Issaquah’s only locally owned newspaper
THE ISSAQUAH PRESS
117th Year, No. 29
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Thursday, July 21, 2016
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Highlands residents hear developer’s plan for 1,800 housing units
School board OKs use of eminent domain to acquire Providence Heights property District will build high school, elementary school on 40-acre site By Scott Stoddard sstoddard@isspress.com The Issaquah School Board voted unanimously Wednesday night to use eminent domain to acquire the 40-acre Providence Heights College property as a site for a new high school and a new elementary school. Issaquah School District officials who spoke during the school board’s meeting gave no indica-
The Issaquah School District will build a comprehensive high school and an elementary school on the Providence Heights College property.
tion whether any portion of the former divinity school campus, which opened in 1961, would be preserved. “I don’t think there is enough information right now other than to say it would be part of the review of the site,” said land use attorney Denise Stiffarm, representing the district. She later told board
Courtesy of Jerry Klein aerialnw.com
See PROVIDENCE, Page 8
Traffic bond would cost owner of $500K home $165 per year
By Lizz Giordano lgiordano@isspress.com Residents debated traffic congestion and school crowding during a July 13 open house where a developer revealed a proposal for a large-scale mixed-use project in the Issaquah Highlands along Ninth Avenue Northeast and Northeast Discovery Drive. Shelter Holdings took the unusual step of engaging the public early in the design process before filing any land-use applications with the city. The proposal for the development, named the High Street Collection, includes 1,800 housing units, senior housing, medical offices, over 300,000 square feet of retail space and 200 parking stalls for transit. Planners incorporated public recommendations received during a May 4 public meeting with residents, including a bowling alley, swimming pool and public areas. Roughly 70 residents attended the open house, many of whom appreciated the time the developer was taking to listen to the community, but they remained concerned about the impact of traffic more residential units would bring. See HIGHLANDS, Page 5
‘Gun-Tote Bandit’ wanted by FBI for takeover robbery of Issaquah bank By Scott Stoddard sstoddard@isspress.com An armed takeover robbery July 13 of Washington Federal’s Issaquah branch at 855 Rainier Blvd. N. is the latest in four heists by a suspect authorities are calling the GunTote Bandit. King County Sheriff’s Office Detective Mike Mellis, working as a member of the FBI’s Safe Streets The suspect Task Force said known as the Gun-Tote Bandit the suspect is “always bringing is wanted for a gun and always the July 13 bringing his own robbery of bag.” Washington “He goes in Federal in with a gun and Issaquah. controls the clerks and customers during the robbery,” Mellis said. “We’re looking at this guy for several other robberies in the region since the beginning of May.”
The Issaquah Press The City Council was scheduled to vote July 18 on whether to send a $50 million Issaquah transportation bond to the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The bond would fund four projects the city says will help alleviate traffic congestion and improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians. If approved by voters, the bond would be payable by excess annual property tax levies. The city estimates an annual property tax rate of 33 cents per $1,000 of assessed value over the 25-year life of the bonds. At that rate, the additional taxes on a home assessed at $500,000 would be $165 per year; at $600,000, the add-on would be $198 per year; and the owner of a $700,000 home would pay $231 more per year. According to King County records, the average appraised value of a residential property in Issaquah as of January 2016 was approximately $605,000. The four projects that would be funded by the bond are:
Scott Stoddard / sstoddard@isspress.com
Search dog Artoo and his owner Joan Hitchner (left) are shown during a training session last month at Snoqualmie Point Park. Artoo’s challenge was to locate Mathew Gilson (right), who was hiding under tarps in the forest a few hundred yards away from where Hitchner and Artoo began their search.
Man’s best friend — and a lost hiker’s, too
Dedicated local search dogs ready to assist at a moment’s notice By Christina Corrales-Toy ccorrales-toy@isspress.com Superman’s cape is red, Batman’s is black, but Artoo, a local mutt with heroic tendencies of his own, goes with a faded orange vest that has seen better days. Issaquah resident Joan Hitchner slips the wellworn garment over her 3-year-old dog’s neck, pulling it down and straightening it out over his torso. The side of the vest should say Search Dog, but the S is long gone, a testament to wear and tear over the years. Hitchner commiserates with Artoo, a herding dog mix, for a moment, before he jets across a small, grassy alley in downtown North Bend. He finds something in a box under a tarp and returns to tell
Hitchner. The duo then rushes to the scene where they successfully free a volunteer hidden in the enclosed space. What follows is a boisterous chorus of compliments for Artoo on a job well done. “At that point, it’s all play, play, play, and a big party, because it’s all a big game for the dogs,” Hitchner explained. This was only a demonstration, but the real game is a serious one for King County Search Dogs, an all-volunteer group that helps find missing people. Whether it’s a lost hiker or a person that simply walked away from his or her neighborhood, the dogs and their handlers put in hundreds of training
See BOND, Page 8
ON THE WEB The City Council meeting referred to in this story was held after The Issaquah Press went to press. Please go online to issaquahpress.com for the latest updates on this story.
See DOGS, Page 6
One 87-year-old home to come down, 93 residences to go up By Lizz Giordano lgiordano@isspress.com
This is the larger of two buildings that will make up the Inneswood Apartments complex on Newport Way Northwest at Northwest Juniper Street.
See ROBBERY, Page 5
Milbrandt Architects / City of Issaquah
Site preparation work is underway on two multi-family residential buildings that will add 93 housing units along Newport Way Northwest at Northwest Juniper Street. The developer, Inneswood Estates LLC, plans to construct a roundabout at the intersection of Newport and Juniper instead of paying traffic mitigation fees to the city. The new development
will consist of one large sixstory building containing 74 apartments and 12 townhomes with two levels of parking on the bottom floors. A second smaller four-story building will contain six apartments and one townhouse with a single story of parking on the ground floor. Inneswood Estates LLC bought three parcels of land, two west of Newport Way where the residential See RESIDENCES, Page 8 FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
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