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The IssaquahPress
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
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Old year brought new problems Many new things happened in Issaquah this past year and not all of them were greeted warmly. While most people saw new parks and a new mayor as positive changes for the city, contention rose around new technology, new development standards, new fish ladders, new plastic bag ordinances and a newly legalized drug. Much of what happened in 2013 spells more growth for Issaquah in the years to come and even more changes ahead. The year 2014 can learn much from the lessons taught by this past year of transformation. Cybersquatting city A city of Issaquah employee was directed to register websites in an apparent effort to deceive customers of the Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District. Two domain names had been registered that were similar to ones the district employs in business practices. Both sites, owned
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TOP NEWS STORIES OF THE YEAR
by the city of Issaquah, took an Internet user straight to a city webpage entitled “Our water, our city.” The sites letstalkaboutourwater.com and sammplat.org bore a strong resemblance to the district’s sites letstalkaboutourwater.org and its main website sammplat.wa.org. City employee See TOP
10, Page A5
Only one week left for Merry Christmas fund By Christina Corrales-Toy newcastle@isspress.com After a week in which a flurry of donations came in to support Issaquah Community Services, the Merry Christmas Issaquah fund is less than $2,000 away from its $75,000 goal. Issaquah Community Services offers emergency financial aid to residents of the Issaquah School District in the form of utility payments, rent assistance and other miscellaneous contributions, depending on a client’s specific need. Volunteers at the nonprofit organization see families at their most dire hour of need. These are people that could lose their home or go without electricity if Issaquah Community Services didn’t step in with the next payment. Merry Christmas Issaquah is the organization’s most important fundraiser all year. Organizers set a $75,000 goal for 2013. The fundraiser — spearheaded by The Issaquah Press since 1981 — set a record for the number of donors last year with 244, but fell short of its $75,000 goal, raising
2013 GOAL: $75,000 TO DATE: $73,505 HOW TO HELP Help by making a taxdeductible donation to Issaquah Community Services. The organization is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Send donations to Merry Christmas Issaquah, c/o The Issaquah Press, P.O. Box 1328, Issaquah, WA 98027. The names of donors — but not amounts — are published in The Press unless anonymity is requested. $68,683. The holiday fundraising drive accounts for about 80 percent See FUND, Page A5
By Greg Farrar
Mike Foss (left), a 13-year resident and vice president of the Brookshire Estates Homeowners Association, and association president Dick L’Heureux, a 27-year resident, recall their involvement in Klahanie’s 2005 annexation attempt into Issaquah.
KLAHANIE ANNEXATION Residents will vote again on unresolved issue By Peter Clark pclark@isspress.com On Feb. 11, Klahaniearea voters will decide whether to join the city of Issaquah. A yes vote would expand the population of the city by one-third its current size. This will be the second vote regarding annexation in the past seven years. This series about the Klahanie annexation vote will attempt to answer many questions that remain on all sides of this discussion.
“In the late 1980s and early 1990s, all of a sudden, growth started happening … That’s when the state stepped in with the Growth Management Act and said, ‘OK, everyone stop fighting and start planning.’” — Diane Marcotte Issaquah finance director
Potential annexation areas Two square miles, 15 neighborhoods and almost 11,000 residents comprise the Klahanie potential annexation area. After the booming sprawl of the 1970s and 1980s around unincorporated areas, the state of Washington reacted by
passing the Growth Management Act of 1991. The legislation envisioned municipalities swallowing up the dangling, developed areas to save financially struggling counties from drowning in expenses. “Potential annexation areas are successors to what were called ‘spheres of influence,’” Issaquah Mayor Ava Frisinger said. “They were catch-all areas for cities. Pre-Growth Management Act, Issaquah’s included at least half of the plateau and included, I think, almost as far as Mirrormont.” The quick growth and infighting between municipalities led the way to the Growth Management Act, which insisted regions craft a strategy for their future. “In the late 1980s and early 1990s, all of a sudden, growth started happening and cities were fighting, trying to pick up the low-hanging fruit from the counties,” Issaquah Finance Director Diane Marcotte said. “That’s when the state stepped in with the Growth Management Act and said, ‘OK, everyone stop fighting and start planning.’” The state directed cities to plan with surrounding areas and begin exploring future annexations. “Cities negotiated with those areas to determine boundaries for poten-
The Klahanie question A FOUR-PART SERIES ABOUT 11,000 PEOPLE SEARCHING This week: FOR A CITY
How’d we get here?
THE SERIES 4Part one — How’d we get here? 4Part two — The benefits for the Klahanie PAA 4Part three — The cost for Issaquah 4Part four — A Sammamish alternative?
tial annexation areas,” Issaquah’s Long Range Planning Manager Trish Heinonen said, describing the city’s process of annexing various areas like Providence Point and South Cove. “When the 2000s came in, it seemed time for Klahanie.” ‘It was simply not a subject’ “We were not aware it was unincorporated when we moved in,” Brookshire Estates Homeowners Association President Dick L’Heureux said. “It was simply not a subject.” See KLAHANIE, Page A6
Dusk is a show at Sunset Valley Farms By Christina Corrales-Toy newcastle@isspress.com Sunset Valley Farms resident Art Converse doesn’t need a clock to determine what time of day it is in the tranquil neighborhood located at the foot of Squak Mountain. He simply listens for the soft pattering wings of the 60-70 geese that fly over the rural valley at both dusk and dawn. “Sometimes they’re honking By Greg Farrar and making all kinds of noise, Victoria Lee and Art Converse, longtime Sunset Valley Farms residents, and sometimes they’re not, stand at the entrance of their neighborhood along Southeast May Valley and if they’re not, all you hear Road. Behind them is a vacant lot that the community hopes to one day is whoosh, whoosh, whoosh,” restore and use as a neighborhood gathering spot.
Inside The Press Classifieds....... A9 Obituaries....... A9 Community..... A7 Opinion........... A4 Let’s Go!.......... A8 Sports............ A10
NEIGHBORHOODS A SERIES ABOUT THE PLACE YOU CALL HOME
Sunset Valley Farms he said. It is a sound he would miss most dearly, Converse admitted, if he ever decided to leave the quiet neighborhood of 90 homes nestled along Southeast May Valley Road. Residents are not entirely sure
Quotable “Sammamish backed off and we kind of backed off. It sort of went dormant because the elephant in the room was the road and someone had to fix the road.”
— Trish Heinonen Issaquah long range planning manager (See story above and on Page A6.)
where the community’s name came from, but it isn’t hard to deduce. The neighborhood sits in a valley and boasts some magnificent views of the sunset, Converse said. Rural living Sunset Valley Farms was established in 1986 on land that used to house a vast dairy farm. To this day, homeowners still find remnants of its past buried in their backyards. Converse once found an old See SUNSET
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VALLEY, Page A6