Category Archives: City Politics

Trump’s environmental choices prompt questions locally

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Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has a record of fighting EPA regulations. The EPA adopts regs for clean water and protecting threatened/endangered species--like the Kokanee salmon in Lake Sammamish.

Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has been nominated to head the Environmental Protection Agency. Pruitt has a record of fighting EPA regulations. The EPA adopts regs for clean water and protecting threatened/endangered species–like the Kokanee salmon in Lake Sammamish.

Scott Pruitt for director of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ryan Zinke for Secretary of Interior.

Rick Perry for Secretary of, umm, ahh, Oops.

These are President-Elect Donald Trump’s choices for environmental departments. In the case of Perry, the Department of Energy, the agency he wanted  close but for which he famously forgot and said Oops in his 2012 run for president. Energy has no small impact on the environment.

Pruitt, the attorney general of Oklahoma, fought EPA regulations for years. Zinke, a first-term Congressman from Montana, received just s 3% rating from the League of Conservation Voters.

And now they will be in charge of clean water and endangered/threatened species regulations.

There are direct, local implications.

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“Save Sammamish” formalizes, talks growth, trees, roads and budgets at first meeting

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jennifer-kim

Jennifer Kim

A group on Facebook that has about 1,000 followers formalized last night with its first meeting, at the Klahanie Fire Station 83 at Issaquah-Pine Lake Road and SE 32nd.

“Save Sammamish” is a group that discussed growth issues on Facebook. Created by Jennifer Kim, a two-year resident of Sammamish who moved here from California, the Facebook conversations are active if sometimes heated.

Kim distinguished herself from a large crowd in September when, during public comment at a City Council meeting discussing the prospect of a building moratorium, she came armed with facts and figures on a citywide basis instead of personal stories and emotional pleas.

About two dozen people attended the launch meeting, including Council Members Christie Malchow, Tom Hornish and Ramiro Valderrama. Council members Don Gerend, Kathy Huckabay, Bob Keller and Tom Odell did not attend.

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City dithers while Tamarack suffers

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The Sammamish City Council continues to dither while residents in the Tamarack subdivision suffer from stormwater drainage from uphill development and fish downstream are threatened by the same drainage.

In a contentious Council meeting last week, accusations flew that a tax hike of 5% for stormwater management was a thinly disguised effort to force the City to accept the entire responsibility for solving the drainage problems affecting Tamarack that have been more than 10 years in the making.

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45th Legislative District-House: Skip this vote; no endorsement

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45th Legislative District

The Senate seat is not up for election this year.

House of Representatives

Position 1

Roger Goodman (D) (I)

Ramiro Valderrama

Position 2: Larry Springer (D) (I) Unopposed.

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Sammamish’s trek to court over Land Use Appeals, other issues; cost to taxpayers stonewalled

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The City of Sammamish has gone to court 28 times in the last 10 years on matters other than routine operational reasons. Half were for Land Use Petition (development) (LUP) appeals from Hearing Examiner decisions, a review of court records reveals.

In addition, the City wound up in Court over development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail for what’s called an Administrative Law Review, three times over Public Records and twice by parties seeking injunctions against the City.

The City also is a defendant in a damages lawsuit by developer William Buchan, which is also the plaintiff in one of the LUPs. Both are for the proposed development of Chestnut Estates West, west of 212th Ave. SE and SE 8th St.

The review of records in King County Superior Court this week revealed numerous other court actions relating to City requests to condemn land (usually for road rights of way) and Quit Claim deeds. These are routine cases related to the normal operation of the City.

The court cases do not include recent actions before the state Shorelines Hearing Board on appeals by King County and the Sammamish Homeowners group over a Hearing Examiner’s decision regarding development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail.

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