Joan Probala - South Cove, Gary Thede - Sammamish Beach Club, Mary Victory - Meerwood, Thomas Marquis - South Cove, Scott Dahlquist - Lake West, Amy Higgins - South Cove, Julie Holmes - Weatherwood, David Bangs - South Cove,  Marie Blakely - Weatherwood, Bob Nersveen - South Cove, Doris Ong - Greenwood Point, Mike Barnett - Timberlake

 

The meeting began at 6:30 in the Sunset Elementary multi-purpose room.

 

Discussion with David Irons

 

King County Councilman David Irons spoke briefly about the issues facing areas like ours, which tend to be law enforcement and road maintenance. In discussion, residents agreed that the biggest law enforcement issue here is speeding and the major speeding problems are on 192nd and 188th, which are the major routes into our area from W Lk Samm Pkwy.

 

Amy Higgins reported her frustration that the residents of 192nd all signed a petition to have the double-yellow lines removed. According to Amy, the presence of these lines is an historical accident that is inconsistent with what is done on any similar roads in the area. The double yellow lines can lead drivers into believing that the road is an arterial on which higher speeds are appropriate. Though county staff said that the lines could be removed if neighbors agreed, in fact the lines have been repainted three times since the petition was submitted.  Mr. Irons said he would be interested in receiving a copy of the petition, and related documentation so that he can follow up.

 

Mr. Irons also mentioned that speeding problems can be alleviated with "traffic calming devices."  The County has not approved the use of such devices in the past, but is now experimenting with small traffic circles in the Renton Highlands. These circles are smaller than the ones frequently seen in Seattle and do not impede the normal 25MPH flow of cars. They have low curbs and plantings designed to allow fire engines to ride over them at the same speed they normally consider safe within a residential area.  Installation of such devices would also require a high level of written approval by residents of the affected areas. Marie Blakely voiced a concern that such devices on 188th could cause high speed traffic to reroute through Weatherwood.  This problem could be avoided by placing the device at or beyond the intersection of 188th and the road through Weatherwood.

 

According to Mr. Irons, road work is divided up into the categories of maintenance and capital improvements.  The County regularly maintains roads in this area and patches or resurfaces road surface damaged by alligatoring or potholes.  The County does NOT have any roads in this area listed on the 6 year capital improvement plan (CIP).  That means there are no plans to completely rebuild any roads, and no plans for new or widened roads in our area.

 

David Bangs observed that the County does come out and patch the roads, but tends to patch the absolute minimum amount of pavement, which results in the roads becoming a patchwork quilt over time. The roads have never been repaved, and all too often cracking and alligatoring occur on roadway which has been recently patched. One particularly bad road is 193rd Ave. S.E., which runs past the Bangs house.  There have been a couple of collapses in this road in recent years, including a current situation where the road sunk under the weight of a small sports car, causing a "volcano" of road crumbles.  Mr. Bangs suggested  that the County look at the whole roadway condition and completely repave or rebuilt roads that fail frequently and which have accumulated too many patches. Mr. Irons said he would be willing to come out and take a look at the roads with us and see if there is anything he should be doing to encourage such action.

 

Scott Dahlquist asked about the possible improvement of a county lot in the Lake West neighborhood known as the Blackberry Park.  Several people agreed and pointed out that the play equipment on this lot is getting old and dangerous, but is still heavily used because there is no other playground in the area.  Mr. Irons said he was willing to come by and look at the property and listen to some ideas about how it could be improved.

 

At 7:10, Mr. Irons had to leave to attend another meeting.

 

Discussion Follow-up

 

David Bangs will coordinate a single meeting in our area where David Irons can further look into our speeding and road maintenance issues and the condition of the Blackberry Park.  Amy Higgins will attend to discuss speeding issues, Scott Dahlquist will attend to discuss the park, and Gary Thede will attend to discuss road conditions.  In addition, Gary will take a stab at mapping out some possible locations for traffic calming circles, solely as a starting place for future conversation. David Bangs will email the SLSA list requesting reports of poor road conditions to ensure a comprehensive perspective is represented.

 

It is clear that for most people attending the SLSA meeting, the most important issue of these three is speeding and traffic safety.  However, it is unlikely that we will have to prioritize these issues relative to each other, since they involve different county departments. 

 

Issaquah Annexation Effort

 

The City of Issaquah is currently conducting a study regarding the potential impacts of annexing our area (the Greenwood Point Annexation Area) and the Klahanie area.  Residents Joan Probala, Gary Thede, David Bangs and Jim Balkman have been appointed by the City to represent our area on the Annexation Advisory Task Force.  The study is being conducted by Nesbitt Planning & Management, which has already posted information about the process on the City's web site at www.ci.issaquah.wa.us/annexation/index.html .

 

On October 8th, 2002 our annexation committee presented information and survey results and requested that the City study annexation or our area.  The City obliged, and is now almost ready to present the study's findings to us at a public meeting.

 

The City's Public Meeting is scheduled for Tuesday Evening, November 18th, at the Pickering Barn.  Save the Date, and stay tuned for further information.

 

Community Networking (forum for exchange of ideas)

 

We discussed crime and break-ins that have occurred in the area.  There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that we should be locking our doors at night!

 

Sammamish Beach Club, Meerwood and South Cove have already obtained locking mailboxes.  Lake West and Weatherwood are working on it, as are other neighborhoods.  All neighborhoods which have obtained the boxes are satisfied.

 

Several Associations are considering amending their covenants.  South Cove is in the process of gathering signatures for a covenant change which will refer disputes to binding arbitration.  In trading information we learned that the covenants governing our neighborhoods and the processes outlined for amending such covenants vary tremendously from neighborhood to neighborhood.

 

Gary Thede reported that the City of Bellevue is still planning to re-landscape the round-a-bout near Sunset Elementary to make it look attractive.  The project has been delayed but should be implemented soon.  Gary also reported that longer term plans call for the roadway around the round-a-bout to be rebuilt for better traffic flow.  This eventual project will involved multiple jurisdictions.

 

New Contact Email: We have created an email address,  SLSAinfo(AT)issaquahweb.org, via which residents can submit issues to SLSA or request to be added to the email list.  For now, emails to SLSAinfo(AT)issaquahweb.org will be routed to Gary Thede (who coordinates the agenda) and David Bangs (who updates the email list).

 

Proposal for South Lake Sammamish area "Community Days"

 

Mary Victory of Meerwood has been considering expanding the annual Meerwood Ice Cream Social into something much bigger, which would be called "South Lake Sammamish Community Day."  This could involve hiring a band and having a dance, having organized kids games, etc.

 

Attendees thought that sounded great, and the big question is how expensive it might be, and how it would be paid for.  The South Cove Fourth of July Celebration cost about $1500 to put on, and this would be quite a bit bigger, with a possible budget of $3,000 to $5,000.  Several people said that is too big to be funded by contributions from the homeowners associations.  Perhaps business sponsorships could be obtained.  Most likely we would have to start smaller, with “Ice Cream Social PLUS.”

 

Sounds like a good topic of discussion for the January SLSA meeting.

 

It was also suggested that SLSA could coordinate the annual garage sale, and call it the South Lake Sammamish Community Garage Sale, with more neighborhoods participating. 

 

SLSA Meetings are held quarterly, with the next meeting to be held in January. 

 

Notes respectfully submitted by David Bangs