Dozens Participate in Planning Commission ECA Roundtable

More than 30 residents came out to City Hall to talk about balancing environmental protection and property rights as the  as it works toward an update of the city's Environmentally Critical Areas ordinance.

Environmentally critical areas include wetlands, streams and other fish and wildlife habitat conservation areas, frequently flooded areas, geologically hazardous areas, and aquifer recharge areas. The city’s Environmentally Critical Areas Regulations set the standards and criteria for development or other activities proposed in and around critical areas.

The Sammamish Planning Commission held the public discussion Thursday, March 1. Despite initial confusion over a typo on the meeting time on notices sent out by the city, the well-attended meeting generated a lot of discussion. After a presentation on the ECA and public comment period, city staff met in small groups with citizens who expressed concerns about a number of issues and planners explained various facets of the ECA rules, and how they interplay with development issues.

The Planning Commission advised attendees that in order to give more time for discussion, future meetings will begin at 6 p.m. rather than the usual 6:30 meeting time. The next meeting will be held Thursday, March 15, from 6-9 p.m., and will be another roundtable discussion, which also will include the city's consultant, AMEC Environment and Infrastructure, Inc., in a discussion of the Best Available Science concepts that will inform the update.

The city recently extended the sunset clause for updating the ordinance by one year, with a commitment to work on completing the update within this year. The previous update, completed in 2005, was set to expire in 2009, but the deadline was extended to January 2012.