Sammamish seeks to dispel rumors on Klahanie Park
February 22, 2010
By J.B. Wogan
New: Feb. 22, 4:17 p.m.
In an effort to set the record straight about Sammamish’s possible takeover of Klahanie Park, Sammamish City Manager Ben Yazici sent a letter to the Klahanie Homeowners Association Feb. 12.
Yazici’s letter explains that the city is trying to prevent the closure of Klahanie Park, nothing more.
“It’s been unsettling to see letters to the editor accusing Sammamish of trying to pull off a ‘land grab,’ and frustrating to see the level of misinformation that has persisted around this issue in recent weeks,” Yazici wrote.
Yazici’s letter also goes into a miscommunication between Sammamish Parks Director Jessi Richardson and the Klahanie Homeowners Association. Richardson spoke to Klahanie residents at a homeowners association meeting Sept. 29 and said Sammamish would defer the right to take over the park to “them.” When she used the word “them,” Richardson was referring to the city of Issaquah, not the Klahanie Homeowners Association, according to Yazici.
The letter also rejects several rumors about Sammamish’s intentions for the park. According to Yazici, the city isn’t planning to fence the park, isn’t going to prevent residents from walking their dogs at the park, isn’t going to reduce access to Klahanie residents and doesn’t have a plan in place to change the park. The city would keep the park open and maintain it as it currently exists, Yazici wrote.
Yazici did acknowledge that the city might eventually make changes to the park; he said any changes would first be subject to a robust public process. Based on the anemic economy, the city wouldn’t even be able to consider changes to the park for at least seven years, he wrote.
Klahanie Park is one of 39 county parks that then-King County Executive Kurt Triplett proposed to mothball in August 2009. The county would save $2.3 million per year if it relinquished control of the parks, according to Triplett.
The park, built in the early 1990s and located between Southeast 32nd Street and Southeast Klahanie Boulevard, is 64.11 acres with a wetland, one baseball field, two soccer fields and a restroom. The fields are natural grass and are not lighted.
The park costs about $95,000 a year to operate, according to King County Parks. The actual transfer of ownership would not cost Sammamish anything.
Though the park sits in Klahanie, it is not owned by the Klahanie Homeowners Association. The developer Lowe Enterprises Northwest deeded the park to the county in 1994. For the transfer to go through, the county would still need the approval of both the King County Council and the Sammamish City Council.
According to meeting notes from the Sammamish council’s Cle Elum retreat Jan. 21-23, the council decided to hold off on the park transfer until the city of Issaquah formally decides not to take over the park. Issaquah has been reviewing all of Klahanie as an annexation area, including the park. The Issaquah City Council’s committee on services and operations is holding a meeting about the park at 5 p.m. Feb. 25.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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