Tag Archives: Tom Odell

City blocks environmental report in land use appeal

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  • Appellants planned to use report in Conner-Jarvis case.
  • Conflict of interest with City contract cited.
  • Same environmental consultant allowed for applicant in Chestnut Estates West case.
  • Conner-Jarvis appellant charged City would withdraw traffic mitigation plans if project appealed.
  • Similar neighborhood traffic concerns to Chestnut appeal, which the City lost.
  • Links to download documents are toward the bottom of this post.

The Sammamish City Manager blocked an environmental consulting company from being a witness at a land use appeal of the Conner-Jarvis development, and with it, the report the company prepared, charges Mike Grady of the appellant, the Kempton Downs Community Organization.

Grady charged that City Manager Ben Yacizi invoked a clause in the consultant’s City contract for services unrelated to the appeal that says the firm, The Watershed Company, can’t undertake work that in conflict with the City.

Watershed was allowed to be a consultant and expert witness on behalf of the William Buchan Co. in the Chestnut Estates West application, says Grady. The City’s Hearing Examiner threw out the application, handing a victory to the appellants. Buchan told the Sammamish Reporter it plans to appeal the decision this month.

Wetlands weren’t properly assessed, Watershed says

Conner Jarvis Layout 072015

The layout of the proposed Conner-Jarvis development of 115 single family homes on 40+ acres. Click on image to enlarge. The handwritten notes are from the person who supplied this rendering to Sammamish Comment.

Sammamish Comment obtained a copy of the Watershed report in the Conner-Jarvis case. The report concluded:

  • that the wetland boundaries were misidentified by Conner’s consultant;
  • the potential effects of the “water flow processes” that sustain Laughing Jabos Creek and the wetland ecosystem were not adequately characterized; and
  • the wetland complex should be rated as a single unit rather than separate wetlands.

Some of the issues between Chestnut and Conner are similar: the threat to kokanee salmon from upstream runoff. Kokanee are native to Lake Sammamish and to three creeks: Ebright Creek, which was the relevant creek in the Chestnut case and about half way up the lake; Lewis Creek at the far south end of the lake; and Laughing Jacobs Creek, which is relevant in the Conner case, which is in between Lewis and Ebright.

Hearing Examiner John Galt held a session Monday morning whether to admit the report despite the City’s exclusion. Galt denied a request to enter the report into the record, but gave the appellant until Oct. 28 to come up with a new report.

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“Go slow, do it right” on Klahanie annexation, but “go fast and go on vacation” to approve revised Comp Plan

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Sammamish City Council members were adamant they wanted to “go slow and do it right” on the annexation of the Klahanie area, but Mayor Tom Vance and a majority of the Council have been pushing to adopt a complete revision to the Comprehensive Plan before the August recess.

Council Member Nancy Whitten  believes flaws remain in the new Comp Plan, which has been a virtual complete rewrite of the detailed plan adopted in 2001 after 18 months of work by the Planning Advisory Board. The new Comp Plan is far more general, she says, reducing environmental protections, particularly potentially for Pine Lake. Pine Lake is one of six “303(d)” lakes in King County. Beaver Lake and Laughing Jacobs Lake or Lake Sammamish (I forget which), also in Sammamish, are two others.

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“We need King County,” Sammamish says; now we know why

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  • Variety of public works projects need King County cooperation and support.
  • Klahanie annexation a factor.
  • East Lake Sammamish Trail development a factor.
  • City doesn’t know the value of its Staff time devoted to the East Lake Sammamish Trail-King County issues.

During the disputes early this year over King County’s development of the East Lake Sammamish Trail North End (Section 1) and proposed design of the far South End (Section 2A), many urged the City to take a firm hand with the County.

Some, including at one point City Council Member Tom Odell, urged the City to issue a Stop Work Order on the North End while the City reviewed problems that developed as the County destroyed “significant” trees (ie, good quality, mature trees), young trees and scrub trees; damaged sewage lines, while denying responsibility; building a trail that effectively denied access by some homeowners to their own garages; and other issues that came up.

Sammamish Comment detailed these problems last January in an 18-page investigative report.

At the same time, the County was designing Section 2A, that part of the trail from the 7-11 south to the Issaquah City Limits. Residents along the trail, interested parties and the City submitted comments to the County. When the 60% design was issued, these parties were enraged to see that the County had largely ignored the comments. The City was particularly unhappy that none of its comments were addressed.

As the permitting agency, the City held power over the County. Officials threatened to withhold permits for the Southern sections 2A and 2B (which is still to come). Holding up permits would threaten the loss of federal funding.

But the City was reluctant to issue a Stop Work Order on the North End, terminate an interlocal agreement with the County governing the Trail, or take other measures, because “We need King County.”

Officials at the time wouldn’t detail what this meant.

What was meant became clear with the July 7 City Council meeting and subsequent events. Officials were reluctant to take a firmer hand over the Trail because:

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Sahalee Road proposal draws criticism from public, heat between Council Members

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Six Yr TIP Sammamish

Sammamish’s Six Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) includes a proposal to widen Sahalee Way to three lanes from NE 25th north to the City Limits and beyond to SR202, outside the City Limits. This is the red line at the top of the City map. Click on image to enlarge. Source: City of Sammamish.

A plan to widen Sahalee Way from NE 25th north to the Sammamish City limits drew criticism from the public and prompted a heated exchange between council members at the July 7 City Council meeting.

The City Staff presented the proposed Six Year Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) to the Council for approval (which it did), including plans to widen Issaquah-Fall City Road along the eastern border of the Klahanie Annexation Area, a promise made by the City Council in advance of the April 28 annexation vote.

This expensive project–some $23m–drew little comment from the Council, outside of how it will be funded. But the proposed widening of Sahalee Way to three lanes, sidewalks and bike lanes, caused Council Members Ramiro Valderrama and Tom Odell, normally reasonably closely aligned on budget issues, to figuratively come to blows.

Members of the public also criticized the plan.

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Cost of Klahanie annexation to Sammamish taxpayers: $4m-$5m so far

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  • $3m in tax revenues to King County;
  • Forfeiture of $1m-$1.5m in sales tax equalization;
  • $700,000 to Fire District 10 for tax revenues lost;
  • In return, King County provides $500,000 in services;
  • Klahanie residents don’t get to vote in November 3 City Council elections; must wait until 2017 to vote in next City Council election;
  • Taxes get lowered for 2016;
  • Klahanie gets some services from King County it should have been doing anyway.

The cost of annexing Klahanie to Sammamish is adding up to $4m-$5m before the annexation becomes fully complete on January 1.

The cost to Klahanie voters is two years of disenfranchisement because the Sammamish City Council voted July 7 to make the annexation fully effective January 1, 2015, rather than July 31, in two weeks, when everything else procedurally effectively becomes part of Sammamish. The January 1 effective date means residents in the Klahanie annexation area won’t be able to voter for candidates in the Sammamish City Council races November 3. The next city election is in 2017.

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