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CANCER TAPS OUT Liberty wrestlers host fundraising drive — Page 8
THE ISSAQUAHPRESS
Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper
www.issaquahpress.com
City’s $308 million traffic package faces Jan. 20 council vote By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com At its regular meeting Jan. 20, the Issaquah City Council was slated to vote on the $308 million concurrency plan that could set the stage for local infrastructure development for the next 15 years. One highlight of the plan that has garnered a lot of attention is a possible 500 percent increase in the impact fees paid by developers. For a single-family unit, developers currently pay $1,700, said David Hoffman, North King County manager for the Master Builders Association. If the proposed increases were approved, that figure would jump to $8,600. City Council President Paul Winterstein said council members have been studying the proposal for some time. State law requires cities develop concurrency plans that mitigate the effects of development on traffic and the city at the same time
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
FRESH FOLIAGE
that development occurs. Winterstein said Issaquah really needs to update that plan about every three years, but the last major revisions happened in 2003. “Transportation is clearly a major issue in many people’s minds,” Winterstein said. In terms of further building up Issaquah, Winterstein said he doesn’t believe increases in impact fees will deter developers from coming to the city. He just doesn’t think impact fees will be a deciding factor in the minds of developers and said the city looked carefully at the fees charged by neighboring communities. “The concurrency plan should not be a plan to stop growth,” Winterstein said. Mayor Fred Butler agreed. Other cities do, he said, charge higher impact fees and he also noted that under the current proposal, developers, even with See TRAFFIC, Page 3
Skyline, Liberty stadiums move closer to reality By Neil Pierson npierson@sammamishreview.com The long-awaited Skyline High School stadium improvement plan may be closer to reality, after the Issaquah School Board received an update at its Jan. 14 meeting. Steve Crawford, the Issaquah School District’s director of capital projects, told board members the bidding process for potential contractors on the stadium construction projects at both Skyline and Liberty high schools would open this week. The Skyline project, budgeted at nearly $6.5 million, was approved by voters in an April 2012 bond measure. Since, members of the school’s football boosters club have criticized the project, saying school district officials aren’t interested in an alternate design that would have a concrete grandstand and increased storage space, and be more costeffective. Construction, scheduled to last a few months, has been delayed multiple times, including twice in the past year. Skyline officials preferred waiting until the completion of the
2014 fall sports season, which nixed a plan to start construction last August. Jake Kuper, the district’s chief of finance and operations, said the plan was again rescheduled because of the need to obtain a commercial site development permit from the city of Sammamish. The district submitted a land-use application last June, and city officials determined in September that there were inconsistencies in the proposal. The stadium’s design firm, Bassetti Architects, is still working with the school district to fix the inconsistencies, said Darci Donovan, the city of Sammamish’s permit center manager. The school district must obtain the land-use permit before it can get a building permit. Crawford said his department will hire a contractor to build the grandstands, and then obtain the building permit based on their designs. Stadium work should begin in mid-May, he said, and be done before the start of the 2015-16 See PROJECTS, Page 3
Another suspicious message puts Pine Lake Middle School on alert Pine Lake Middle School was again on alert Jan. 15, after a student reported a suspicious message written on the wall of a boys bathroom. “The message references the school blowing up, but was not at all specific as to by what means or when,” Principal Michelle Caponigro wrote in an email to parents. Caponigro said the message was likely a prank, but that law enforcement was quickly alerted. After a thorough sweep, police found no evidence of any explosives. School resumed Jan. 16. “We will continue our investigation and certainly hope to identify the individual respon-
sible,” she said. The student reported the message just as school was getting out for the day Thursday. The message came after administrators evacuated the building Jan. 9 when a student found a note referencing a bomb in a boys bathroom. Caponigro, her staff, law enforcement and bomb-sniffing dogs searched the building that day, but found nothing. School resumed regularly Jan. 12. If you or your child have any information, email Caponigro at caponigrom@issaquah.wednet. edu or Mike Deletis at deletism@ issaquah.wednet.edu.
BY GREG FARRAR
Luis Estrada, an Issaquah Parks Maintenance worker, pours sandy soil around SLIDESHOW the rootball of a columnar tulip tree, one of the 21 liriodendron tulipifera ‘fastigiatum’ trees that were planted Jan. 13 aside the baseball diamond at Veterans’ Memorial Field downtown. Thirty old, unhealthy and potentially dangerSee more photos from the tree ous poplars were cut down in November. The city, because it is a Tree City USA, planting at Veterans’ Memorial was eligible for a grant of $5,000 for the new trees from the Washington State Field at www.issaquahpress.com. Department of Natural Resources.
Value Village to open Feb. 19 in long vacant supermarket space
By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com
The move first was announced in December 2013. Now, after months of planning and remodeling work, Value Village is ready to open in the former Albertson’s supermarket space. The store, at Southeast 56th Street and East Lake Sammamish Parkway, will open its doors at 8:45 a.m. Feb. 19. A large network of thrift stores, Value Village operates off donations of clothes, house-
wares, appliances, kitchen items and so on. The items are resold for charity, particularly Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Puget Sound, according to information released by Value Village. Instead of going to landfills, unused items are recycled or sent to developing countries. To help mark its grand opening here, the Issaquah store intends to donate several days of funds to the Issaquah Schools Foundation, according to store manager Cheryl Brincefield. “We’re very excited about that,” she said.
Value Village pays its charities per pound of goods collected or donated, whether or not the items resell. The schools foundation will be paid in the same way. Trucks have been in the former Albertson’s lot for some time, accepting donations for Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The store began collecting goods Jan. 8. A production team is working to sift through donations and fill See OPENING, Page 2
Homewood Suites by Hilton Hotel construction reaches top floor Homewood Suites by Hilton, an upscale, all-suite, residential, extended-stay hotel will be coming soon to the Hyla Crossing neighborhood of Issaquah. Last week, key players in the project participated in a topping-off ceremony organized by GLY Construction. Located near Interstate 90, just off Exit 15 and state Route 900, the 123-suite, eight-story hotel will be owned by Rowley Properties Inc., and is being constructed by GLY. The hotel is
slated to open this summer. “Today’s topping off ceremony represents a milestone for our company,” Kari (Rowley) Magill, CEO for Rowley Properties Inc., said in a news release. “We celebrated the completion of the eighth and final story of the building. But, more importantly, we celebrate the many individuals, 200-plus, and different trades helping build the Homewood Suites by Hilton Seattle/ Issaquah.” “GLY is proud to be affiliated
with the legacy of the Rowley family and their decades of commitment to the community of Issaquah,” Bill DeJarlais, senior project manager/principal for GLY, said in the release. “Together with Rowley Properties, we’re excited about reaching this important milestone in the construction and honored to be a part of this investment in Issaquah’s future.” Read more about Homewood Suites by Hilton at www. homewoodsuites.com and news. homewoodsuites.com.
Join us for a lecture about Communicating with Your Aging Parents Thursday, January 29 at 6:00 pm
22975 SE Black Nugget Road, Issaquah, WA 98029 RSVP at (425) 200-0331.
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