The surprise move Tuesday by the Sammamish City Council to adopt an emergency building moratorium was about more than creating a pause to understand how traffic concurrency became an enabler of development rather than a control mechanism.
It was a rebuke to a staff and consultants that, years in the making, had ignored Council policy and the City’s own codes and Comprehensive Plan.
Update, July 25, 2017: The reporter for the Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter has been transferred to sister papers in the Bothell-Kenmore area.
A Special Report
This is seven pages when printed.
By Scott Hamilton
Analysis
Traffic and concurrency in Sammamish is a classic example of failure, and success, in 
government. It’s a glaring failure of the local newspaper.
It’s a success story of how a single citizen forced debate on an issue that even determined City Council members could not.
Here is the back-story of how traffic and concurrency became “the No. 1 priority in Sammamish.” A sequential history is necessary before we get to the punch line.
In what can only be regarded as a searing rebuke of the City Manager, City Staff and outside transportation consultants, the Sammamish City Council voted 6-1 July 18 to pursue an in-depth review of transportation policies.
The Council also agreed to have discussions at every Council meeting in the foreseeable future.
Mayor Bob Keller was the dissenting vote.
Bob Keller
Bob Keller has been selected mayor through the end of the year.
Don Gerend resigned as mayor, but remains on the City Council, due to personal commitments.
Council Member Tom Hornish nominated Ramiro Valderrama for mayor for the sake of leadership continuity with a new Council coming in come January.
Commentary
By Scott Hamilton
Scott Hamilton
The news yesterday that Sammamish has been using outdated traffic counts, mostly from 2012 but some from 2014 and none from 2016, to run its traffic concurrency tests for development applications is fundamentally cooking the books to approve projects.
I should be outraged, but I’m not.
I should be shocked, but I’m not.
I’m not even surprised.
It just goes to show you how far our city government and City Council declined over the years to become a mini-King County.
I reached this conclusion as far back as 2009. That was 10 years after Sammamish incorporated.
Sammamish Comment 