On a 4 /3 split, City Council Tuesday night voted to keep the moratorium on the Town Center.
Mayor Malchow, Deputy mayor Moran and Council members Hornish and Ross voted to keep the moratorium.
Council members Ritchie, Stuart and Valderrama voted to lift it.
On a second matter related to exempting 65 homes from the new interim design regulations the council decided to delay a vote until the public hearing on November 6.
More details to follow.
The Sammamish City Council last night effectively lifted the year-long building moratorium, with some conditions for the Town Center.
In a surprise action, city council also adopted an emergency development regulations that will impact the neighborhood character of new development, adding restrictions to projects that aren’t already vested.
In a wild and chaotic meeting Tuesday, dealing with the city manager’s position, concurrency and development the Town Center, it became clear the business of Sammamish is done behind closed doors and that developers’ influence is running strong.
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.
The Kamp property at 228th Ave. SE and SE 20th shortly after clearing and grading was completed. A building moratorium wouldn’t have stopped this project. It would have been delayed. It was vested to rules and entitled to build to those existing at the time any moratorium might have been adopted. Potential new, more restrictive rules wouldn’t apply.
The Sammamish City Council will discuss the prospect for a building moratorium tomorrow at its meeting beginning at 6:30 pm.
After the topic first came up a week ago, a reader of The Comment posted the following in response:
In advance of the meeting tomorrow, a little review might be worthwhile as members of the public prepare to comment.
Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama sprung a surprise on the Sammamish City Council Sept. 13 when he suggested a study over 60 days for a building moratorium, starting with the Town Center.
The idea may have some merit; only a thorough discussion and perhaps some study will make this determination.
Tactically, Valderrama’s timing and forum was a bad idea.
