After six years, Chestnut Estates West appeals appear to be nearing end

After six years, the fight over approval of the Chestnut Estates West plat off 212th Ave. and SE 8th St. appears to be over.

The Washington Appellate Court denied an appeal by developer Buchan over a Hearing Examiner ruling that Sammamish erred in allowing Buchan to swap out “tract K,” permanent open space that was part of the first Chestnut Estates plat approval.

Buchan years later applied for approved for the West plat at the end of SE 8th in the original plat. But Buchan needed to swap tract K to another location in order to build a bridge and connect to the original plat.

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Top 10 stories in Sammamish for 2017: Traffic dominated

Traffic clearly was the No. 1 topic of interest in Sammamish during 2017. It made five of the Top 10 stories posted in Sammamish Comment.

Miki Mullor. One citizen can make a difference.

The issue exploded after citizen Miki Mullor performed his own study of the City’s traffic concurrency system. He concluded traffic concurrency data and policies were manipulated by City staff. The Comment, which reviewed Mullor’s work before he went public with it, revealed the findings.

The study and story set off a series of events that reverberate to this day.

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Malchow for mayor, Hornish for deputy mayor

Christie Malchow

Tom Hornish

Commentary

As the Sammamish City Council prepares to transition next month to the largest makeover in a single year since incorporation, the first order of business after the swearing in of four new council members will be to select a mayor for the next two years and deputy mayor for the next year.

Christie Malchow earned selection as mayor. Tom Hornish earned selection as deputy mayor.

Both are two years in to their first, four-year term.

Their leadership and willingness to dig deeply into issues during their first two years has been nothing short of outstanding. Their honor and integrity is likewise outstanding.

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Sammamish Council retreat to be held in Sammamish for first time

The annual Sammamish City Council will be held in Sammamish for the first time in the City’s history.

The retreat, which will be Jan. 18-20 at the Plateau Club, is where the City Council and staff set policy for the year and talk about long-term objectives.

The 2017 retreat was webcast for the first time; it’s not been announced if the 2018 retreat will be webcast.

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The strange case of the Larson “investigation”

Tim Larson

When Tim Larson, the Sammamish communications manager, was sent home on paid Administrative Leave, his boss, City Manager Lyman Howard wrote in a memo he was under “investigation.”

Larson had to make himself available for any questions related to the investigation, Howard wrote.

Larson resigned Sept. 26. The resignation was announced by Howard to the City Council and staff in a benign email that didn’t list any reason. Howard expressed good wishes.

Sammamish Comment obtained a copy of Howard’s August memo, which was released through a public records request (PRR), and submitted a PRR for the investigation report and supporting documents following Larson’s resignation.

Two months later, the City Clerk’s office responded, “At the time of your request there was no investigation.” This appears to be parsing words. Taken literally, this means that on the date of the PRR, there was no investigation. It does not, read literally, address any previous investigation that may have existed.

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