Tag Archives: Sammamish

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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20 years in Sammamish

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I was cleaning out some old photos the other day and came across one that is perhaps as representative as any of how Sammamish changed in the last 20 years.

SE8th Sammamish 19960002

SE 8th St. east of Skyline High School at the bottom of the hill, left, in 1996. Compare SE 8th to today. Right, that winter in a rare, heavy snow.

I moved here in May 1996, from Dallas. I had come home for lunch one day and found a huge, open field behind my house marked by surveyors. I decided then and there to move away from what looked like planned development. Having been to the Seattle area and the San Juan Islands a short time before, I decided to move here for a lifestyle change.

I chose what was then unincorporated King County because it was near mountains and water, and in the winter, snow (at least then, this was true). I chose SE 8th St. because it was a small country road with few houses.

Little did I know.

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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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Breaking news: Examiner denies SHO appeal on ELST; Gives split decision on County appeal

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The Sammamish Hearing Examiner denied the appeal by the Sammamish Homeowners over the City’s granting of a permit for development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail.

The Examiner granted some of the appeal issues filed by King County over a host of conditions the City set, but denied others. Still others were settled in negotiations between the City and the County, the most important providing for the preservation of far more trees than the County originally was proposing.

A third homeowners’ appeal was settled between the County and the appellants.

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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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