Sammamish officials last night reversed course on the timeline for approving the contract for the Sahalee Way road project, followed by public input, and put the cart behind the horse instead of in
Additionally, Staff effectively threw out the City Council action October 6, when the Final Work Scope for the $15m project was approved on a 4-2 vote and said it will start from scratch with the design.
Sammamish Comment detailed the controversy and timeline surrounding the project yesterday morning.
The public meeting announced October 6, set for November 4, remains. The plan to have the City Council approve the contract for the consultant Perteet was set for November 3. This has been rescheduled to December 1. A new Council review meeting was set for November 10, by which time Staff will assimilate public comment from the November 4 meeting, which will be 7p-9p at the Boys and Girls Club Teen Center.
Deputy City Manager Lyman Howard announced the changes in an unusual move at the beginning of the meeting describing what was otherwise a routine calendar change that normally is handled through paperwork.
But public reaction to the October 6 timeline and information revealed yesterday morning by The Comment led to the changes yesterday afternoon by Howard, before Council meeting, Council Member Nancy Whitten told The Comment.
John Cunningham, interim Public Works director, said there will be basic project parameters for the project for the November 4 meeting, but that all options will be on the table for the public to see and discuss. The Work Scope will be revised for the November 10 Council review. Council Member Ramiro Valderrama suggested that the Scope isn’t called the “Final” Work Scope. Cunningham said that designs will continue into next year, probably February or March. Construction start is desired in early 2017.
Sammamish Comment 
Must be an election year, the council actually listened to the citizens….
I suggest that whether or not they listen to the citizens is yet to be determined.
That is wonderful for the those who want input. Your Sammamish Comment seems to be doing a lot of good work right now. It is unfortunate that it was not around when Mr Cross was on the council last and he and his friends (another 5 -2 vote), passed the TDR’s (Transfer Development Rights) to town center. Same game was played and the last open hearing was done AFTER he voted to give direction to the city manager to move forward on extra growth not mandated to Sammamish. Mush of that is what we see today as it was promised to be processed first. Hmmm, in a way, perhaps Mr Cross should share or at least acknowledge his responsibility to it.
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