The Sammamish City Council unanimously passed two resolutions during council reports at the end of its special meeting on Nov. 8 at City Hall, regarding tree buffers along city roads and the contribution from Tamarack residents regarding its drainage improvement project.

Councilmember Christie Malchow made a motion to direct the city manager “in an expedited fashion” to bring the study of new code language to the Planning Commission that would include buffers from certain roads to preserve trees, or add trees, along city roadsides.

“In addition, the Planning Commission would also study and offer new code language to include buffers when moving from one residential zoning area, such as an R-1, to another, such as R-4, to protect neighborhood character when transitions occur with new development,” Malchow added to the motion.

The motion was seconded by Councilmember Tom Odell. During council discussion, Malchow clarified the intent of her motion to address cases of new development, with the Planning Commission expected to study which road classifications such code would apply. The motion was amended to include the allowance of “flexibility within the Planning Commission to investigate other avenues.”

City Manager Lyman Howard anticipated the city could introduce such work to the Planning Commission in December, continue the work in January and bring a recommendation to the council in February “if all goes as planned.”

A few minutes later, citing uncertainty regarding the scope and parameters of the Tamarack drainage improvement project, Councilmember Kathy Huckabay moved for an amendment to the draft of the 2017-18 budget to show no contribution from Tamarack owners, though with an asterisk that the contribution from Tamarack owners would not be determined until after the completion of the Zackuse basin study, as well as any other required evaluation studies.

Huckabay’s motion included “the further understanding that the city funding is contingent upon the Tamarack property owners granting, at no cost to the city, all of the property rights necessary to facilitate the project as designed.”

The motion would reserve $750,000 in the budget for projects to take place along Louis Thompson Road.

Huckabay explained the need, mentioning concerns she had with both Tamarack drainage and flooding taking place at Louis Thompson Road. She said a meeting with Howard, Odell and Mayor Don Gerend about a potential resolution yielded that the Tamarack storm drainage plan is not yet developed enough to move forward.

“We thought as we talked through this, rather than trying to do something now, it really makes more sense to step back, look at it from a comprehensive way, so that we’re getting all of the Tamarack storm water and we’re dealing with all of it at the same time and not plugging in a piece here or there that may not fit over the long term,” she said. “That means that we need to do the Zackuse drainage basin study first.”

Huckabay said the Zackuse study was expected to start in the last quarter of 2017. It would be a full year before the study would come back completed, with design for the storm water system likely taking place in 2018-19 and construction in 2020.

“So essentially, it’s going to be several years out from what we had expected it to be,” she said.

Huckabay said city staff has committed to prioritizing to look at Louis Thompson Road and potential areas where staff may intervene and prevent some of the storm water runoff. She added that the city had received $851,000 in secured grants, which went into the stormwater capital plan budget for the Inglewood area.

Huckabay stated that while the city knew certain projects needed to take place along Louis Thompson Road, what the costs of those projects would be was unknown. The earmarked $750,000 would potentially address those costs. Howard clarified that no project would go forward without council approval. Odell seconded Huckabay’s motion, citing it allowed the city to go forward with an “interim fix” for Louis Thompson Road.

“Essentially, what we’re asking for from the community is basically a no-cost easement to allow us, at the time we figure out what we’re finally going to do, to go in and be able to do the work,” Odell said.