Sahalee Way project up for contract vote Tuesday

sahalee-road

“The current design includes sidewalks on the west side, bike lanes, two 11-foot travel lanes, and a center turn lane or raised median island where needed. A traffic signal is also included for the intersection at NE 28th Place/223 Avenue NE,” the City writes.

A contract for the design of the controversial Sahalee Way road improvement project is up for a vote at Tuesday’s Sammamish City Council meeting.

Whether approved or rejected, the vote appears it will be a 4-3 split along the usual lines, with Mayor Don Gerend being the swing vote.

The project calls for a sidewalk along one side, bike lanes, a turning lane and additional stop lights between NE 25th and the Sammamish City Limits.

It does not extend to SR202, which is one mile beyond the City Limits. This means no improvements to Sahalee in this section, and this is one reason why three members of the City Council oppose the current plans.

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“Save Sammamish” formalizes, talks growth, trees, roads and budgets at first meeting

jennifer-kim

Jennifer Kim

A group on Facebook that has about 1,000 followers formalized last night with its first meeting, at the Klahanie Fire Station 83 at Issaquah-Pine Lake Road and SE 32nd.

“Save Sammamish” is a group that discussed growth issues on Facebook. Created by Jennifer Kim, a two-year resident of Sammamish who moved here from California, the Facebook conversations are active if sometimes heated.

Kim distinguished herself from a large crowd in September when, during public comment at a City Council meeting discussing the prospect of a building moratorium, she came armed with facts and figures on a citywide basis instead of personal stories and emotional pleas.

About two dozen people attended the launch meeting, including Council Members Christie Malchow, Tom Hornish and Ramiro Valderrama. Council members Don Gerend, Kathy Huckabay, Bob Keller and Tom Odell did not attend.

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City dithers while Tamarack suffers

The Sammamish City Council continues to dither while residents in the Tamarack subdivision suffer from stormwater drainage from uphill development and fish downstream are threatened by the same drainage.

In a contentious Council meeting last week, accusations flew that a tax hike of 5% for stormwater management was a thinly disguised effort to force the City to accept the entire responsibility for solving the drainage problems affecting Tamarack that have been more than 10 years in the making.

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Sammamish Disaster Preparedness Fair Oct. 15

City_of_SammamishSammamish will hold its annual Disaster Preparedness Fair Saturday, October 15, at City Hall from 9am to 3pm.

Details can be found here: Sammamish Disaster Preparedness Fair.

Several private and civic organizations will have displays in the Council Chambers and in the Courtyard, providing information residents need to survive disasters.

The principal focus is on earthquake preparedness, but other emergencies—such as downed power lines that can be dangerous—have been addressed in the past.

The City is the host but didn’t participate last year with a table of its own. It will this year.

Sammamish also was slow to participate in the Cascadia Rising emergency disaster drill last June, finally signing up after Sammamish Comment began asking questions about the City’s preparedness.

Since then, the new City Council (effective Jan. 1) and new City Manager (effective March 1) have undertaken numerous steps to bring the City to a state of preparedness.

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Sammamish Council opposes ST3

City_of_SammamishOct. 4, 2016: The Sammamish City Council voted tonight to to oppose Sound Transit 3 for the $27bn tax package, a $54bn multi-modal transportation package that reduces service to Sammamish in exchange for citizens paying an estimated $500m-$550m in taxes over 25 years.

The measure is on the Nov. 8 ballot in the Sound Transit area that includes portions of King, Pierce and Snohomish counties.

Going into the meeting, five Council members told Sammamish Comment they opposed ST3. These were Mayor Don Gerend, Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama and members Tom Hornish, Tom Odell and Christie Malchow.

Members Bob Keller and Kathy Huckabay supported ST3.

The vote tonight was 5-2 against the huge tax package. Keller and Huckabay were the dissenting votes.

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