Sammamish, WA mayor supports upping housing construction amid pushback
Sammamish mayor addresses controversial housing project
FOX 13's Hana Kim spoke with City of Sammamish Mayor Karen Howe about the city's Town Center development, which has sparked community concerns about traffic gridlock and environmental impacts.
SAMMAMISH, Wash. - The Mayor of Sammamish spoke to FOX 13 about a controversial housing development project that has turned into a heated debate in the quiet suburban Eastside community.
In mid-July, the majority of council members including Mayor Karen Howe approved a measure taking the project one step closer to potentially doubling their town center development in the heart of Sammamish. It could be the most consequential project in recent history transforming Sammamish.
From listening to council meetings and online comments from current residents there is a lot of opposition. Many say they are in favor of development but they are not in favor of doubling the original plan from around 2,000 housing units to 4,000 units. The units would be built in one area at the town center near 228th Ave.
Some residents are under the impression the 4,000 units is already a done deal. This comes after council’s approval to study the Action Alternative in the Supplemental Environment Impact Statement (EIS) that looks at doubling construction.
Mayor Howe says it is not a done deal.
"This is a period for study and reflection and understanding of what a further study would actually gain for us. So this is an opportunity to learn what kind of mitigations we might need to put in place, what kind of unintended consequences there might be," Howe said.
FOX 13 asked Howe if she would approve the 4,000 units if she had to vote today or keep it at 2,000.
"I am interested in finding alternatives to adding more housing, in particular to more affordable housing, and as it happens, our current plan, as it’s currently stated, does not afford that if we do absolutely nothing, we get nothing but townhomes at market rate we will not get the amenities residents have been asking for," Howe said.
When pressed again, Howe did confirm that she supports upping the 2,000 units.
With the majority of public comments opposing the doubling of the project, FOX 13 asked Mayor Howe how she would reconcile her vote going in the opposite direction of what many of her constituents are asking for.
"That’s a great question because there are multitudes that actually support affordable housing, housing options, the opportunity to have community gathering spaces, more services to amenities and more traffic mitigation and so forth," Howe said.
She also went on to say that she is not convinced that the majority of Sammamish residents are opposed to it.
"I would say that the jury is out on that, that appearing to look like it’s a majority when I don’t think that it is," Howe said.
Sammamish neighbors who oppose the expansion have various concerns, from environmental impacts, public safety questions, to the potential for overcrowded schools. However, one of the biggest sticking points for Sammamish residents is the fact that the city is a public transit desert with around 30,000 residents having to rely on cars to get to work. Due to the lay of the land, Sammamish is landlocked between Issaquah and Redmond with no quick access to major highways.
FOX 13 asked how the city plans to move more people in and out.
"That is exactly the point of the next phase of the study," Howe said.
Howe said it made no sense to build infrastructure prior to a development, that it’s done during the time of construction. But FOX 13 pressed Howe on any ideas are on the table right now.
"Fourth could be changed, 6th could be changed, I am not going to say which ones because again, until there is a study delivered by traffic engineers, it would be inappropriate to give you more information than that," Howe said.
But 4th and 6th are not main thoroughfares that lead to major highways. Howe acknowledged that 228th Avenue is the main road, but it appears there are no plans to widen that street.
"It would be inadvisable and probably unnecessary, quite frankly, all of the impacts we have seen so far from the draft EIS shows no traffic failures except for one intersection," Howe said.
The city of Sammamish says they have contracted with Framework Consulting for around $212,000 to do the study looking at building 4,000 housing units. Mayor Howe says the study will be a roadmap looking at environmental impacts and mitigation to traffic. She expects the study to be ready for the public sometime in the fall and she says the final vote on this issue is expected in December. She promised that residents would have an opportunity to give public comment before that final vote.
The Source: Information in this story came from original FOX 13 Seattle reporting and an interview with Sammamish Mayor Karen Howe.
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