Tag Archives: City Politics

Grounds for appeals of developments

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  • A previous column described some of the changes in Sammamish over the 20 years I’ve lived here, ending with appeals I filed over some development along SE 8th Today’s post takes up where that left off.

When I filed appeals of the Greens of Beaver Crest and a companion development, I knew little of what I was doing. I only knew I wanted some traffic calming on SE 8th, where I lived at the time, and King County said no. (This was before Sammamish incorporated.)

Tom Harmon, a citizen activist and a member of SHOUT, a citizens group, dropped off a manual of sorts about how to pursue appeals. I also began attending the public hearings of another appeal of a development along SE 228th by a resident, James Jordan, to learn about the process and evidentiary rules and requirements.

Still another appeal, over traffic issues that were at the heart of my appeal, had been filed a resident, Craig Dickison, and adjudicated by the King County Hearing Examiner.

The appeals were all denied, although the decision on Dickison’s appeal had been a close call. This decision became the one to follow for the Greens.

Citizens lose

One of the early takeaways from these appeals above was that citizens lose appeals. It was very, very rare that they win.

Under the law, Examiners give great weight or deference to the presumed expertise of those government employees making the decisions to grant approval of developments. Appellants have the burden of proof to demonstrate the decisions were in error.

When I talk about appellants as citizens, I should note that developers have the right to appeal as well. They sometimes do, objecting to conditions imposed by the government’s staff. We’ve seen this most recently in King County’s appeal of Sammamish staff conditions for development of the south leg of the East Lake Sammamish Trail. The County largely prevailed, while a homeowner’s group, SHO, did not in its appeal of the same ELST permit.

We also saw the developer appeal the Chestnut West development permit. Citizens won their appeals; the developer lost.

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Mars Hill Church, ELST appeal thoughts

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  • Sammamish Comment has been silent since Feb. 8 because of travels. We’re back in town now for a while and are back with coverage of Sammamish.

Mars Hill Church

The former Mars Hill Church on 228th Ave. in Sammamish. Photo via Google.

The former Mars Hills Church on 228th appears to be on the verge of becoming the proverbial white elephant.

Purchased in a hasty manner for nearly $7m when the church organization collapsed, with the expectation that colleges were interested in opening a campus here, this dream went up in smoke due to circumstances beyond the City’s control.

At the March 1 meeting, Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama moved to lease the building for five years while the Administration sought to find a long-term solution. Members Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish supported the motion. Members Tom Odell, Kathy Huckabay and Bob Keller opposed it as premature and suggesting too long a period. Mayor Don Gerend, who would be the swing vote, instead moved to put the issue over to the March 15 Council meeting. This passed unanimously.

Here is some background information.

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Hearing Examiner OKs Conner-Jarvis project, says Kempton Downs failed to meet burden

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City_of_SammamishJan. 20, 2016: The Sammamish Hearing Examiner Tuesday rejected the appeal by the Kempton Downs Homeowners Assn. of the Conner-Jarvis project. Approval was given with minor modifications to conditions.

The approval, by Examiner John Gault, was a sweeping victory for Conner-Jarvis and the City’s Development and Public Works departments. Gault ruled that Kempton Downs failed in issue after issue to meet the burden required under state law to overturn the professional judgment of the City’s staff.

State law says that deference to the professionals takes preference. This means that in appeals, the burden of proof that the staff erred is on the appellants.

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Sammamish Retreat analysis

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The Sammamish City Council’s 2016 Retreat wrapped up Saturday. Here are thoughts and analysis:

  •  Retreat location: This was the first time in about 10 years Sammamish held its Retreat on this side of the Cascade Mountains. Given how often Snoqualmie Pass closed this season (including City_of_Sammamishtwice on Saturday alone), holding it in Tacoma was good from this perspective alone. Council members and the Administration liked the remote location because it discouraged public participation and afforded total candor–sometimes to the point of open warfare (as occurred last year, despite presence by Sammamish Comment and others). In Tacoma, The Comment and others were present all three days, with the public attendance of almost a dozen on Saturday. The sky didn’t fall in. The atmosphere was far more civil this year as well (see below).

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Sammamish Council Retreat, Day 3: More on barricades; Community Outreach; and more

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City_of_SammamishJan. 16, 2016: The third and last day of the Sammamish City Council Retreat saw yet a third run at the 42nd St. barricade issue.

(Our post yesterday has also been updated.)

Greg Reynolds, the leading proponent for removing the barricade, said City officials admitted the roadway on the west side of the barricade is unsafe, requiring action to fix the situation and remove the barricade, or it faces liabilities if it takes no action.

This is the other side of the same coin argued by a leading opponent who has since moved out of state, Rick Kuprewicz, who argued Sammamish would be opening itself to liabilities if it removed the barricade because of the unsafe road.

Sammamish inherited the problems, including the barricade and road design, from King County, which approved both before incorporation.

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