Category Archives: City Politics

SE 4th Open House not “even” for options, says Council Member

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Sammamish City Council Member tom Odell. Photo via Google images.

June 24, 2016: The Sammamish City Staff didn’t conduct an “even” handed Open House on the design options for SE 4th St. from 218th through the Town Center to 228th Ave. SE, the chairman of the City Council Transportation Committee said yesterday.

The Open House was the previous evening. Citizens packed the Council chambers to hear from the City’s consultant and to indicate their preference of designs presented.

But Tom Odell, the Council member who chairs the Transportation Committee, said all the design options weren’t evenly presented to the packed room.

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Sammamish disaster planning “not enough,” says City Manager

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June 23, 2016: Sammamish participation in the Cascadia Rising earthquake drill this month was labeled a success, but City Manager Lyman Howard acknowledged the level and scope of participation wasn’t enough.

Lyman made his remarks in an interview last week with Sammamish Comment.

Sammamish wasn’t going to participate at all until The Comment began making inquiries last fall about failure to sign up for the multi-state, multi-jurisdictional, international drill. The drill, assuming an earthquake from then Cascadia fault line off the West Coast, encompassed British Columbia to Northern California.

The drill’s parameters assumed Sammamish telephone and cell phone communications were disrupted and damage on major arterials leading in and out of the City occurred.

Howard told The Comment that Sammamish focused on its inter-agency and emergency communications with local citizen groups, such as the Info Hubs operated by the Sammamish Citizen Corp and CERTs; and Sammamish Plateau Water. City Hall was evacuated. But links to the County and State weren’t tested, nor were there actual drills in the City.

“It’s not enough [what the City did], I’ll be honest,” Howard said. “We’re talking with CERT about annual drills.”

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Sound Transit to approve ST3 plan Thursday

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Seattle Times graphic. Sound Transit added stations in Kirkland and North Seattle in an effort to win votes for ST3.

June 21, 2016: Sound Transit’s Board is to approve the $54bn, 25-year ST3 transit plan Thursday. Voters will be asked to approve $27bn in new taxes in November.

Across King County, the average homeowner is projected to pay about $500 more in taxes and fees annually. This includes new property and sales taxes and a sharp hike in the Motor Vehicle Excise Tax to $80 per $10,000 of vehicle value, as determined by the State. Vehicle values differ dramatically from Kelly Blue Book values when the MVET tax was similar in 1996, prior to repeal for $30 car tabs.

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‘Toughest tree ordinance in the state’ is too little, too late

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Gerend 2

Sammamish Mayor Don Gerend.

Commentary

Sammamish Mayor Don Gerend told citizens Tuesday night that Sammamish now has the toughest tree ordinance in the State.

This may well be true. But it’s too little, too late.

The ordinance requires developers–and individuals–who are building to retain 35% of the trees on site, up from 25%. It also requires reforestation, though this could be elsewhere in the City, not on site.

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Citizens protest Conner-Jarvis tree removal

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Conner Jarvis Protest

Protesters objecting to tree removal for the Conner-Jarvis project.

Citizens lined up along Issaquah-Pine Lake Road at 40th Place, across from the Conner-Jarvis development, to protest the large removal of trees to make way for 115 homes.

The project, approved under the prior Sammamish tree retention ordinance requiring retention of 25% of the trees on site, nonetheless caused shock with the community when a stand of trees along Issaquah-Pine Lake Road disappeared.

The current tree retention ordinance, passed last year, requires 35% tree retention and reforestation. It was approved too late to have impact on Conner-Jarvis.

Only two City Council Members, Tom Hornish and Christie Malchow, appeared at the protest to lend their support.

Stacy Wollenberg Peters, one of the neighbors of Conner-Jarvis, unloaded on the City Council Tuesday night.

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