Skip to main content

Does Sammamish really want to be a regional growth center?


 

 

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 that Sammamish is not included as a Regional Growth Center in the PSRC's Vision 2050 Plan.

The 2025 Draft SEIS examines the impacts of adding 2,000 more residential units to the 2,000 units currently approved in the Town Center Plan. It appears that the City is presenting these incremental increases as a way to avoid examining the impacts of their ultimate goal of achieving Regional Growth Center status.

If the City is pursuing status as a Regional Growth Center, a full Environmental Impact Statement should be required to assess the impacts of development necessary to meet RGC criteria. By dividing the ultimate project into smaller parts, the analysis of the current density increase makes each individual component appear less significant than the cumulative impact of the entire project. This approach can lead to an inadequate assessment of the overall environmental effects.

This piecemeal planning undermines the goals of the National and State Environmental Protection Agencies by potentially allowing significant cumulative impacts to go unrecognized or unmitigated.

I don't believe the citizens of Sammamish are aware of or support our current City government's push to pursue this designation. Enormous expenditures of tax dollars and negative impacts on our quality of life would be required to achieve RGC status due to our challenging topography, infrastructure constraints, lack of efficient transit access, and limited employment opportunities.

I urge the State Environmental Agency to send this Supplemental EIS back to the City of Sammamish in favor of a full EIS on the intended Regional Growth Center plan.



Comments

Post a Comment

Join the discussion, but anonymous trolling is not allowed. Feel free to disagree, but be polite. Name-calling, sarcasm, condescension, and aggression will result in your comment being removed.

Popular posts from this blog

📣 The Votes Are In on the Sammamish Town Center Plan — What’s Next?

  The Votes Are In on the Sammamish Town Center Plan City Council Passes Action Alternative (4,000 units, 85’ buildings) Before the final vote was accepted, Councilmember Kent Treen presented three alternative motions: 1. A hybrid option that would keep the 2,000-unit cap. Councilmember Lam seconded the motion. After discussion, the Council voted 6–1 against approving it. 2. Two additional alternatives were also introduced by Councilmember Treen but did not receive a second and therefore did not move forward. At the July 15, 2025 Sammamish City Council meeting, the Council voted on the future of the Town Center. They were asked to select one of three proposed alternatives: Proposed Options: 1. No Action Alternative Keeps the current cap of 2,000 housing units. Likely results in mostly townhomes and fewer community amenities such as retail, restaurants, and civic spaces. 2. Action Alternative Allows up to 4,000 units with a mix of apartments and condos, plus retail, restaurant, and...
5 comments
Read more

No Plan for Affordable Housing

The City Council has repeatedly said that Sammamish is required to have affordable housing. True. They have also repeatedly said that a 4000 unit Town Center is required to provide affordable housing. Not true. Sammamish has a Growth Management Act requirement to plan for, accommodate and enable affordable housing, but not just any affordable housing .  Sammamish has been allocated a target of 1549 units of Extremely Low Income Housing. The Draft Town Center Plan and Draft Code Amendment provide nothing for this housing that is not already in the Comprehensive Plan and current Municipal Code. Who qualifies for Extremely Low Income Housing? This category could include people making less than minimum wage, some part time workers and people with only government benefit income. Eligible income is less than $33,000 for one person. Household income can be approximately $4000 higher per person for larger households. Most of the potential tenants will need support services for disabilit...
2 comments
Read more

Senior Citizens and the Sammamish Town Center Vision

Will our Town Center be a vibrant place for seniors--with “affordable housing,” other diverse housing options, walkability, accessible transit, and convenient shopping? As a Sammamish senior citizen, I hope so, but questions keep popping up. Senior citizen facilities—yes, but affordable? Merrill Gardens and Aegis are expected in the Town Center. But how many senior citizens would call these facilities “affordable?” And not all seniors need or want these types of facilities. “Affordable Housing”—how will seniors qualify? “Affordable housing” is the term for subsidized housing for those with incomes at or below 80% of the area median income. Our Town Center will have some affordable housing town homes and apartments. Many seniors who sell their homes are likely to have home equity income that could disqualify them from affordable housing. Those with less income might qualify, but will they want to live in apartment buildings with younger singles and young families? Maybe they would ...
3 comments
Read more