The Sammamish City Council extended the building moratorium to allow staff and the 
council to complete a revised traffic concurrency plan by July. The Town Center was not exempted.
The vote was 7-0.
Council member Jason Ritchie said STCA, a developer of the Town Center, “will be fine either way.”
But he expressed concern about the individual homeowners being prevented from building.
Debbie Treen
By Debbie Treen
Guest Contributor
I want to offer a counterpoint to Jason Ritchie’s reasons for exempting the Town Center from the current development moratorium. His reasons for lifting the moratorium are that the City will hold the 
developers accountable, the Town Center saves the environment, residents are getting the best deal, the Town Center accommodates growth, and that he will work to be sure growth is responsible.
Lost in all the hoopla over the Legislature’s vote to exempt itself from the Public Records
Jay Rodne. Photo via Google images.
Act and the drama over its repeal, State Rep. Jay Rodne (R-5th) announced Feb. 28 he won’t run for reelection.
Rodne vote for the exemption. He was nearly defeated in 2016 by Jason Ritchie, a Democrat who lives in the Klahanie neighborhood in Sammamish. Ritchie led Rodne on election night but the tide turned as votes were counted, and Rodne won reelection narrowly.
Ritchie ran the next year for Sammamish City Council and won.
Even as Sammamish residents scream over traffic congestion, exacerbated over what proved to be fraudulent implementation of a traffic concurrency model intended to be sure the roads can handle growth, efforts are underway to sharply up-size the Town Center.
The Town Center was approved to have 600,000sf of commercial/retail/office space and 2,000 residential units. Transfer Development Rights (TDRs) already boosted the residential units a few hundred above the 2,000.
The Environmental Impact Study (EIS) studied impacts up to 700,000sf and 3,000 units. Anything above this would require a Supplement EIS, Kamuron Gurol, the Community Development Director, said at the time.
The development company, STCA, is working with staff to propose hiking the Town Center by as much as 250,000sf and up to 1,500 more residential units.
STCA is currently developing the Town Center west of 228th Ave.
Mark Baughman
Two candidates who were defeated for Sammamish City Council were named last night to the Planning Commission.
Mark Baughman and Rituja Indapure received the nod from the Council.
Baughman ran against Jason Ritchie for Position 1. Indapure ran against Chris Ross for Position 5.
Rituja Indapure
Baughman and Indapure answered candidate questionnaires from Sammamish Comment, providing a good understanding of their positions on issues. Links are below the jump.
The Planning Commission is the first stop for changes to the Comprehensive Plan, land use, traffic and related issues.
Sammamish Comment 