Emily F. Keller: Journalist

Road Projects Could Be Delayed

    City planners are proposing to delay two transportation improvement projects due to the slowing housing market. According to a proposed update to the city’s six-year transportation plan, an $870,000 turn lane and traffic signal project for Southeast Duthie Hill Road and Issaquah-Beaver Lake Road that was originally scheduled to begin in 2010 could be pushed to 2011.

    A $23.85 million project to widen Issaquah-Pine Lake Road from Southeast 48th Street to Klahanie Boulevard to five lanes with bike lanes and a curb, gutter and sidewalk could also be delayed and would not start until 2011 either.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

City Planners Revise Roundabout Plan

    City planners have revised a roundabout plan for 244th Avenue and East Main Drive that could use eminent domain. However, some residents say they still oppose the idea of a roundabout altogether.

    John Cunningham, the city’s director of public works, said a consultant has re-designed the project, which is intended to calm traffic on the avenue, and the new plan impacts fewer property owners. He said the city plans to start construction in September.

    This follows a May 20 City Council meeting where Cunningham proposed that the city take portions of seven property owners’ yards for the roundabout. The new plan calls for taking portions of three properties, and only one is a single-family home, as opposed to three in the original plan.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Protest Served at Potluck Picnic

    For some residents of 248th Avenue, the Fourth of July was more than just a day of patriotism, barbecue food and socializing with friends and family. It was a day for taking back their street. Residents who live on the avenue between Southeast 14th and 17th streets took to the streets on the holiday evening to call attention to the costly maintenance of their private street.

    As people tried to cut through the neighborhood after leaving Fourth on the Plateau festivities, the residents turned dozens of vehicles away, snarling traffic in the vicinity.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Sammamish Girl’s Art Gives Back to Children’s Hospital

    Nine-year-old Nicki Wehrs likes to paint rabbits and rainbows, play soccer and go swimming, like many children her age. But Nicki, who lives in Sahelee, has to endure more than most children to stay healthy enough to do those things.

    Since she was diagnosed with a chronic bleeding disorder in 2002 called idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, Nicki has become a patient at the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle, where she travels for intravenous therapy treatments every 6-8 weeks.

    Although her family is well insured, Nicki and her father, Ray Wehrs, are working to raise money for uninsured children who also need the hospital’s services.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Local Businesses Looking to Hire Teens

    For recent Eastlake High School graduate Andy Shee, working a summer job this year was a foregone conclusion. Fortunately for Shee, he was able to find work at the park because of his prior lifeguard experience at the Columbia Fitness Club.

Across the nation, many jobseekers Shee’s age have not been so lucky. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for teenagers rose from 15.4 percent in April to 18.7 percent in May. This is significantly higher than this season last year when the unemployment rate for teenagers rose from 15.3 percent in April to 15.7 percent in May. The unemployment rate for all workers rose from 5 to 5.5 percent from April to May 2008. Here in Sammamish, though, popular employers say they are still looking to hire teenagers as they have in the past.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Parks Bond Proposed

    Sammamish residents may have an all-ages recreation center in their future, and they may be asked to help fund its construction.

    The City Council is nearing a decision on whether to ask voters to support a park bond of about $18 million, as well as a levy lid lift of about $20 per year in November. The Parks and Recreation Department would use the bond funds for a recreation center and other capital construction projects including land acquisition for a new park in the city’s northeast quadrant, a multi-use ball field at Eastlake High School, a trail connecting the Beaver Lake Park and Beaver Lake Preserve and improvements to Sammamish Landing and East Sammamish Park. The levy would be used for operations and maintenance.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

State Audit Calls for Strengthening Financial Controls

    Sammamish’s Financial Services Department is keeping better track of its books after a state auditor’s report found “significant deficiencies” in its internal accounting controls in 2006.

    Washington State Auditor Brian Sonntag identified six accounting errors that he called minor and immaterial in a June 16 report while cautioning that “deficiencies in internal controls” make it possible that significant misstatements could occur in the future.

    Those errors included a mis-classification of more than $3 million of land as a depreciable asset, which loses value over time, and a $222,210 understatement of expenses that resulted from transferring funds to the wrong account.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Planners Propose Municipal, Critical Areas Code Changes

    City planners are proposing a series of changes to development and drainage requirements in Sammamish that they say will reduce bureaucracy and protect the environment.

    But some environmentalists say those two goals are inconsistent. At a June 19 meeting, the city’s Planning Commission heard recommendations about some of the less controversial proposals to amend portions of the municipal building code. Proposed changes to the critical areas code that came up at another recent meeting have generated more controversy.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

City Survey Says Permitting Process Improved

    Obtaining a land use or building permit from the city has gotten faster and easier, according to city officials and Sammamish residents. City staff processed a greater portion of home renovation permit applications within its target processing time in 2008 compared with 2007, said Kamuron Gurol, the city’s director of community development.

    The city increased its speed in all permit categories. The most significant increases were for additions and deck permits. The city met its two-day maximum goal for over-the-counter townhouse permits 60 percent of the time, compared with 10 percent in 2007. The city also met a two-week goal for small projects permits for townhouses 67 percent of the time, compared with 16 percent in 2007, Gurol told the Council in a quarterly presentation June 17. He attributed the city’s success in part to its transition to an online application process.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.

Ridership Exploding

    As gas prices continue to increase, bus ridership between Seattle and Sammamish has been rising as well, increasing crowding on Eastside routes. Many Sammamish residents have also begun carpooling by van through Metro’s Regional Ridematch System, an online networking service.

    Metro Transit is planning to accommodate some of the growth by increasing service on Route 269 in September from every 30 minutes to every 20 minutes at peak hours. The agency also plans to make additional improvements over the next five years.

    Published in the Sammamish Review. Read the story.