Residents urge restoring end-of-meeting public comments, pressing Sammamish to plan for internal housing need

Two people who addressed the Sammamish Planning Commission on June 5 asked the commission to change public-comment rules and to reconsider how the city plans for housing.

Paul Stickney, who identified himself as a Sammamish resident during the meeting’s public-comment period, said the commission should “reconsider non agenda and agenda comment and maybe put agenda comment at, like, a 3 or 4, minute, time frame.” He criticized the current comprehensive-plan direction as failing to plan for internal housing needs and said, “I have mentioned before wanting to add 5,000 market rate houses to the 2,000 affordable.”

Mary Wictor, another frequent attendee, told commissioners the body plays an important advisory role to city council and urged them to restore two comment windows so members of the public can respond after hearing discussion. She said, “I would like to see, the 3 minutes, before non agenda and then the 3 minutes at the end agenda, reinstated.” Wictor said the planning commission’s written recommendations are often used by council and that even small wording changes can produce major policy effects.

Both speakers framed the requests as improvements to public engagement: Stickney asked the commission to consider housing targets based on “internal need, not based on regional need,” while Wictor emphasized the value of timely public input and of commissioners bringing well-researched suggestions forward.

The remarks were made during the meeting’s public-comment portion and were not the subject of formal action at the June 5 session.