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.
Deputy Mayor Christie Malchow
The Sammamish City Council, in a surprise move, unanimously adopted a building moratorium for six months to make time to sort out the traffic concurrency problems that emerged in June.
The item was not on the agenda. Deputy Mayor Christie Malchow introduced the ordinance declaring an emergency to adopt the moratorium. Member Tom Odell seconded.
She said it became clear in a study session Monday night and in previous meetings that staff process was “trumping” policy.
Underlying assumptions in Table T-8 in the Comprehensive Plan can’t be addressed until the next update in a year. T-8 details traffic counts and other data.
Nearly two years after turning on the “Intelligence Transportation System” stop lights on 228th Ave. from one end of the City to the other, Sammamish is finally fixing it.
The ITS is intended to coordinate lights on 228th to give green lights and expedite traffic.
The problem: side streets and left turn arrows faced long delays, even when there was little or no through traffic on 228th.
Lyman Howard. Source: Google images.
The Sammamish City Council returns Sept. 5 from its August recess with traffic and concurrency the No. 1 priority and the No. 1 item on the agenda.
City Manager Lyman Howard will present a proposal to establish a “roadmap” going forward to take a top-to-bottom look at how the City implements traffic concurrency policies and testing that are required before development can be approved.
Controversial study prompts review
The review is the outgrowth of a controversial study by a Sammamish citizen, Miki Mullor, who concluded the City Staff had manipulated data to approve development. After a de facto moratorium brought on by the 2008 Global Recession, an improving economy and capital liquidity enabled a major spurt of growth that saw wholesale tree removal and increased traffic congestion over a few years beginning about 2014.
Mullor’s study contained incendiary charges that prompted Howard to label it “inaccurate” and “deeply offensive” at the June 6 Council meeting, the day after Mullor emailed the study to the City. Howard suggested later at the same meeting that Staff would answer questions raised by the study and from the Council.
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.
Sammamish Comment 