Sammamish Council Retreat: Day 2, Part 1: Connectivity, Town Center, variations and other things

Jan. 15, 2016: Day 2 of the Sammamish City Council Retreat.

Connectivity

Greg Reynolds of Timberline advocated for opening the 42nd Street barricade for safety reasons to facilitate emergency service access. Reynolds pointed out police don’t have the equipment to open the barricade and fire and aid services have had trouble getting through the gate.

Town Center Update

There has been interest expressed for restaurants and potentially Swedish Medical in the complex under development by Metropolitan Market consortium. (This is the one on the Northwest corner of SE 4th and 228th.)

Continue reading

Will “process” cost Sammamish taxpayers ~$7m?

  • Refuse, recycling, yard waste contract to be awarded
  • Waste Management (WM) claims its bid is $6m-$7m lower over seven years than Republic Services
  • The City Council was prepared to award contract to Republic Dec. 1
  • WM obtained injunction blocking action; court lifted injunction Dec. 22
  • Council to consider contract as early as Jan. 5 meeting
  • WM appeals to Council to overrule Staff recommendation
  • Sammamish taxpayers pay the bill
  • Full story below the page break

Continue reading

Handing over the environmental baton in Sammamish

Nancy Whitten ends 12 years on the Sammamish City Council as its leading environmentalist.

With the year-end Sammamish City Council meeting last night, the end of an era comes with it.

Nancy Whitten ends 12 years on the Council. With her departure comes the loss of the Council’s most aggressive, consistent advocate for the environment. Others on the Council can legitimately lay claim to environmental credentials, but it’s Whitten and her lawyerly approach to documents who so often spotted loopholes, reversals and inconsistencies in ordinances and, more recently, in the rewrite of the City’s Comprehensive Plan.

Who’s going to be the leading environmentalist on the Council now that she is gone?

The answer may surprise you. It’s Bob Keller.

Continue reading

Thanks and respect owed to Whitten, Vance as their terms wind down

Two City Council Members will be leaving office on Dec. 31. Regardless of politics surrounding each,

Nancy Whitten

regardless of differences over policies and demeanor, each deserves the thanks of Sammamish residents for their willingness to step up and provide public service. Too few people are willing to do so.

Nancy Whitten decided to retire after three terms on the Council. She is unquestionably the leading environmentalist on the Council, and her interest in this arena predates her service on the Council and incorporation of Sammamish.

Continue reading

Precinct-by-precinct analysis of Sammamish City Council election

A precinct-by-precinct analysis of the Nov. 3 Sammamish City Council election demonstrates that development concerns and a muffed plan for the Sahalee Way road projects helped lead the way to victory for Christie Malchow and Tom Hornish over Mark Cross and Tom Vance.

Ramiro Valderrama faced only token opposition, and therefore Sammamish Comment hasn’t spent a lot of time analyzing his race against Hank Klein. Klein dropped out of the race too late to take his name off the ballot. He didn’t campaign or raise money.

Here’s what The Comment’s analysis found:

Continue reading