Tag Archives: Town Center

Market-driven building moratorium is over; pent-up demand is building now

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City_of_SammamishEditor’s note: There has been a spirited discussion on Facebook under Save Sammamish (a closed group) about the current level of development and the topic of a building moratorium. Here is what I posted this morning.

When the Comp Plan was written in 2001-2003 (of which I was a part), we did everything possible to meet the minimum requirements of the Growth Management Act (GMA) in order to have the minimum growth for our city. However, development of the Town Center was set aside from this process for a separate process.

Except for some very selected areas for GMA compliance purposes, no up-zoning was approved by the City Council.

As has been discussed, growth and job targets are set in negotiation with the county and other cities. Sammamish considers itself an island, so we always argued for minimum growth targets.

Then we did the Town Center plan. There were proposals for up to 1.7 million SF of commercial/retail/office (larger than Redmond Town Center) and (if I recall correctly) at least 3,500 residential units.

These were non-starter proposals. The committees and Planning Commission (of which I was also a part) settled on recommending to Council 500,000 sf of commercial and 2,000 units. The Council upped this to 600,000 and 2,500. The Environmental Impact Statement studied up to 700,000 sf and 3,000 units before another EIS would be required with dramatically higher road improvements also required.

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Council rejects building moratorium, 60-day study–for now

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Tuesday, 11:05 pm: The Sammamish City Council rejected any building moratorium for the Town Center. It also rejected the idea of a 60-day study.

Council members favored full speed ahead for finishing development of the Town Center. They rejected the 60-day study but agreed that a longer-term study of key issues, such as transportation, infrastructure, trees, storm water issues and related topics that affect city-wide issues. Some kind of moratorium for some or all of the rest of the city at a later date might be considered.

Sammamish Comment will prepare a full report on Wednesday.

Creating the Town Center Plan

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In Part 1, the background, objectives and membership of the Planning Advisory Board was described. In Part 2, the PAB gets down to work writing Sammamish’s first Comprehensive Plan. In Part 3 today, the focus shifts to the creation of the Town Center Plan, a sub-area of the Comprehensive Plan.

City_of_SammamishThe Sammamish Planning Advisory Board (PAB), tasked with writing the City’s first Comprehensive Plan, finished all elements except the complex topic of developing a commercial-office-retail element that was better than the strip malls created by King County.

These malls were formally known as Sammamish Highlands at NE 8th and 228th Ave. NE, the Pine Lake Center at 228th and Issaquah-Pine Lake Road and the 7-11 complex on East Lake Sammamish Parkway. Sammamish Highlands, not to be confused with the neighborhood of the same name at the far south end of the City on 228th, was more commonly known as the Safeway complex. This included the commercial stores across 228th (McDonald’s and other retailers) and eventually Saffron across NE 8th.

The Pine Lake Center was more commonly known as the QFC complex.

Alternatives for Commercial Development

When the first draft of the Comp Plan was completed, the PAB proposed several alternatives for commercial development. Under State Law, this was standard procedure. Usually Comp Plans had Alternatives 1, 2 and 3 and a No Action Alternative.

The No Action Alternative is self-evident: don’t do anything and proceed as before.

The alternatives contained in the Draft Comp Plan were as follows:

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SE 4th Open House not “even” for options, says Council Member

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Sammamish City Council Member tom Odell. Photo via Google images.

June 24, 2016: The Sammamish City Staff didn’t conduct an “even” handed Open House on the design options for SE 4th St. from 218th through the Town Center to 228th Ave. SE, the chairman of the City Council Transportation Committee said yesterday.

The Open House was the previous evening. Citizens packed the Council chambers to hear from the City’s consultant and to indicate their preference of designs presented.

But Tom Odell, the Council member who chairs the Transportation Committee, said all the design options weren’t evenly presented to the packed room.

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

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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.)

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