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Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 6:07 PM
Subject: Corrected SLSA Meeting Notes for June 9, 2004
These notes contain several typo corrections
over the ones emailed to the group.
The only factual correction is that Bellevue
relandscaped the round-a-bout, not King
County.
South Lake
Sammamish Association [SLSA] members met June 9, 2004, 7pm, at the Sunset
Elementary Multi-Purpose Room
Issues
Discussed:
Structure
of SLSA
Review of
Issaquah Annexation Effort
Road
Maintenance Issues
Traffic:
Speeding Issues
W Lake Sammamish Parkway Speed
Limit
Blackberry Park Development
Project
Lay-down Area near 192nd
Ave Entrance
Update on Round-a-bout
Construction Plans
Lake Sammamish State
Park
In
attendance were:
Debra Parsons of
Greenwood Point
Caleb Tarleton of
Sammamish View
David Bangs and
Rod Putney of South Cove
Gary Thede, Bob
Hogan, Mel and Martha Andriesen of Sammamish Beach Club
Mike Barnett of
Timberlake Lane
Wayne Eddy
and Marie Blakley of Weatherwood
Structure
of SLSA
The question was
posed as to whether SLSA should become an legal organization or continue to be a
loose affiliation of HOAs.
We decided on the
latter approach. However, we brainstormed on the structure needed to ensure
continued legitimacy, funding and rotation of leadership.
Here's what we
came up with:
- The South Lake
Sammamish Association exists to ensure continued communication and cooperation
between area neighborhoods. It has been shown that there is a lot of value
in just meeting to talk. SLSA is especially valuable as a liaison to
government agencies, since HOAs do not have the bandwidth or clout to address
these issues independently. On issues of government relations, SLSA may
need to take stands on key issues, such as annexation or local improvement
priorities.
- The
president of each member HOA will pick a representative to SLSA for each
calendar year. These representatives should commit to attend each quarterly
meeting, or send a substitute. These representatives will choose a
chairperson and delegate responsibilities.
- All homeowners
are welcome, but in setting priorities and taking stands, the HOA
representatives will vote. If information has not been provided in
advance, HOA representatives may request time to get feedback from their
boards or homeowners before voting.
Such delayed votes may be submitted by email.
- SLSA is
funded by the member HOAs, which will fund SLSA with a per-household
contribution. It seems 50 cents per
home annual HOA contribution would fund SLSA to pay room rental for
meetings, advertise for the garage sale, and incur incidental expenses. A
little more would allow SLSA to pay for the Meerwood Park ice cream social,
since that cost is already shared by multiple HOAs. A simple budget and per home HOA contribution will
be approved at the next meeting.
- South Cove HOA
has been serving as SLSA's fiscal agent in that it accepts and distributes funds
on behalf of SLSA. All present agreed this is a good
arrangement.
David Bangs will
use this to draft "Standing Rules" and very simple budget to be adopted by
the HOA reps at the next quarterly meeting.
Current HOA reps are as follows:
Debra Parsons -
Greenwood Point
Gary Thede -
Sammamish Beach Club
David Bangs -
South Cove
Caleb Charlton -
Sammamish View
Mike Barnett -
Timberlake Lane
Mary Victory -
Meerwood
Wayne Eddy -
Weatherwood
Gary Thede will
solicit participation from other neighborhoods (such as Lake West, Meadowbrook
Point, Sammamish Bluffs Condos, etc) which did not send representatives to this
meeting.
Review of Issaquah Annexation
Effort
Gary Thede
reported that Issaquah has initiated negotiation what help the
County will provide to help the annexation make financial sense. An
initial proposal from the County is expected this summer, and negotiations will
go from there.
David Bangs
reported that at a City Council meeting, he discussed the existence of SLSA and
encouraged the City to work with this group to determine what improvements
neighbors might actually be requested by residents after annexation. It is
likely that the actual desired improvements would cost the city less money than
the formula-derived improvements which were included in the
study.
Improvements
which neighbors have actually requested (such as Improved road
conditions. Improved Police Protection. Mitigation for speeding problem on
192nd and maybe 188th. Improved sidewalks/bike lane along W. Lake
Sammamish Parkway) are unrelated to annexation and could be accomplished prior
to annexation or gradually over a number of years as budget is available.
Residents do not appear to share the study
author's desire to spend money altering Meerwood and Timberlake Park to bring
them up to "city standards."
David may draft a
letter to the City to be approved at the next SLSA meeting if it seems useful to
do so at that time.
Road Maintenance
Issues
David Bangs
reported that Grace Reamer (of David Iron's office) has indicated no area roads
will be considered for overlaying this year, with the exception of 193rd Ave.
S.E between S.E. 44th Way and the Blackberry Park (where it is called
191st). This is the worst segment of road, and will be considered for
overlaying. In the mean time, actual dangerous spots of this road
(potholes and sunken spots) have been marked and cut for patching sometime this
summer.
Traffic: Speeding
Issues
Gary Thede
reported that the County has been doing some speeding studies on 192nd, but
nobody present had heard the results of these studies. We discussed that
we have let our requests be known to the County, so there is no other steps to
be taken at this time, other than to closely follow and participate in the
annexation discussions between Issaquah and King County.
W
Lake Sammamish Parkway Speed
Limit
Our stretch of W
Lake Sammamish Parkway is under three different jurisdictions, and each
segment has its own speed limit.
Historically, the
Issaquah speed limit was 30MPH and the County speed limit was 35MPH. But
when part of the road was annexed by Bellevue last year, they reduced the speed
limit to 30MPH. Then, early this year, Issaquah raised its section to
35MPH to match the County. Residents near the Issaquah boundary organized
and objected, and the Issaquah has now decided to reduce its limit back to
30MPH.
Sammamish View
resident Caleb Tarleton suggested that the County should reduce its limit to
30MPH to match Issaquah and Bellevue, so that the entire road has one speed
limit. The benefit is would be that drivers would be less confused and
wouldn't have to keep changing speeds. The group consensus is that this
could be an improvement, but that SLSA shouldn't take any action because we
are already working with the County on many other fronts that have yet to
be resolved. It would make more sense to see what happens after
annexation, when the road will once again be under just two
jurisdictions.
Blackberry Park Development
Project
Scott Dahlquist of
Lake West reported to Gary Thede that The Pomegranate Center www.pomegranate.org/ in Issaquah agreed to be Lake West's sponsoring non-profit in their
application for a $10,000 Starbucks grant to improve the Blackberry Park. 15
groups applied for the 10 available grants, so they are hopeful. They are
also working with the County to receive a special use permit to improve the
property, which belongs to the County. They are still considering reviving
their HOA or creating a park foundation so that they can maintain the property
in years to come. Work on the property could begin by Sept. or
Oct.
Lay-down
Area near 192nd Ave Entrance
Gary Thede
reported that nobody has moved forward on the idea of re-landscaping the
lay-down area area at 192nd Ave. S.E. Since this parcel is owned by King
County, the process of improving it would be very similar the process involved
in the Blackberry Park: Obtain funding, Get a special use permit and
possible county matching funds, and recruit volunteers. If this project
goes forward, Sammamish Beach Club could be the fiscal agent and HOAs would
help recruit volunteers. However, a project coordinator is needed to make
this happen. If you are interested, contact Gary Thede
Update on Roundabout Construction Plans
- Scheduled for Spring, 2005
Gary Thede
reported that the roundabout near I-90 has been beautifully relandscaped
by the City of Bellevue.
However, the road surface itself is owned by the Washington State Department of
Transportation. I-90 will be resurfaced next year, and as part of that project,
the roundabout road surface will be rebuilt. The turning radius will be
altered to improve traffic flow and hopefully the problem of recurring potholes
will be eliminated. This project is slated for spring or summer of
2005.
Lake
Sammamish State Park
Gary Thede has
been appointed to represent our area on the Lake Sammamish State Park Citizens
Advisory Task force. This task force has already met twice, with the next
meeting scheduled for July 1st. They have formed a Design Criteria
Committee. After the criteria are determined, they will launch a design
competition. After a design is selected, the environmental impact study
will be conducted and the project will be put to bid. The Task Force may
develop a plan completely different from the State Parks plan put forward last
year, but they are considering many individual ideas that originate from that
plan. This is a public process in that everybody is welcome to attend the
task force meetings, and there will be several public meetings to get
input.
Next
Meeting
The next quarterly
SLSA meeting will be in September.
