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February 25, 2015
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SLIDESHOW See more photos of local athletes at the state wrestling and swimming and diving championships at www.sammamishreview.com.
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Klahanie annexation: What’s in it for Sammamish? By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com
By Greg Farrar
A map of the Klahanie area shows the 15 different subdivisions that could be incorporated into the city of Sammamish.
In the end, the residents of the Klahanie area will decide for themselves whether they want to annex their area to Sammamish and become part of the city. The Sammamish City Council voted unanimously Feb. 3 to put the annexation question before Klahanie-area residents on a special ballot April 28. In the meantime, City Manager Ben Yazici said there are ways Sammamish and its current residents greatly can benefit from Klahanie becoming part of Sammamish. Mayor Tom Vance said he does not want to subsidize the Klahanie area with dollars from the existing portions of Sammamish and does not think that would happen. “Many of our residents
have a tough commute along Issaquah-Fall City Road,” Yazici said. “Improving that corridor has been on our radar for a long time. Fortunately, if the Klahanie area votes in favor of annexation, the added revenue we’ll receive will make those improvements very affordable.” Issaquah-Fall City Road is in unincorporated King County. Sammamish officials contend county officials have not had the money to improve the road. If the corridor were to come under Sammamish’s jurisdiction, the city might be in a position to make the improvements local leaders see as needed. “The estimated cost for the initial improvements is $23 million,” Yazici said. “If the annexation goes through, we have committed to using $3 million of our current reserves for preliminary engineering and permitting
costs. But the remaining $20 million could be paid for with the new revenue we’d receive from the annexation.” A fiscal analysis conducted by the city shows the annexation annually would produce approximately $1.4 million more in revenue than it would require in expenditures. The surplus of $1.4 million would be more than enough to pay off the debt service on an Issaquah-Fall City Road construction bond, city officials said. “In effect, our current residents would be getting a $23 million benefit with an investment of just $3 million,” Yazici said. “And, over time, that original investment of $3 million would be offset by the ongoing surplus from the Klahanie area.” Another constricted commutSee KLAHANIE, Page 2
Council wants city staff to study Council cries ‘foul’ over county trail plans controversial 42nd Street barricade By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com While much of the Sammamish City Council has sounded a figurative call to arms against King County over the construction of the East Lake Sammamish Trail, Mayor Tom Vance said there might be reason for those angry with the county to stand down. The county recently released design work for Southern Sammamish Segment A of the trail. Officials described that design as 90 percent complete. Local legislators and apparently numerous residents immediately called “foul.” According to Vance and others, the 90 percent plan contains none of the suggestions or design compromises put forth by the city or residents. “For whatever reason, it did not entail Sammamish’s list of comments on the trail,” Vance said. But Vance also said Laura Philpot, city director of public works, spent all of Feb. 19 with the county’s parks and recreation director, Kevin Brown.
The two took an extensive tour of the trail, according to Vance. Vance and other local officials were in Olympia that day meeting with area legislators. Neither Philpot nor Brown responded to requests for comment. Vance is optimistic the talks between city and county officials were fruitful and some progress is imminent. He said he was looking forward to seeing the rest of the design for trail Segment A. “With the other 10 percent, we’re still sort of sorting through the process,” Vance added. At a stormy meeting Feb. 17, the City Council passed a resolution asking someone from the county to appear at its next regular meeting. Brown will be that someone, according to Vance. At the Feb. 17 session and after, various council members all expressed dissatisfaction, if not outright anger, with King County. “They promised flexibility but they have yet to show it,” Councilman Tom Odell said. “I See TRAIL, Page 2
By Tom Corrigan tcorrigan@isspress.com Before what was by all accounts a packed house, the Sammamish City Council voted 5-1 on Feb. 17 to leave intact the long-standing barricade on Northeast 42nd Street. Essentially an oversized gate that stretches across the roadway, the barricade is opened only for emergency vehicles. The council also moved, Mayor Tom Vance said, to ask city staffers to study the various issues around the barricade, possibly most importantly the safety questions that presumably motivated creation of the barrier in the first place. The council originally had on its agenda a resolution regarding funding for the barrier. It was that resolution which presumably attracted the large crowd of residents. From among the oversized audience, only two people spoke in favor of removing the barricade, Councilman Tom Odell said.
At the same time, roughly a few dozen residents made their way to the public microphone to support keeping the barricade in place. According to several council members, supporters pointed mostly to safety concerns that would arise with added traffic on the street. Though he didn’t say whether the barricade should stay in place, Odell did say 42nd Street was poorly designed, and he pointed to steep grades and odd turns where he said the road banks in the wrong direction. King County issued construction permits for the road prior to Sammamish becoming a city. County officials subsequently put up the barricade, again before Sammamish was incorporated. “If the city would have been doing the permitting, it never would have been permitted in the first place,” Odell said of the street. Timberline Park resident Greg Reynolds is probably the most outspoken proponent of removing the barricade.
Among other complaints, Reynolds said the barricade causes long detours in and out of the adjacent Timberline and Old Mill Point neighborhoods, as well as others near the barricade. Timberline Park and Old Mill Point sit directly on either side of the gate. Reynolds termed some barricade supporters hypocritical as they argue against the added traffic that removal of the barricade might create. At the same time, Reynolds claimed the presence of the barricade has sent unwanted traffic through his neighboring area for years. For his part, Vance said, not being an engineer, he didn’t feel comfortable addressing safety issues. He did menSee STREET, Page 2 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71 POSTAL CUSTOMER
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