Sammamishreview063016

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25TH YEAR, NO. 26

THE PLATEAU’S ONLY LOCALLY OWNED NEWSPAPER

THURSDAY, JUNE 30, 2016

SAMMAMISH

NEXT-LEVEL GREATNESS

REVIEW

Eastlake alum Brandon Lester excels for Pacific Lutheran basketball Page 13

City gets park-and-ride in ST3 BY LIZZ GIORDANO For the Sammamish Review

The final version of the $54 billion Sound Transit 3 plan that will be on the November ballot includes a new park-andride lot on Sammamish’s north side to be completed by 2024.

Approved unanimously by the Sound Transit Board on June 23, the transit plan adds 62 miles of light rail to King, Snohomish and Pierce counties. The closest light rail station for Sammamish residents will be in Redmond and Issaquah, with estimated

completion dates of 2024 and 2041, respectively. Deputy Mayor Ramiro Valderrama estimates Sammamish residents will pay an average of $1,100 in transit taxes between the already passed Sound Transit 2 and the proposed Sound Transit 3

plans. He calls the new Sound Transit 3 project “taxation without transportation,” with Eastside residents paying a proportionally heavier cost. “We are getting worse service at a much higher cost,” he said. “We want midday and weekend service.”

Valderrama supports more bus rapid-transit lanes because of the flexibility it allows to adjust routes as population centers change, rather than investing in light rail infrastructure that cannot be modified SEE ST3, PAGE 8

State says Providence Heights owner owes back taxes BY SCOTT STODDARD sstoddard@sammamishreview.com

The state Department of Revenue has determined the owner of the former Providence Heights College campus owes back taxes on the property. The City Church, a Kirklandbased megachurch, has owned the one-time divinity school and surrounding land since 2008. City Church claimed that activities qualifying as “church purposes” were ongoing at Providence Heights as late as April, according to a Department of Revenue audit. State auditors who visited the campus on May 5 — prompted by a complaint filed by a private citizen — found otherwise. “I asked what church purposes were being conducted on site and (Troy Anderson, a City Church executive pastor) gave examples of storage space, weddings and summer camps,” auditor Ras Roberts wrote. “During the site visit, (auditor) Rob Bricel and I measured off multiple rooms that were being claimed as storage space. SEE TAXES, PAGE 3

SCOTT STODDARD | sstoddard@sammamishreview.com

Claire Lofqvist Traum (right) gets low at Duthie Hill Park earlier this month during ‘Bike Limbo,’ a game Klahanie mountain bike coach Kat Sweet (wearing blue helmet) uses as a team-building tool.

Coach Kat finds life’s sweet spot Klahanie mountain biker shares her love of the sport with the youngest riders BY SCOTT STODDARD sstoddard@isspress.com

Kat Sweet watches her class of young girls line up their pint-sized mountain bikes, ready to roll out of the Duthie Hill Park parking lot and into the network of trails winding through the forest northeast of Issaquah. Affixed to the girls’ helmets are strips of blue masking tape with nicknames scrawled in black Sharpie

ink. There’s Molly Pop. Shredulia. Skye High. Big Air Claire. “Everybody shreddy, ladies?” Sweet asks before SEE COACH, PAGE 18 ECRWSS POSTAL CUSTOMER

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Sweet wears “frosting lipstick” after sharing cupcakes with her students at Duthie Hill. She’s been riding mountain bikes for nearly 30 years.

$1 Prsrt Std U.S. Postage PAID Kent, WA Permit No. 71


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