Years ago, in pursuit of their retirement dream, many people purchased land “site unseen” in Florida.

The sales pitch painted a picture of a community with beautiful streets, parks, and all the amenities of the good life.However, when people visited Florida they discovered their land was in the middle of a swamp. An inquiry at the local county office revealed that the county had no plan to build the infrastructure needed to develop their land. Perhaps, in 20 to 30 years, the swamp might be drained, roads built, utilities extended — but by then most landowners would be dead.

The Sammamish Town Center Plan is a Florida land scam. The plan locates the majority of development west of 228th in the middle of ‘a Florida swamp’ where no infrastructure exists.

Sammamish has no money to develop the necessary infrastructure and developers can’t do it either. Perhaps, in 20 to 30 years, roads will be built and utilities extended and development made possible.

East of 228th, disregarding common sense and smart growth principles, the Town Center Plan allocates insufficient development to areas where infrastructure exists and development is possible.

The Town Center Plan prevents development by making it economically impossible.

Landowners in the southeast quadrant have assembled 20 acres. Currently this 20 acres has five old homes and millions of dollars of under-utilized infrastructure.

At considerable cost, landowners hired planners, engineers, environmental experts and market researchers to put together an economically realistic and environmentally responsible plan that motivates developers to invest and build a pedestrian friendly, mixed use development with open space, trails, and affordable housing. Check it out at www.sammamishtowncenter.com

Contrary to newspaper reports, the SE Quadrant Plan does not request an increase of commercial development beyond what is planned for the Town Center. Our proposal requests that commercial square footage be allocated to where infrastructure exists, land assembled and development is possible now, not 20 or 30 years from now.

Without changes, the Town Center Plan is a $2 million taxpayer investment in a Florida land scam.

John Galvin

Sammamish