After many months of dialogue between waterfront homeowners, city staff and council members, the process to draft a Shoreline Master Program (SMP) for the City of Sammamish is drawing to a close.

Interested residents have just one more opportunity to make public comment on the current SMP draft, at a special meeting of the city council, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 8. After that, council will deliberate on proposed amendments to their August draft, prior to sending a final document to the Department of Ecology.

Public submissions have been a critical component of the SMP process, and at least one of the councilors has concerns as to the practicalities of putting an official stop to this input.

At last Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, councilor Nancy Whitten asked city staff what would happen with comments received after the Sept. 8 deadline.

“What happens to comments sent to us? Are we not supposed to look at them?” Whitten asked Director of Community Development Kamuron Gurol. “Are we not going to listen to people when they stop us in the street?”

Gurol responded that taking into account comment received after the official deadline had the potential to create a “process defect.”

“If objections were made based on a comment taken after the public submissions period had closed, we could be faced with the possibility of having to go back and start over,” he said.

City Attorney Bruce Disend said he felt the city had followed the notion of due process, in allowing fair and reasonable opportunity for public comment, and that “ultimately at some point the council needs to make a decision.”

And there are still decisions to be made, with a good many residents taking to the podium on Tuesday night to express their concerns over several points of contention in the city’s draft, notably, Vegetation Enhancement Areas (VEAs), bulkhead removal, dock length, expanding structures outside of the setback, and the term “nonconforming.”

Reid Brockway told council that labeling a house nonconforming burdens property owners with a stigma when dealing with insurance companies and potential buyers.

As an alternative to this, and a number of other issues, the Sammamish Homeowner’s Association has authored its own draft, known as the Sept. 1 draft, and it was presented to council last night for their consideration.

Brockway spoke in favor of the plan outlined in the homeowner’s draft, which moves the SMP boundary around the water-ward edge of the nonconforming property, allowing it to essentially be conforming as long as no changes to the structure were made.

If the owners chose to redevelop, then the SMP boundary would snap into place, and the new structure would need to conform to the SMP requirements.

Gurol told The Reporter recently he had not heard any evidence of homeowners being affected by having a property labeled nonconforming.

Michael Pizzo, whose parents own a property on Lake Sammamish, said he had heard of instances of the term lowering the perceived, and therefore real, value of a property.

Many waterfront property owners are still not convinced that science supports the function of VEAs, with a number of residents calling for their removal from the SMP.

“Or, if you can’t take them out, then make them 5 feet instead of 15 feet,” said Peter Scontrino.

Despite their issues with the city draft as it is, homeowners were full of praise for the work that city staff and council had put into the SMP.

Almost all prefaced their comments with expressions of gratitude for the city’s endeavor in working with the homeowners.

“I am gratified to see that this council seeks balance,” said Mary Jo Kahler.

“I am thrilled at the diversity on this council, and the range of ideas reflected in this document,” said Mike Collins of the Sammamish Homeowners Association.