Road project delays?
November 5, 2008
By J.B. Wogan
Eyeing budget, some council members consider deferring major building projects
At least three members of City Council are suggesting a delay on some of the $112 million in spending intended in the next biennial budget.
Councilman Mark Cross said the council should consider postponing either the East Lake Sammamish Parkway project or the 244th Avenue project. “It really is a surge in road construction and I want to make sure that we have the staff to monitor the work and to make sure that public safety is maintained during construction. I know that these projects are going to inconvenience people,” Cross said.
The 244th Avenue project entails connecting 244th Avenue from Northeast 8th Street to Southeast 8th Street. The East Lake Sammamish Parkway project for the next two years involves transforming a little over one mile at the northern end of the parkway by adding left-turn lanes, bicycle lanes, medians and sidewalks.
The council is in the midst of budget deliberations and learned this month that those two projects would cost $28 million for the next two years. That figure towers over other areas of spending in the budget. By comparison, the city would use $15.5 million for the entire list of projects in parks and surface water management combined.
“I’ve always been a proponent to keep those projects separate,” Councilwoman Kathy Huckabay said, adding that the council had, in the past, agreed that connecting 244th Avenue would precede any work on East Lake Sammamish Parkway.
She did not expect to see the proposed budget lay out a strategy for tackling both projects at the same time, she said.
“It was a real surprise to me,” Huckabay said.
Environmental permitting issues delayed the 244th Avenue construction — originally slated for this year — which put both projects on the same timetable, according to Public Works Director John Cunningham.
The potential problem with simultaneous construction projects on the two north-south thoroughfares is that 228th Avenue could become the only way to leave the plateau, she explained. “If that street were closed down for an accident, what then?” she asked.
Huckabay pointed to an Oct. 24 traffic jam, snaking from the entrance of the Timberline neighborhood on Sahalee Way Northeast to the Redmond-Fall City Road, as a reason not to tie up the other north-south arterials in the city.
“By trying to do both projects at the same time, I think it’s a real burden on the staff and a real burden to the community,” she said.
Councilwoman Nancy Whitten said she believed 244th Avenue took precedence over East Lake Sammamish Parkway, adding that she anticipated further discussion on the topic at the Nov. 4 budget hearing.
“We need to open up 244th. I think it’s somewhat of a critical alternate to 228th,” Whitten said.
East Lake Sammamish Parkway did not warrant the same kind of prioritization, she said.
“To me, that’s something we’ve always thought we should stretch out if we needed to. It’s not increasing our capacity. I don’t see how that’s going to do anything for commuters or congestion,” Whitten said.
To be fair, the council should examine capital projects across the board, Whitten added.
Huckabay voted against the East Lake Sammamish Parkway project in January. Whitten went on record saying she had reservations, though she voted for it. Councilman Don Gerend joined Huckabay as a dissenter in the 5-2 approval of the project.
Huckabay, Whitten and Cross each voiced concern about the city staff’s workload, if the council approved a budget with too many major projects scheduled.
Cross noted that Planning Comissioners Stan Bump and Scott Hamilton told the council that the commission needed better support from either a hired consultant or another staff person. Bump suggested making room in the biennial budget for a paid position to help complete several backlogged environmental projects.
“My concern is that staff is overworked,” Whitten said, using Community Development Director Kamuron Gurol as an example.
“You can just see that he’s tired many times. He’s very bright and very time productive. I’d want to see, what kind of support does he need to get the job well done?” she said.
Cross works as an associate planner for the city of Bellevue, which he said allows him to empathize with city employees in Sammamish.
“I’m sensitive when we set what I think is an ambitious work plan,” he said. “Their reward should not be that they get crushed by additional tasks.”
Huckabay said she would address the workload, capital projects, and East Lake Sammamish Parkway at the Nov. 4 meeting.
“I intend to talk about it,” she said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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