that is envied among other communities.  It is what enables our high volunteerism in schools, parks and playfields, well-supervised children and many other positive archetypal small town characteristics. We are an Island with small town senses and priorities united in purpose for strong schools, beautiful parks, relatively low crime, easy traffic and fiscal responsibility. This is at risk with policies that change our social fabric.

The Council is under significant Regional pressure to accommodate growth and assume responsibility for our “fair share.” My sense is the Comprehensive Plan will be approved with minor tweaks, when it requires a major overhaul to reverse this undesirable trend of decreasing single family household percentage and more density.

Mike Cero has been a Councilmember for the City of Mercer Island since 2007.