Sammamish staff to seek council resolution declaring Inglewood streets public, pledges continued service

Sammamish City Manager Scott McCall told residents at a neighborhood meeting on Saturday that city research found documentation showing most streets in the Inglewood neighborhood were deeded and dedicated to public use and accepted into the county system in the 1960s, and that staff will ask the City Council to adopt a resolution to memorialize that status.

McCall said the records show multiple county resolutions from 1965 and additional dedications in 1969 that transferred ownership before Sammamish incorporated in 1999. “We really do apologize for the confusion and frustration…we will definitely do better moving forward,” McCall said, adding that the city’s “commitment…is to continue to serve the streets in the Inglewood neighborhood.”

City staff displayed maps that color-coded streets: green for streets where the city found documentary evidence of public dedication, and yellow for short segments still under active review. McCall said residents on yellow segments received direct letters and city staff will work with those property owners individually. He said staff will continue providing services to historically served streets regardless of the outstanding document search.

The city presented two options discussed with residents: continue to deliver services without formal action, or have the council adopt a public-resolution that recaps the historical record, describes the services provided and commits the city to develop neighborhood-specific public-works standards. McCall told the meeting that staff plan to bring a resolution to the City Council for action at its Tuesday meeting. He described the resolution as “a public declaration…to help for the future so there would be no confusion.”

Staff also outlined near-term and longer-term technical work tied to the issue: a pavement-management strategic plan, an Englewood Hill sidewalk gap project listed in the capital improvement plan, an upcoming mapping truck visit in the fall to collect street geometry, and an update to public-works standards and right-of-way code. McCall asked residents to participate in those planning efforts.

Residents asked about likely costs, emergency-access language in the resolution, and whether all homeowners on a given street would need to consent to memorialization. McCall said any costs for future construction would be borne by the city as part of its regular budgeting process and that the city will strive to develop standards that fit the narrower street widths in Inglewood. On homeowner consent, he said individual property owners may choose to record deeds themselves and that the city is willing to work with owners and to cover costs where appropriate; he added that the city does not intend to stop serving any street while records are being finalized.

A resident asked why the process took months. McCall said staff undertook “deep digging” to locate old documents and are continuing to search for the remaining yellow-segment records. He said the city will list the documents it found as references in the resolution to make them easier to find in the future.

City staff identified public-works project windows for community input and encouraged residents to use the city’s app and contacts to report potholes or map concerns. Staff and elected officials remained after the meeting by the maps to talk individually with residents.

Votes at a glance: none taken at the neighborhood meeting; staff plan to present a resolution to the City Council at its next regular meeting for formal action.