City staff opposes restoring a stringent Town Center stormwater regulation designed to protect creeks and homes

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

A months-long investigation by Sammamish Comment that includes email interviews with staff and public records requests reveal city staff opposition to restoring a stringent stormwater standard in the Town Center area.

  • Staff opposes the former standard because the soil in the Town Center makes it “infeasible” to implement. 
  • In public, staff said the standard or an equivalent to it, is in place.
  • In private meetings with council members, staff admitted it was eliminated and opposed restoring it.
  • STCA’s Phase I 400 homes permit’s stormwater section was approved although the developer said it is not implementing it because “it is not feasible”. 
  • The City does not know the impact of the currently enacted and relaxed standards on the creeks and downstream homes.
  • City Manager David Rudat on The Comment’s investigation: “a take down”.
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BREAKING NEWS: Council Member Jason Ritchie resigns over Town Center; calls city council obstructionist

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

In a bombshell announcement at the end of the Sammamish City Council meeting tonight, Council member Jason Ritchie resigned from his position effective immediately.

Earlier in the meeting, the Council extended the moratorium on development for six more months, with an exception for single family homes on existing lots.

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“Our long national nightmare is over.” — President Gerald R. Ford

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By Scott Hamilton
Guest Commentary

“Our long national nightmare is over.”

These were the words of Gerald R. Ford, minutes after he was sworn in as the 38th President of the United State.

Gerald R. Ford is sworn in as President. Source: Wikipedia.

The events of Jan. 6 as Trump supporters invaded and occupied the Capitol proves our current, long national nightmare isn’t over yet. But it appears a crescendo was reached.

President-elect Joe Biden takes office Jan. 20. He’s got one huge mess bequeathed to him by Trump. Biden must end the COVID pandemic. He must repair the economy. He faces damaged US standing on the global stage. And he must repair the divisions within the US.

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Sammamish Water District warns Constantine on a development moratorium in Sammamish

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By Miki Mullor
Editor

A moratorium on development is coming to Northern Sammamish, unless King County commits to fund short- and long-term improvement to the sewage infrastructure.

A moratorium on sewer connections will impact not only future development but also permitted development that has not yet been connected to sewer.

In December, we reported that the Sammamish Water and Sewer district is out of capacity to handle sewer for development on an irregular line roughly north of SE 8th St., including the Town Center development site. 

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Central Sammamish out of sewage capacity; County dumps on development

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King County removed a critical sewage line project from its plans. Current system is too small for future development north of SE 8th St.

District hints a building moratorium may be required. The future of the Sammamish Town Center hangs in the balance.

Lake Sammamish threatened with sewage dump.

By Miki Mullor
Editor

The Sammamish Plateau Water District is out of capacity to move raw sewage to King County’s treatment plants.

King County removed a critical sewer line from its projects list that would serve central Sammamish that would transfer waste to a sewage treatment plant in north King County.

A full system and no new project mean development north of a line roughly along SE 8th St. to the border of the Northeast Sammamish Sewer and Water District is in jeopardy. The southern tip of the Northeast district is irregular but roughly follows a line along NE 16th St. and dips south to NE 8th St. in spots.

Future development of homes and the Sammamish Town Center could be blocked by the Sammamish Water District for lack of sewer capacity.

Water Commissioners Lloyd Warren and Mary Shustov hinted that a building moratorium may be necessary if the county doesn’t come up with a solution.

Homes and businesses development in the Northeast sewer district is unaffected by this looming crisis.

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