Planning Commission’s vision: apartments, townhomes in the neighborhoods

  • Plan envisions high density in single family neighborhoods.
  • 13 growth centers outlined throughout the city.

By Miki Mullor

Should Sammamish neighborhoods be transformed into mini high density “town centers”?

Yes, if you ask the city’s Planning Commission.

In what will likely to become an election issue, a new vision for the city, centred on high density housing and retail centers, has been put forward by two Planning Commissioners and supported by the entire planning commission and two council members.

This is a departure from the current strategy of “absorbing” or “focusing” growth in the Town Center, spreading growth all over the city.

Continue reading “Planning Commission’s vision: apartments, townhomes in the neighborhoods”

Top 10 stories of 2018

The Top 10 stories in Sammamish for 2018 revolved around traffic, the building moratorium and—surprisingly—a state legislative action concerning public records.

The Sammamish Town Center was the focus of controversy in 2018, connected to many of the Top 10 stories for the year.

Here are the stories most viewed on Sammamish Comment for the year. Continue reading “Top 10 stories of 2018”

Time for fresh approaches

By Scott Hamilton
Founder, Sammamish Comment

The Sammamish City Council held its last meeting of 2018 yesterday, ending the most contentious and divisive year I’ve seen since the incorporation vote in 1998.

As 2019 prepares to arrive, it’s time for a fresh approach to how this city is governed.

The city council, administration and staff has been consumed by traffic concurrency, the resulting building moratorium and related development regulations all year—really, since October 2017, when the moratorium was adopted to give the government time to sort out the concurrency issues.

These issues consumed the city nearly to the exclusion of all else.

Continue reading “Time for fresh approaches”

Hey, Sammamish, Let’s Celebrate Our 20th Birthday

OP-ED
By Don Gerend

Background

Don Gerend

Sammamish is the youngest city in Western Washington, just 20 years old next summer.

Only about a third of our current citizens were here for the City’s birth, beginning with a vote to incorporate in November 1998, followed by a tempestuous campaign by more than  40 candidates for the first city council.

Continue reading “Hey, Sammamish, Let’s Celebrate Our 20th Birthday”

BREAKING NEWS: New concurrency passes 4:3; new development now in question

A split Sammamish City Council tonight passed the new traffic concurrency rules.

The “M4,” Mayor Christie Malchow, Deputy Mayor Karen Moran and Council Members Tom Hornish and Chris Ross, voted for the new volume/capacity (V/C) rule that brings some measurement of reality on the roads into Sammamish concurrency rules.

The “V3,” Council Members Ramiro Valderrama, Pam Stuart and Jason Ritchie, voted against.

Continue reading “BREAKING NEWS: New concurrency passes 4:3; new development now in question”

In a historic vote, Sammamish City Council takes a stand on over-development

By Miki Mullor

Analysis

On Tuesday night, the Sammamish City Council drew a line in the sand on over-development, forcing a potential pause on development until a much needed public infrastructure is built.  

A split council voted on an esoteric traffic engineering parameter that decides what is the accepted level of traffic congestion the city is willing to tolerate.  

In doing so, the council have possibly made Sammamish the first jurisdiction in the Puget Sound to be implementing the Growth Management Act (GMA) the way it was originally intended to – to protect the citizens’ quality of life.

Continue reading “In a historic vote, Sammamish City Council takes a stand on over-development”

Second Sammamish council member says focus growth in Town Center, dodges property rights issues

By Scott Hamilton

A second Sammamish city council member went on record, declaring that

Jason Ritchie
Jason Ritchie

future growth should “focus” on the Town Center.

Jason Ritchie Tuesday joined Member Pam Stuart in calling for future growth to go to the Town Center.

As Sanmamsih Comment wrote Oct. 22, suggesting that future development be directed to the Town Center raises a host of questions.

The Comment posed these to Ritchie. He wrote back, “I’m happy with my statement as is. Nothing more to add at this point. I’ll be working with my fellow council members and their positions to find compromise and a path forward.” Continue reading “Second Sammamish council member says focus growth in Town Center, dodges property rights issues”