The 2017 TIP currently being prepared ups this figure, a Council member told The Comment.

The widening of Issaquah-Fall City Road, a project promised to the greater Klahanie area if voters approved annexation to Issaquah, is becoming a cost nightmare. During the annexation campaign, City Manager Ben Yazici and Mayor Tom Vance claimed the project would cost $23m. This compared with the $34m estimated by King County and the figure used by Issaquah when it attempted to annex Klahanie.

The most recent public figure now used by Sammamish is $32m and The Comment has been told this may be heading up again.

Comparable with Mercer Island

During the preparation to write the first Comprehensive Plan in 2001-2003 and even during the run-up to the 1999 incorporation vote, Sammamish was often compared withMercer Island.

Demographics were similar but more to the point, Mercer Island is, as its name suggests, an island. Sammamish is a land-locked island. Both have limited ways out of the city.

Mullor uses Mercer Island as a comparable to Sammamish in his study. He points out Mercer Island uses AM and PM peak hours for LOS calculations and has LOS C and D for its standards. It also uses 2014 traffic count data.

However, Mercer Island doesn’t have concurrency (traffic volume) testing, but is in the process of adding this to its tests for development applications. Mercer Island currently is under a building moratorium while this process is being established.

Action required

Mullor says the Sammamish City Council needs to immediately step up, reassess its own decisions weakening concurrency and LOS standards