Tom Vance
Former Sammamish Mayor Tom Vance yesterday filed with the State Public Disclosure Commission to run against incumbent Kathy Lambert, King County Council member of District 3, which includes Sammamish and Issaquah.
Sammamish Comment revealed March 20 Vance was trying to line up endorsements and had filed broad public records requests from Lambert’s office.
The construction cost of Issaquah-Fall City Road (IFC) improvements quietly has gone up by 36%.
Or has it?
The Sammamish City Newsletter says the improvements to Issaquah-Fall City Road will now cost $36m. In 2015, the figure was $23m.
The March Sammamish City Newsletter’s page 1 article updating the plans to widen Issaquah-Fall City Road is the following, opening paragraph:
“When 10,000 Klahanie-area residents came into Sammamish last year, the city knew that a big responsibility was going to follow them through the door – a $36 million item known as Issaquah-Fall City Road.”
This figure is not what the City told Klahanie residents and the taxpayers of legacy Sammamish when promoting annexation to Sammamish.
Instead, then-City Manager Ben Yazici and then-Mayor Tom Vance said IFC Road would cost $23m, a reduction from the $38.8m King County priced the road improvements, cited by Issaquah.
Tom Vance
Tom Vance, who was defeated in November 2015 in his reelection bid for the Sammamish City Council, is gearing up to run against King County Council Member Kathy Lambert, say people familiar with the situation.
Vance has been soliciting endorsements for a run, people tell Sammamish Comment.
He also dropped an expansive Public Records Request on Lambert’s office for 16 years of data for travel records and meeting attendance.
Vance served on the Sammamish City Council from 2012 through 2015. He was mayor in 2014-15. He lost 54%-46% to Tom Hornish. Vance ran for Council in 2009, losing to John Curley 55%-45%. In his successful 2011 campaign, he defeated a weak and unqualified candidate 68% to 32%, only to drop by 22 points in his losing race against Hornish.
King County Parks has analyzed all the reported conflicts in East Lake Sammamish Trail (ELST) Section 2B and is working on solutions, King County Council Member Kathy Lambert tells Sammamish Comment.
In an interview March 16, Lambert said the County Parks department created a large book
King County Council Member Kathy Lambert.
with the details of the conflicts presented by property owners along 2B, the final section of ELST to be developed into a paved walking/jogging/bike trail.
Section 2B runs north from the 7-11 on East Lake Sammamish Parkway in Sammamish to Inglewood Hill Road. Construction on Section 2A, south of the 7-11 to the Issaquah city limits, is now underway. Section 1, north from Inglewood Hill to the Redmond city limits, is done.
Section 2B has unique conflicts from home development dating to King County’s rule before Sammamish was incorporated and before the County acquired the right-of-way from Burlington Northern Rail Road, which discontinued using it.
There are also some challenging topographical and environmental issues.
Little tangible progress appeared to be the result of a staff-to-staff meeting two weeks ago between King County Parks and Sammamish over the interminable controversy of development of the final segment of the East Lake Sammamish Trail.
But City Manager Lyman Howard is hopeful some progress can be made.
“I think so,” he said in an interview with Sammamish Comment this week. County officials said they want to work with the City and property owners—statements that have been made before, only to be met with unsatisfactory results.
Howard, ever hopeful and acknowledging past disappointments, nonetheless isn’t throwing in the towel.
Sammamish Comment 