Agreement near on 244th Ave. roundabout
December 9, 2008
By J.B. Wogan
As part of a larger connection project along 244th Avenue, the city plans to install a 98-foot roundabout at the intersection of 244th Avenue and East Main Drive. Photo by J.B. Wogan.
After months of negotiating, the city still has not reached a compromise on purchasing land from homeowners by the intersection of 244th Avenue and East Main Drive.
The city has proposed installing a $250,000 roundabout at the intersection to improve safety and manage traffic flow on 244th Avenue. The intersection currently has a two-way stop sign for East Main Drive, but nothing for the north-south legs of 244th Avenue.
In the future, that road would become a minor north-south arterial road, experiencing increased traffic volumes after it connects from Northeast 3rd Place to Northeast 8th Street, according to city projections.
The 244th Avenue connection project is projected to cost about $14.5 million, scheduled for 2009 in the recently approved biennial budget. A notice due south of the East Main Drive intersection lists December 2009 as the end date for the project’s completion, a date that’s been delayed again and again. Between the roundabout negotiations and environmental permitting issues, the project will probably miss that 2009 end date as well, Public Works Director John Cunningham said.
The main problem with the roundabout centers around a disagreement between the Sathe family, who live on the northwest corner of the intersection, and the city. In the city’s proposed design, the Sathes would have to sell 185 square feet to the city for the roundabout.
If negotiations fail, the city could exercise eminent domain, buying the land by force. This is also called condemnation.
Under the U.S. Constitution, a public agency may take property from a landowner if it is needed for public use. In such a case, the government must compensate the landowner for the property.
Project Engineer Jed Ireland said he believes there is still hope of avoiding condemnation.
“Right now, we’re negotiating the price. I think we still have opportunities left, so we’re just going through the negotiation process,” Ireland said.
The city has agreed to tinker with components of the design as they relate to the Sathe’s property; the small adjustments include moving sidewalks away from the Sathes’ property, widening a fence and relocating a tree, Ireland said.
These changes follow a more extensive redesign completed by the city in September.
In May, the city proposed a 110-foot roundabout that would have taken property from three individual landowners, two homeowners associations and the Sammamish Plateau Club. In response to public outcry, the city redesigned the roundabout, shrinking it in size to 98 feet. The reduction meant that one of the three individual landowners (the Sathes) would lose property, as would two homeowners associations.
“I don’t know whether that’s everything that I need,” Saleel Sathe said, adding that he was waiting to hear back from the city about changes to the design, as per their last discussion in early November.
Sathe maintains that he does not believe the roundabout installation is necessary and that it would make his yard abutting the street less safe for his children.
Still, there’s hope of a compromise, he said.
“We are trying to work together to get to that kind of agreement. We’re having the dialogue, so that’s definitely promising,” Sathe said.
In the current roundabout design, the city would also need a total of 9,565 square feet of property from the Montrachet and Vintage III homeowners associations. The associations have not agreed to sell their property to the city, though it appears that they will, Ireland said.
“I’m personally in favor of it,” Jan Klier, treasurer for the Vintage III, said. Klier, who lives two houses from the proposed roundabout, said he believed it was a good option. Still, his views are moot when it comes to his association’s vote on the issue, he said.
“From an HOA’s perspective, we’re trying to leave it up to the neighbors. If the neighborhood as a whole is not in favor of it, we’re not going to overrule the neighbors,” he explained.
The city held an informational meeting with members of the two associations Nov. 13 to discuss the roundabout. In an informal vote conducted at the meeting, members voted 27-4 in favor of the project, according to Ireland. A formal vote could not take place because 50 or more members of each association had to attend the meeting in order to take a vote, he added.
Board members from both associations have plans to hold a vote with their members, with possible results by Jan. 1. At least 67 percent of the members would have to vote yes to give their boards the authority to negotiate a selling price with the city. Otherwise, as in the case with the Sathes, the city would have to exercise eminent domain to buy the land.
If the Public Works Department determines that condemnation is the city’s only option, the City Council would have to give its consent first, according to Sammamish’s City Attorney, Bruce Disend.
“The city’s tried to avoid using that power. It’s only used as a last resort,” he said.
Assuming that the council approves the use of eminent domain, there would be two stages to the process. The first would be a hearing in the King County Superior Court to verify that the project serves a public use. The second would be a court hearing to determine the necessary amount for compensation, which is the more prolonged and controversial of the two stages, Disend said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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27-4 vote shows the desire of the community to go ahead with the project. Please move ahead with the construction at the earliest. It is frustrating to see this delayed again and again. If it helps to move faster, then use eminent domain.