Will transit reduce our traffic? Supporters of a bigger Town Center hope that denser development will attract more transit that commuters will use and will actually reduce our peak hour traffic. Is that likely? Consider the city of Shoreline. In many ways, it is a best case for transit. Approximately 25,000 residents work outside the city (2022). A strong majority probably work in Seattle. Sound Transit Link light rail provides excellent service for these potential customers. Shoreline has been emphasizing development within ½ mile of the Link stations and discouraging parking for new housing units. How well has it worked? In recent months, the average total Link boardings for weekdays at both Shoreline stations was 2200. This means that fewer than 10% of commuters choose this very convenient service. In Sammamish? Of course Sammamish will not have light rail. According to Sound Transit and King County Metro plans, it won’t even have a bus that runs to a major emplo...

  Currently more than 30,000 people commute from Sammamish to work. The major destinations are Seattle, Bellevue, and Redmond. About one third travel north on East Lake Sammamish Parkway or Sahalee Way. All of them drive through the intersection of East Lake Sammamish Parkway and Redmond Way (SR 202). How do you like that intersection? The new Marymoor Village transit station is ½ mile from this intersection and is destined to become a magnet for more traffic. In addition, Redmond officially plans to grow the area surrounding the transit station. A lot. Building up to 12 stories with up to 70% lot coverage. Redmond plans to add more than 21,000 housing units during the next 25 years. A “significant portion” of them will be within this area. With this plan, the Level of Service at the intersection of East Lake Sammamish Parkway and Redmond Way (SR 202) is expected to be F . Expect this to impact Highway 520 as well. Currently Redmond rates the Level of Service for 520 du...

 Is 4000 housing units in Town Center really a cap? Spoiler alert: No . Except for traffic and housing expense, Sammamish is a nice place to live. It is almost certain to grow. Today there are approximately 69,000 people in Sammamish living in approximately 23,000 housing units. The debate today appears to be about whether Sammamish should add 2000 vs 4000 housing units in the Town Center, but there is much more going on. The proposed amendment will change the current zoning control of density to Form Based Code (FBC). FBC as proposed has no limit on density except for building height and setback. This would allow the capacity of Town Center to be much larger than has been discussed. How much larger? According to the 2024 Sammamish Comprehensive Plan, Town Center is labelled with a density target of 50 – 100 units per acre under the proposed amendment. The plan lists the current allowed density as 20 – 40 units per acre. This would be a big change. It would be great if ...

    Anna Yorba One of the arguments used in Sammamish's 2025 Town Center Plan and Code Amendment Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to support increased population in the Town Center is quietly embedded in the middle of Sammamish's 2024 Comprehensive Plan as the following policy: "LU 10.4. Pursue PSRC (Puget Sound Regional Council) Regional Growth Center designation." A Regional Growth Center is defined as having dense existing jobs and housing, high-quality transit service, and planning for significant growth. The Draft SEIS states: "The City of Sammamish will pursue RGC status for the Town Center in the future as laid out in the City's 2024 Comprehensive Plan Update. This status prioritizes Town Center for consideration in funding allocated through the PSRC's planning processes, including grants for transit improvements, multimodal network upgrades, and infrastructure projects to support housing and job growth." It should be noted t...

    If you commute on the central stretch of 228 th Ave, the city has good news for you. The City Council proposes to increase the number of people in Town Center from the current approximately 600 to more than 8000. The intersection of SE 4 th St and 228 th Ave SE is the meeting point of the two corridors through the Town Center and is within one mile of all these new residents. Most of these new commuters will travel through this intersection. The City states that your average delay at this intersection, even with all of these additional cars, will be 20 seconds. Quite impressive, especially since the average delay in 2024 was 21 seconds.

The Red Ink Flows... Our beautiful City of Sammamish faces a serious financial challenge affecting every resident: *   2025 Budget Gap: $10,319,000 deficit ($57,287,000 in revenues vs. $67,606,000 in expenses) *   2030 Projected Overspending: $20,747,000 *   2030 Projected Funding Balance Deficit: $24,099,000 This persistent red ink has already led to new taxes for residents: *   A 6% utility tax has been implemented. *   A potential Metropolitan Park District tax is being considered to fund park expenses. Will Town Center Costs Exceed Revenues? The current Town Center plan (2008 Plan as Amended in 2020) allows for 2,000 housing units. The plan includes some information about the costs City taxpayers will bear: Infrastructure Cost-Sharing With Developers *The Town Center plan states infrastructure will be "funded jointly" between the City, service providers, and private developers, but the exact cost distribution remains unclear: *"Infra...

 Who Qualifies for Affordable Housing? AMI Affordable housing categories are based on the Area Median Income (AMI). Sammamish uses the Seattle Metro Area Median Family Income as its AMI. For 2024, this is $147,400. For comparison, the Sammamish median household income was approximately $239,000 in 2023. Note that AMI is household, not individual, income. In Sammamish, almost half of households have two incomes. In King County, about 2/3 of households have two incomes. Affordability Categories For affordable housing regulations, the highest category is Middle Income, from 80 to 115% of AMI, or $118,000 to $170,000. Sammamish does not appear to have any program in place or under discussion for people in this category. The Low Income category is from 50 to 80% of AMI, or $74,000 to $118,000 . This is the target for the current Sammamish Mandatory Affordable Housing 10% regulation. There is nothing in the  proposed code changes that will increase this. The Very Low Income category...

The Sammamish City Council recently made a controversial decision to redirect funds originally intended for park improvements. This move has raised concerns among residents about the city's priorities and the impact on local infrastructure.  Read more about the decision and its implications in this article from the new Sammamish Local News website: Sammamish City Council Redirects Parks Funds to Town Center Project .

The supporters of the supersized Town center hope that it will attract transit serving the Link station in Marymoor as well as a future Link station in Issaquah. This proposal has been part of the Town Center plan for some time now. However, when it comes to transit, the realities are quite different from what was initially proposed. Sammamish is considered a transit desert due to its limited public transportation options. There is only one Metro line with service at 30-minute intervals, which runs along 228th Street and goes to Overlake. The Metro development plan does not show any increase in service to the Sammamish area until 2029. Sound Transit operates under a 20-year plan that stretches until 2045, but it includes no service to Sammamish. However, there is a proposed Park and Ride facility located on 228th or Sahale Way, which will be built by 2045. The Sound Transit plan never starts new projects between ballot measures, and it has a history of missing its project timelines and...

Why does the City Council want 15-story towers and 4,000 housing units?  In 2020, the City Council's Town Center plan called for buildings up to six stories and 2,000 housing units. It calls for a mix of cottages, townhouses, detached single and multifamily homes. No towers are mentioned.  Why is the City Council trying to change this plan? Read the Town Center Plan from the City's website.

Read what the former Mayor of Sammamish, Tom Odell, wrote about the changes the current City Council is considering and how far they've come since the early plans in 2007 and 2010. Rolled up Newspaper by 2happy.  Do you realize how different the current considerations are from the original concepts? Republished here with permission. Opinion: let the residents vote on doubling the Town Center size By Tom Odell Former Mayor and City Council Member The 2025 Sammamish City Council is considering proposed changes to the Sammamish Town Center project that was originally approved by the 2010 City Council.   I doubt if very many people got the notice regarding the changes as there is only a requirement that it be distributed to the affected and immediate “neighborhood”.  The current definition of the required notice area is very geographically limited.  Others living outside must request to be notified (I did).  It is likely that very few Sammamish residents have d...