The department has now placed the timber-covered acreage on the auction block, with a $15-million minimum bid. While it hopes a developer will pony up for the "non-economical remnant," the city is flashing a caution light. It urges would-be purchasers to be fully informed of the current limitations on development here before stepping into the buyers' ring.

Under other circumstances, the parcel located less than a minute from an I-90 interchange could be a developer's dream. Adjacent to Microsoft's proposed campus in the master planned community of the Issaquah Highlands, the property sits in one of the most highly-valued real estate communities in Puget Sound. The problem? Too many developers got here first, and Issaquah has run out of infrastructure and utilities. The number of water rights and peak evening traffic trips available to new projects are so limited as to effectively preclude any major development at this time.

Bob Brock, director of public works engineering for Issaquah tells GlobeSt that the majority of the property is zoned "urban village" and would require high-density construction. The maximum number of peak, evening commuter trips currently allowable to new projects is three. "That would only allow one or two (residential) units to be developed at a time," says Brock. And, while a new pipeline is currently under construction to bring an additional supply, water rights are also in the slim-to-none category having been dried up by massive projects such as the Highlands.