Tag Archives: City Politics

Valderrama out, Keller in as Deputy Mayor

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Valderrama

Ramiro Valderrama

keller

Bob Keller

Unless there is an unexpected shift in commitments among Sammamish City Council members, Ramiro Valderrama is out as Deputy Mayor and Bob Keller in.

Selection of the Deputy Mayor ordinarily occurs at the first Council meeting of the new year, which is tonight. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are selected by the Council, not the voters, under the “weak mayor” form of City Manager government to which Sammamish was incorporated. The mayoral position is a two-year term. It’s not up for selection this year.

Long-standing divisions between two factions on the Sammamish City Council continued through behind-the-scenes maneuvering over the weekend, with Mayor Don Gerend becoming the deciding commitment to support Keller for the position.

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Sahalee Way project up for contract vote Tuesday

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sahalee-road

“The current design includes sidewalks on the west side, bike lanes, two 11-foot travel lanes, and a center turn lane or raised median island where needed. A traffic signal is also included for the intersection at NE 28th Place/223 Avenue NE,” the City writes.

A contract for the design of the controversial Sahalee Way road improvement project is up for a vote at Tuesday’s Sammamish City Council meeting.

Whether approved or rejected, the vote appears it will be a 4-3 split along the usual lines, with Mayor Don Gerend being the swing vote.

The project calls for a sidewalk along one side, bike lanes, a turning lane and additional stop lights between NE 25th and the Sammamish City Limits.

It does not extend to SR202, which is one mile beyond the City Limits. This means no improvements to Sahalee in this section, and this is one reason why three members of the City Council oppose the current plans.

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City dithers while Tamarack suffers

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The Sammamish City Council continues to dither while residents in the Tamarack subdivision suffer from stormwater drainage from uphill development and fish downstream are threatened by the same drainage.

In a contentious Council meeting last week, accusations flew that a tax hike of 5% for stormwater management was a thinly disguised effort to force the City to accept the entire responsibility for solving the drainage problems affecting Tamarack that have been more than 10 years in the making.

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Sammamish’s trek to court over Land Use Appeals, other issues; cost to taxpayers stonewalled

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The City of Sammamish has gone to court 28 times in the last 10 years on matters other than routine operational reasons. Half were for Land Use Petition (development) (LUP) appeals from Hearing Examiner decisions, a review of court records reveals.

In addition, the City wound up in Court over development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail for what’s called an Administrative Law Review, three times over Public Records and twice by parties seeking injunctions against the City.

The City also is a defendant in a damages lawsuit by developer William Buchan, which is also the plaintiff in one of the LUPs. Both are for the proposed development of Chestnut Estates West, west of 212th Ave. SE and SE 8th St.

The review of records in King County Superior Court this week revealed numerous other court actions relating to City requests to condemn land (usually for road rights of way) and Quit Claim deeds. These are routine cases related to the normal operation of the City.

The court cases do not include recent actions before the state Shorelines Hearing Board on appeals by King County and the Sammamish Homeowners group over a Hearing Examiner’s decision regarding development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail.

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Sammamish chooses Tacoma for annual retreat

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City_of_SammamishSammamish selected the Hotel Murano in Tacoma for its annual retreat Jan. 19-21. The decision was announced Tuesday by City Manager Lyman Howard.

This was the location last year.

The City was leaning toward returning to Suncadia Lodge in Roslyn, east of Snoqualmie Pass until Sammamish Comment revealed the plans.

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