Tag Archives: King County

Lake Trail overhangs Sammamish politics for 20 years

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  • This is about 10 pages when printed.

City_of_SammamishJune 5, 2016: Development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail has been an overhang of Sammamish politics for 20 years.

It was a dominate factor in the first City Council race 1999 and surfaced again in 2001. It became a key issue in the 2003 election, with a flood of “outside” money flowing to candidates favoring the Trail.

The issue surfaced periodically in subsequent elections. It wasn’t until 2015 that once more it became a key election issue, as Trail residents rallied behind three candidates to win bitterly contested races. For the first time, they helped elect a resident who lives along the Trail.

And the issue hasn’t subsided, either.

In April, three Council Members voted to undercut the City’s own Hearing Examiner and side with King County, developer of the Trail, on a jurisdictional issue in an appeal before the State Shoreline Hearings Board.

This is the story behind the 20-year battle of the ELST.

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House said to be historic at risk of tear down

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440 218th Ave SE - House West (primary) elevation 1999frame

The Eddy House at 440 218th Ave. SE in Sammamish is said to have historical value as a residence for members of three Indian tribes. It’s at risk of demolition for a development, say the Harry Shedds.

A quiet effort to save a house that is called historical in nature faces an uphill fight with the City of Sammamish.

Harry and Claradell Shedd want to prevent the demolition of the Eddy House at 440 218th Ave. SE, just north of Big Rock Park and South of SE 4th.

The boarded-up house is “a singular landmark-eligible residence of Indian tribal members’ importance,” they say. Members of the Duwamish, Yakima and Snoqualmie tribes have lived here, they said.

Sammamish is processing a development application from Quadrant Corp. that would result in tearing down the home, the Shedds say.

The Sammamish Heritage Society and the City have reached an impasse, they said.

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Give Sound Transit an earful May 2 over ST3

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Sound Transit 3: Parallel rail lines, two stations from Issaquah/Bellevue and Seattle/Bellevue along the South Bellevue corridor.

Sound Transit will hold a public intake meeting Monday, May 2, at Sammamish City Hall beginning at 6:30m to receive comments on Sound Transit 3 (ST3), the $27bn tax hike for $50bn in projects over the next 25 years.

This is on top of tax increases approved for Sound Transit 2.

Sammamish citizens should attend this meeting to make it clear to Sound Transit and King County officials that ST3 is poorly conceived, ill-timed, extends over too long a period and short-changes not only Sammamish and the Eastside, but also Everett City Center and the Boeing Everett plant, where so many people from our local environs work.

Our citizens also need to urge the Sammamish City Council to opposed ST3.

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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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County appeals Trail decision, claims Examiner didn’t have jurisdiction

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March 15, 2016: Despite telling local press that it would not appeal a Sammamish Hearing Examiner’s decision on the East Lake Sammamish Trail development–a decision in which the County largely prevailed over staff-imposed conditions for the permit–the County filed an appeal with the State Shoreline Hearings Board.

The City previously filed an appeal over two decisions by the Hearing Examiner, which favored the County.

The full County appeal is here: KC Appeal ELST to State. Including the original Examiner’s decision, the PDF document is 88 pages.

Essentially, the County is asking the State Hearings Board to find not only did the Examiner not have jurisdiction, it’s also asking that all conditions imposed by the Staff be voided, just as it did when it appealed to the Hearing Examiner in the first place. (The Examiner had denied a motion from the City over his jurisdiction in the matter, thus last December’s full hearing. The County essentially seeks to relitigate the entire matter before the State.)

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