Category Archives: Town Center

Why I support the Town Center

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By Jason Ritchie

Member, Sammamish City Council

Guest Contributor

By Jason Ritchie

I stand by my words in the email quoted in the Sammamish Comment. I’m a strong supporter of the Town Center development plan. But that’s not the whole story. So let’s get specific.

Hold developers accountable

The Town Center plan is simply a plan. It has a lot of details that need to be negotiated. Implementing any plan is where we will determine our success. It’s up to the citizens of Sammamish, their elected City Council and city staff to hold all developers accountable. I intend to keep doing that.

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As drivers sit in traffic, Sammamish ponders up-zoning of Town Center

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Even as Sammamish residents scream over traffic congestion, exacerbated over what proved to be fraudulent implementation of a traffic concurrency model intended to be sure the roads can handle growth, efforts are underway to sharply up-size the Town Center.

The Town Center was approved to have 600,000sf of commercial/retail/office space and 2,000 residential units. Transfer Development Rights (TDRs) already boosted the residential units a few hundred above the 2,000.

The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) studied impacts up to 700,000sf and 3,000 units. Anything above this would require a Supplement EIS, Kamuron Gurol, the Community Development Director, said at the time.

The development company, STCA, is working with staff to propose hiking the Town Center by as much as 250,000sf and up to 1,500 more residential units.

STCA is currently developing the Town Center west of 228th Ave.

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Town Center Plan Flaws Ignored

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  • Glaring omissions in the Town Center plan regarding traffic forewarned 10 years ago – and ignored.

By Miki Mullor

Guest Contributor

Miki Mullor

During the recent moratorium deliberations by City Council, the Town Center neighborhood plan was brought into the conversation. The issues with traffic planning in the city, exposed during the concurrency debacle, were feared to also impact the Town Center plan. Calls to review the plan were answered with a response that the plan was done 10 years ago therefore it’s too late to review.  This implies a “statute of limitation” argument that if indeed there were issues with the plan, those should have been raised at that time and cannot be argued now.

However, recently surfaced documents from the time of Town Center planning in 2007 reveal just that – that serious problems do exist in the plan and those problems were raised timely – yet ignored by the city.

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City Council indecisive about how to approach future growth

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By Harry Shedd

Special to Sammamish Comment

The Sammamish City Council appeared indecisive during the council retreat about future growth in the city.

Should the “bedroom community” vision continue into the future or will future generations demand change in our vision?

Should the Town Center receive more of the city’s future growth or should the city continue with current “throughout the city” plans?

Should council members seek out resident input or go with their “best understanding”?

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Common Cause Housing Balance for Sammamish

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Editor’s note: This is the inaugural article of occasional Guest Contributor columns from Sammamish residents. See this post for details about contributing to Sammamish Comment.

 How to attain sustainable housing affordability, create vast community wealth and improve driver experiences.

Paul Stickney

By Paul Stickney

Guest Contributor

Article One of Three

Disclosure: I have, since 1997, had an interest in a five-acre parcel on the Plateau with Richard Birgh, who has owned the land since 1968. In 2008, this property became part of the Town Center.

In Sammamish we, as a community, are facing many important issues, including:

  • Trees coming down; Loss of tree canopy; Worries over wildlife habitat.
  • Tough commutes, traffic congestion and worsening driver experiences.
  • Storm water management; Erosion and sediment issues; Kokanee runs.
  • Preserving community character and aesthetically displeasing development.
  • Housing affordability and options to stay in Sammamish as ones needs change.
  • Capital needed to remedy extensive, inherited transportation deficiencies.
  • Voter tax fatigue – especially with recent impacts of McCleary and ST3.
  • Costs of community desires – Open Space; Parks; Trails; Arts; Human Services.

Several of the above issues are symptoms of two fundamental root ailments.

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