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Mayor Tom Odell said the Sammamish City Council “got the message” from two hours of public comment in support of Ace Hardware at the Dec. 4 council meeting.
The Council will consider the proposal by Ace at its Dec. 11 meeting for a land swap immediately south of the Starbucks at NE 4th St. Tim Koch, owner of Ace, hopes to enter into a Development Agreement that will streamline the review and application process with a goal of beginning construction in February or March, in time for his lease expiration on August 28.
The Council asked Kamuron Gural, the Community Development Director, to produce a matrix that identifies Problems and Solutions involved with the land swap and the parcels, which are highly constrained by sensitive areas and buffers.
At the very end of the City Council meeting, Odell–speaking to the few people remaining in the audience and those watching on Comcast 21, that the Council received the message in support of Ace. Deputy Mayor John James said that he would like to see one last effort to accommodate the proposal than see it die without trying. City staff recommended against a Docket Request submitted by Ace. The attorney for Ace called the Request a “placeholder” required due to timing and Ace really wasn’t interested in the request, preferring a Developer Agreement instead.
Some kind of action is planned for the Dec. 11 Council meeting.
Sammamish Comment 
Watched on TV tonight. Funny how the two Toms didn’t want additional public comment. Hell Tom V wrote the city center plan the city approved, maybe now he sees too much government control over building green hurts citizens. I get so tired of this council it is almost as bad as the last.