Council Hears Two Hours of Comment on Sammamish Ace Hardware

There's one truth we can hold self-evident--Sammamish wants to keep Ace Hardware in town.

After store owner Tim Koch issued a plea for the public to come to the Dec. 4 Sammamish City Council meeting to voice support for his project proposal, residents came out in droves, Koch said, giving two hours of public comment to the city council, three minutes at a time.

Of the turnout, Koch said, "There was standing room only and the council spent over two hours listening to our customers and supporters! It was amazing!"

Koch is looking for help from the council to fast track a proposal to do a land swap with a private property owner, who is ready to create replacement storm ponds for the City and to build a new facility for Ace Hardware on 228th Avenue NE just south of NE 4th Street, similar in size to its current 11,000-square-foot space.

The Council has not yet had his development proposal in front of it yet, and Koch asked customers and supporters of the long-time local business to attend the meeting and encourage the council to direct city staff to get the proposal before councilmembers for consideration soon.

Following the public comment period, Koch said, the council agreed to review the proposal next week.