Council Candidate Question and Answer

Questions & Answers

This page includes questions asked by candidates running for Sammamish City Council and the responses provided by City staff. Candidates may email questions to Mike Sugg, Supervising Management Analyst, at msugg@sammamish.us(External link).

When and where are City Council meetings held?

Regular City Council meetings are held on the first Tuesday and third Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm, with a study session on the second Tuesday at 6:30 pm. Meeting information is available on the Sammamish CivicWeb portal(External link).

May a campaign distribute pamphlets or other literature on private property?

Yes, if the literature is distributed in one of the following ways:

Placed in the hand of the intended recipient;
Bound, folded, boxed or weighted in such a manner that the material cannot be blown away, scattered, or otherwise fragmented by weather conditions and/or normal pedestrian or vehicular traffic; or
Deposited on the premises for which it is intended by being tied to, affixed, or slipped over a doorknob or other protrusion, or placed through a slot or opening in a front entry door or within a receptacle for such items located upon the property, or placed on the front porch next to the front entry door; provided, however, the item being distributed first shall have been rolled up and secured with a rubber band or in some other manner so as to prevent the materials from being blown away, scattered, or otherwise fragmented by weather conditions and/or normal pedestrian or vehicular traffic. As used in this section, “receptacle” means a container made of a stiff material containing the words “For Papers,” or similar words.

Sammamish Municipal Code Chapter 5.45(External link) regulates the delivery of unsolicited or unsubscribed literature on private property. Candidates are exempt from these regulations if their literature is distributed as described above (see code sections 5.45.050 SMC(External link) and 5.45.060 SMC(External link)).

Can you please provide a copy of the financial projection spreadsheet that was developed by the consultant and provided to the council?

The files presented to the City Council in June 2022 can be accessed through this link.

A member of the public had a question at the Town Center Town Hall about green building codes for the town center. Does the City currently have green building codes in place or is that to come at a later stage of the process?

Currently, the city does not have a green building code. While we actively encourage and incentivize environmental certification of structures through LEED, Built Green, or other similar certification in the Town Center, it is not a mandatory requirement.

However, the City Council did approve funding in the 2023-2024 budget for the initial phase of developing a Green Building Code. This is projected to be finalized by the end of 2025.

The funding will primarily be used for professional services which include reviewing the final green building-related draft policies and goals that have been developed through the 2024 Comprehensive Plan update and the Climate Action Plan. Additionally, it will initiate code research and community and stakeholder outreach as foundational steps toward developing a Green Building Code for the city.

This professional services funding will also assist in scoping the necessary work and budget required to complete the green building code by our target year, 2025.

Do you have a report that focuses on land that is available for annexation by the City?

The City Council last discussed annexation in depth on March 20, 2017. The agenda bill for that meeting outlining the status of the City’s remaining potential annexation areas is available here (see Item #1). The video for that meeting is available here.

In addition, the City’s website contains some great background on prior annexations.

Would you please post a copy of the “Buildable Lands Report” if one exists?

The Buildable Lands Report is now called the Urban Growth Capacity Report. It is available on King County’s website; however, as the “note” on that webpage states, the City of Sammamish’s actual growth targets and land capacity are different than what is shown in the UGCR. This is due to planning assumptions that changed after the UGCR was finalized, namely the lifting of the sewer mortarium.

To view the current capacity and hear about this topic, please see the agenda bill and meeting video from the May 3, 2022 City Council meeting at which the current growth targets were adopted by resolution.

Several questions were asked regarding stormwater. Please view the answers here. The questions include:

Could you please post how many storm retention ponds are in the City and how many are maintained each year? Specifically including the number that are dredged and/or cleaned of debris?
Has there been water quality testing of the stormwater that enters Lake Sammamish?
Are there any plans to modify existing retention ponds to meet flow requirements?
I understand that there are plans to incorporate a sand-filter system at STCA but I am not aware of others that may exist in the City. Are there other stormwater treatment facilities within the city boundaries? What facilities must be pumped out periodically?
What is the cost to maintain the existing stormwater retention ponds and any stormwater treatment facilities?
What is the Maintenance schedule for the stormwater treatment system at STCA? What is the expected O&M cost to maintain the new system? Where exactly does this flow discharge, Will the facility need to be pumped out after each storm event? Will be the design criteria manage a 100 year storm or other?
I would assume that all stormwater flows by gravity. Is this assumption correct? Is there a map that depicts the stormwater flows within the city – where they start, where they end up and at what max flow rate they can discharged?

I have a copy of the TIP for 2024-2029. But I have heard that there was a suggestion to develop a road from 228^th to Issaquah -Pine Lake I believe around SE 37^th St. This would be in essence taking it from a purely residential area to a significant major road, with sidewalks so that traffic could be diverted from 228^th. The idea was that mostly school buses would use it. The need was based upon the new schools that Issaquah is building around Providence Point and the increased traffic that would be developed on 228^th. Residents say that the road was proposed about a year ago but then haven’t heard what became of the plan.

Would this be covered by a development project (developer) or be the responsibility of the City? If the project is transportation plan – should it be on the TIP?

The 2023-2028 Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) included a proposed project TR-110 - 228^th Ave SE Mitigation for ES-17 and HS-4. This was considered a mitigation project for the Issaquah School District’s (ISD) proposed new schools on 228^th (the status of these proposed schools is not clear at this time). This project was added to the 2023-2028 TIP to allow for the opportunity to apply potential grant funding for improvements to 228^th in this general vicinity as the City does have a separate concurrency project (TR-54) identified in the same area.

Although the City had this project (TR-110) listed on the TIP, the funding and any required mitigation would need to be provided by ISD as they are considered the developer/applicant in this situation. Since the funding source was listed as “other” in the 2023-2028 TIP, and it is a mitigation project which requires the applicant (in this case ISD) to fund it, the City did not include TR-110 in the 2024-2029 TIP.

As mentioned above there is concurrency project that was included in both the 2023-2028 and 2024-2029 TIPs referred to as TR-54 - 228^th Ave & SE 40^th Turn Lane Improvements. This project does have identified funding for design and construction in 2024 and 2025. More information about the project can be found in the 2024-2029 TIP Guide, on page 17 of the document (page 18 in the PDF).

How many requests for City staff or Police involvement were received for the Aug 1 National Night Out event?
I am interested to see how many neighborhoods participated?

There were 12 National Night Out events registered with the City.

I am requesting the the most recent lease agreement between the city and Central Washington University.

https://www.sammamish.us/government/clerk/show-prr/?prrid=11241

I would like to know if I may attach signs on guard rails along our city roads?

It’s not specifically called out in code as illegal, so yes, with the understanding that it can’t be a distraction for drivers or obstruct site distance, and please remember that temporary signs placed in the ROW are limited to 3 ft above grade.

Would you confirm the zoning for 120 228th Ave NE? I believe it is R-6. Is this correct?

That is the correct zoning for that address.

Zoning can be found on the Zoning Map or the Sammamish Property Tool, both located here. To use the Property Tool, enter an address in the search bar, click the layers button and activate the “zoning2016” layer, then click on the legend button.