During a public hearing at the Oct. 3 Issaquah City Council meeting, citizens had the chance to tell the council their opinions on the proposed 25-year, $50 million traffic bond on Issaquah ballots this November.

Three citizens spoke against the bond measure, two spoke in its favor and one citizen said that he was on the fence; additionally, one person who was also undecided expressed dissatisfaction with bond during audience comments.

After listening to the six residents’ statements during the hearing, the council voted unanimously to give its support to the bond.

The four projects, which include improvements to East Sunset Way, to Newport Way Northwest from Northwest Maple Street to West Sunset Way, to Newport Way Northwest from Southeast 54th Street to State Route 900 and a signal at Southeast 43rd Way and Providence Point are “designed to reduce congestion, enhance safety and improve local streets and related amenities,” according to the ballot measure’s official description.

However, the bond has come under fire from some Issaquah residents who say the city has falsely sold the projects — in particular the East Sunset Way design — to the public as a solution to the city’s congested roads. Residents say in actuality, the projects do little to solve traffic problems.

Bryan Weinstein, who is the spokesperson for the anti-traffic bond committee, said that after the revelation of how ineffective the projects will be for congestion improvement, the city has had to resort to framing the bond as a large safety improvement.

“Are things that were once safe suddenly unsafe?” he asked. “And if it’s not about safety, what comes next? Unicorns and ponies?”

Weinstein blamed “irresponsible” growth under “poor city leadership that ignores the concerns of its citizens” for the traffic issues that now plague the lives of residents whenever they venture downtown. He drew attention to the fact that the city has nearly reached its growth goals for 2030.

“Who suffers because of our growth addiction? Issaquah residents. Who should pay for tackling traffic? If you ask the city, it’s us,” he said. “Residents are angry at traffic, our city government and the bend-over tactic being used demanding that we fix their problem.”

David Kappler said that he felt the two Newport Way projects and the East Sunset Way project — which he referred to as beautification rather than congestion relief — were “not ready” to be voted on yet.

“$10 million to make [Sunset Way] more beautiful is not something I think taxpayers should be stuck with for 25 years,” he stated.

Connie March called the idea of a public hearing for something that cannot be removed from a ballot disingenuine on the city’s part, and referred to voting against the bond “sav[ing] our souls.”

She said that the city has shared too few details on the two Newport Way projects with the public.

“To ask people to vote in theory for projects without details seems inappropriate,” she said.

“Please stop the kumbaya ‘One Issaquah’ charade, because you know that it only works when you tell the truth,” Weinstein told the council members.

Those who spoke for the bond lauded the safety improvements, particularly in areas that are near schools.

“I appreciate the focus you have on the safety elements, in particular because I have a high interest in safety for kids in the multiple schools we have,” said Lisa Callan, who is a director on the Issaquah School District Board.

“All of these projects that you have listed will help provide a tremendous amount of safety, not only for the kids walking to school, but also for bus drivers, families driving their kids, for our teen drivers,” she went on.

Bill Freisinger agreed, and added that Issaquah Valley Elementary School would appreciate the roundabouts on Newport Way Northwest.

Freisinger also expressed appreciation for the way that the city has included the public throughout the process of coming up with a design for East Sunset Way.

“The city has done an excellent job of addressing the local community’s concerns,” Freisinger said. “The design is vastly improved.”

“Sunset is the key street to the neighborhood, it’s a gateway to the city,” he went on. “It will be substantially improved in appearance … [the project] would increase safety for cars, bicyclists and pedestrians,” he said.

At the Sept. 19 council meeting, some council members had expressed concern over the suggested design of East Sunset Way, noting that it did not appear to contribute as much as it could to relieving the traffic backups that are common to the street.

City Transportation Manager Kurt Seemann later told the Reporter that “the primary purpose [of the Sunset Way project] is not congestion relief.”

At the Oct. 3 meeting, however, all seven council members spoke in the bond’s favor.

“This is chipping away at road projects in town that have been on our improvement list for a long time,” Councilmember Mary Lou Pauly said. “These projects need to get done, they provide benefits to the community, they provide safety improvements and they don’t fix everything, and I don’t think they were ever packaged that way.”

Councilmember Tola Marts said that “some folks may have a misunderstanding” about the bond.

“They may see this bill and think, ‘this is the solution, this is going to do it, we’re going to do this and then we’re going to have traffic resolved,'” he said.

Marts said that the bond must be looked at like a school bond, where voters would know that they were voting for a new high school, but may not yet know the details of what those schools would look like, such as the number of floors a school building would have.

Council President Stacy Goodman called the bond “long overdue.” Other council members agreed that the traffic projects have been needed for years.

“[East Sunset Way] looks exactly as it did in 1976,” Councilmember Eileen Barber said. “There is not one change to this street in all of that time. It is now time that we bring this up to some proper traffic flows, some sidewalks so that everyone can walk safely.”

Goodman introduced an amendment to the decision to support the bond. She requested that the administration provide the council with status updates of the East Sunset Way and Newport Way Northwest Southeast 54th Street to State Route 900 projects at 30 percent design and 60 percent design. She also requested that the council be able to have final approval of the Newport Way design.

Goodman said that this would “guarantee that the council stay engaged” and ensure that the projects “are not left out there without council opportunities to hear about them.” Similar to what March had earlier said, Goodman said that this Newport Way Northwest project had not been talked about very much.

The amendment passed unanimously.

Here is a closer look at what is in the $50 million traffic bond:

• A $26.2 million project along Newport Way Northwest from Northwest Maple Street to West Sunset Way that would add three roundabouts, intersection improvements, an additional southbound lane from Maple to just south of Holly, bike lanes and landscaping

• A $7 million project along Newport Way Northwest from Southeast 54th Street to State Route 900 that would add a center lane functioning as a partial turn lane and partial landscaped median, a shared-use Mountains to Sound Greenway path, a sidewalk, bike lanes, safety improvements at intersections and landscaping

• A $5.8 million project at the intersection of Southeast 43rd Way and Providence Point that would add a traffic light, realign driveways and improve the pedestrian crossing

• A $10.56 million project along East Sunset Way that would add a center lane functioning as a landscaped center median or two-way left turn lane, sidewalks, on-street parking, improved transit facilities and relocated bike routes