Traffic and development on Redmond Ridge East: Update from Friends of the Law

FYI, see below for the latest development re: the Redmond Ridge, Trilogy, etc. housing projects in King County. This is a continuing saga and yet another example of what I feel is the corruption and hypocrisy of King County Executive Ron Sims - in this case in the area of land use. Rural property owners have been severely limited in what they can do with the recently passed "CAO" (Critical Areas Ordinance), but the right people or companies with the right connections still get to do what others can't, in direct contradiction of the values that Sims claims justify the restrictions on those who don't have the connections to avoid what has been done to them. In the case described below, there is hope that Sims and his agenda is finally meeting some opposition.

For background and context, see my earlier posts involving Friends of the Law and their website ( http://www.friendsofthelaw.org ). Links to my earlier posts are below. These people have been fighting what appears to be yet another example of the corruption of King County Executive Ron Sims. In this case, as I understand it, it involved the manipulation of traffic studies to produce the appearance of lower traffic than was actually to be the case, in order to be able to justify issuing permits to a developer for 800 homes. It looks like a few honest and competent employees at King County, with excellent technical, etc. credentials, came forward about this as whistleblowers, and were punished for their courage and convictions and sense of ethics. See more at: http://www.friendsofthelaw.org and at my two earlier posts, links to which are just ahead.

Also, sorry about the goofy characters in the below. It's the way this morning's email came into me a short while ago.

My two earlier posts on this subject are at:

http://yousoufian.blogspot.com/2005/03/this-is-incredible-and-related-to-cao.html

http://yousoufian.blogspot.com/2005/03/and-here-is-more-part-2-fwd-update.html

Armen Yousoufian

From: Joseph Elfelt
To: Joseph Elfelt , Steve Shifton
Subject: Hearing Examiner denies Redmond Ridge East
Date: Wed, 29 Jun 2005 15:03:09 +0000


Update from Friends of the Law (FOTL)Â - Wednesday June 29, 2005
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Late yesterday the county hearing examiner denied the 800 homes proposed for Redmond Ridge East due to traffic issues on Novelty Hill Road and other area roads. Below is the press release FOTL has sent out.

We will send more details as we digest the examiner's blistering 95 page report.

Please forward this e-mail to others you know in the area.

FOTL    NEEDS    your generous tax deductible contribution to pay our attorney. The battle to save the Panhandle IS being won; please help us to pay for it so that we may continue our fight to preserve what we have in our rural area neighborhood.

FOTL is recognized by the IRS as a 501-c-3 so contributions are tax deductible and some area employers will match your contribution. Make your check payable to "FOTL" and mail to:

FOTL
PMB 193
16149 Redmond Way
Redmond, WA 98052
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Thank you sending FOTL a contribution now before you forget. We will send you an acknowledgment for your tax records.

Joseph Elfelt and Steve Shifton for Friends of the Law
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Hearing Examiner DENIES Redmond Ridge East and VACATES traffic concurrencyÂ
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June 28, 2005

For Immediate Release:

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Contact:

FOTL Director: Steve Shifton     phone: (425) 765-5990

FOTL Attorney: David Bricklin   phone: (206) 264-8600

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King County Hearing Examiner Stafford Smith today issued his decision regarding the Redmond Ridge East application to urbanize another 337 acres of pristine rural area adjacent to the current Redmond Ridge development. Examiner Smith has both vacated the traffic concurrency certificate and recommended denial of the application. The area in question is referred to as the Panhandle. Examiner Smith found that the county employees had gone well past any normally accepted traffic analysis standards in their zealous attempts to approve a project. Not coincidentally, approval would have provided needed funding to continue these same employee's department budgets. Specifically, the examiner stated in part, "These were willful and unreasoning actions taken without regard to attending facts and circumstances in violation of the arbitrary and capricious standard." He goes on to say regarding the background traffic, of which many of the current area residents testified to already be horrendous, "What is truly marvelous about the picture that emerges from the Department’s testimony is how much effort it has put into justifying its expansive capacity assumptions for Novelty Hill Road and how little time it claims to have put into nearly every other aspect of the UPD concurrency issues." The Hearing Examiner's conclusions were right in line with the statements filed by the group of five traffic King County traffic engineers who had vehemently complained about the methodology being utilized to approve the Redmond Ridge East application and whose complaints were met with demotions and layoffs. Those issues are the basis of a whistleblower's lawsuit currently being heard in federal court.Â

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The full text of the examiner’s final conclusion follows:

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A.           TRANSPORTATION CONCURRENCY CERTIFICATES

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           DENY and VACATE transportation concurrency certificate no. D1449 issued to the Quadrant Corporation on December 11, 2002, on the grounds that it was issued pursuant to arbitrary and capricious action by the Department of Transportation. Issuance of a new concurrency certificate to Quadrant for Redmond Ridge East residential development shall require a new concurrency application based on the regulations in effect at the time of such application.

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           REMAND transportation concurrency certificate no. 01445 issued to the Quadrant Corporation on October 21, 2002, to the Department of Transportation for further action consistent with this report. Within 180 days of the date this decision becomes final, Quadrant may submit a revised concurrency application for the sports field complex that describes how the proposal will be accessed and developed in the absence of construction of Redmond Ridge East. A new certificate of transportation concurrency may be issued for the sports complex based on the regulations in effect in 2002 and the 2002A concurrency model corrected to conform to the findings within this report.

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B.       UPD AND FCC PERMITS AND PRELIMINARY PLAT APPROVAL

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           DENY           urban planned development permit application no. L02UPD01, full contained community application no. L03FCC01 and preliminary plat application no. L03P0003 on the grounds that the three applications are not supported by a valid concurrency certificate; the proposal does not comply with County concurrency, level of service, safety and operational standards as required by subsection 6A of development condition BC-P21; and pursuant to substantive authority under SEPA based on the fact that the proposal will create probable unmitigated adverse traffic impacts in the City of Redmond at the intersection of Union Hill Road/Avondale Road and to its north along the Avondale Road corridor.

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           RECOMMENDED this 28th day of June, 2005.

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                       ___________________________________

                       Stafford L. Smith

                       King County Hearing Examiner