Former Mayor Ives Challenges Staff On Puget Sound Energy Plan

Rosemarie Ives

Good evening Mayor and Council Members,

Rosemarie Ives, former mayor 1992-2007

I am speaking again against the Sammamish Juanita Transmission Line.  Though much information was provided,  I have one question:  why did City staff support Puget Sound Energy’s business interests over the environmental interests of the people of Redmond AND the Puget Sound region who have committed to preserve the Sammamish Valley farmlands and open spaces for decades? 

After becoming mayor in 1992, the  Comprehensive Plan  identified  the east-west Transmission line at NE 95th Street as the northern boundary for manufacturing and industrial uses and with everything north  remaining  rural.  The owners of the land north of that transmission line  approached the City with a proposal for a golf course that is Willows Run today.  After  extensive  negotiations, the City agreed to zone the property “urban recreation” with the understanding that this land would remain “open space,”  with the owners required to uphold a long list of environmental regulations and responsibilities, and that in perpetuity, the golf course would remain open to the public.  I believed strongly that zoning for a golf course was the best way to preserve the historically rural Valley, protecting it from any kind of business, manufacturing or industrial intrusion.

I certainly did not anticipate that future staff would act otherwise!  So perhaps you now understand my preoccupation with this project .

PSE, a foreign for profit company convened a Stakeholders Group back in 2012,  with Redmond and Kirkland businesses and city staff representatives, but only with one Redmond resident who lived on Rose Hill.

Now that I have spoken with both former Redmond staff and the Rose Hill resident, I now know that then City staff and resident were adamantly opposed to any alignment in the Valley over the future trail.  So when and why did the City’s position change?

What did the City do to keep the public informed?  I bet they relied on PSE to do it ?  It appears that again the City took the minimalist approach to public notification—using small signs in locations where it’s impossible to read and mailing only to property owners within 500 feet.  What about all the people on the east side of the Valley? Where was their notification?  Did any staff think that there just might be an impact beyond 500 feet? 

The Planning Director has provided two Utility citations from the Comp Plan as rationale. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the City must approve whatever PSE wants. And where  is the long  list of citations from the same Comp Plan regarding the protection of the environment, open space, view corridors, wetlands, trees, City park?

Why did staff approve the Energize Eastside project running though PSE’s existing  Right of Way from north to south, but the same staff did not make the same case  for the Sammamish-Juanita  line running south to north in the same right of way?  

So I’ve identified  the trade offs here!

There are many Negative impacts:  destruction of the view corridor, *removal of all trees over 25 feet tall including 58 significant and landmark trees in a wide swath, and  *serious damage to wetlands   with this introduction of an industrial use into open space, preserved farm lands, our Sammamish Valley Park and mitigation banking areas, urban recreation and over our trail users.

The only positive impact I see is:  The City gets some money from PSE toward paving a 17 foot wide one and a half mile $7-8 million trail that some consider redundant to the Sammamish River Trail.  With plans for plazas in this rural corridor and lighting that’s in conflict with our  Dark Skies ordinance, this project  threatens all of the Sammamish Valley—this trail is not in the downtown urban core, so don’t plan like it is!

Many  believe that the Sammamish Valley is priceless and an irreplaceable asset in our goal toward sustainability.  But it appears that City Staff has placed a “For Sale” sign on OUR trail for exactly what amount of money? As council members and mayor, are you individually willing to sell the Valley for a check from PSE and tell us?

I implore the mayor and the council to recognize that if this line goes forward , the damage will be irreparable.  You just can’t take it back or re-create it even in our children’s lifetimes!

June 21, 2022

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* "There are 150 trees to be removed under this Exception request, with 79 of those trees located in wetlands, 68 trees within critical area buffers, and three landmark trees." -- Karen Worcester Senior Land Planner, PSE, 5/25/2021 ;39 trees may be repurposed into snags. Either 3 saplings will replace each significant or one sapling. There's no commitment either way.

* "A total of seven wetlands  and six streams (eight segments are Class II) were mapped in the study area vicinity. All mapped wetlands and streams occur in the portion of the study area north of NE Redmond Way. The wetlands include one slope/depressional and two slope wetlands on or near the substation site and four slope wetlands located along the transmission line corridor. These wetlands occur on relatively undeveloped portions of the Project corridor in a watershed recognized by the City as the Willows Watershed."  -- Project Narrative, 6/11/1921  ;The habitat provided by Wetland CR02 is of ‘high’ value to society because it is located within 100 meters of three priority habitats.

BY, 6/25/2022