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Sammamish Town Center breaks ground -Page 2-
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Reporter ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
WWW.ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
FRIDAY, JULY 24, 2015
SATURDAYS OF THUNDER
How to make Olde Town vital Vitality Task Force presents early findings on cultural business district BY DANIEL NASH
Events in Issaquah and Sammamish -Page 4-
ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
Community
Photo by Daniel Nash, Issaquah/Sammamish Reporter
Gas Station Blues come to Olde Town -Page 6-
Sports
Gunners lose in title contest -Page 8-
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Racers pause for a photo right before a heat in the Challenge Race held in Issaquah Saturday. The Challenge Races are a soapbox derby in which children with disabilities are paired with able-bodied children. The races, put on by Life Enrichment Options, are held throughout the state. Issaquah’s race was put on in partnership with Issaquah Rotary and sponsors from the local business community.
Ebright Creek development denied Open hearing on Chestnut Estates West logged 1,100 pages of comment from public BY MEGAN CAMPBELL ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
A Sammamish hearing examiner denied a developer’s request last week to construct a 30-lot residential neighborhood in an area that would have required constructing a bridge over the salmonbearing Ebright Creek to access it. The developer plans to appeal the decision by the August deadline, President
Carl Buchan of William E. Buchan Inc. said Wednesday, July 22. Still, the examiner’s decision came with a sigh of relief from residents who appealed the city’s reduction and variations to code they argued put Ebright and Pine Lake Creek at risk, as well as the freshwater salmon that spawn there. “We’re very pleased,” said Ilene Stahl, former president of Friends of Pine Lake, a grassroots organization involved in the appeal, “because the hearing examiner, in his decision, recognized the value of Ebright Creek. It used to be one of the best runs of kokanee in the basin.” The once-booming kokanee population plummeted in the ’80s. The
Kokanee Work Group has been spearheading efforts to bring the population back to a sustainable level through state, county and local government partnerships, as well as with support from Native American tribes and community groups. Every year, as a way to maintain the species, kokanee eggs are collected from spawning sites, raised in the Issaquah State Salmon Hatchery and then released back into the stream. Kokanee Work Group member Wally Pereyra of Sammamish has lived near Ebright Creek for around 40 years. He has dedicated himself and his money to
Issaquah’s Olde Town is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn’t want to stay there. Or, rather, you couldn’t if you wanted to: the sidewalks are too narrow, the public spaces too spartan and there’s still plenty of room to grow social events. The manner in which the neighborhood is used is currently being dictated by a design that “ushers people on through” to their errands and back home, city Economic Development Manager Andrea Snyder said. Those were some of the findings presented Tuesday night by a group of city staff, downtown business owners, artists and other stakeholders tasked with identifying ways to reinvigorate Issaquah’s cultural business district. Tuesday night’s special city council meeting covered preliminary findings by the Olde Town Vitality SEE OLDE TOWN, 7
A wish list for transit services BY MEGAN CAMPBELL
ISSAQUAH/SAMMAMISH REPORTER
Sammamish City Council members are putting together a “wish list” for transit services, to be delivered to King County Metro by the end of the month. Sound Transit and Metro have been working together to establish a regional transit network by 2040 that will accommodate the expected expansion of Eastside cities. As part of this process, Metro staff are collecting the needs of Eastside commuters, asking citizens and technical city staff to provide input. City Engineer Andrew Zagars will represent Sammamish’s needs during a meeting at Mercer Island City Hall July 28 looking at technical information, like the utilization of park-and-rides. Deputy Mayor Kathy Huckabay said Metro is looking at data to determine which park-and-rides are under used and that could lead to selling some of them off. Councilmembers feared that could include the park-andride at Southeast 30th Street and 228th Avenue Southeast.
SEE DENIAL, 7
SEE METRO, 5
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