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After ‘bomb cyclone,’ Sammamish commission discusses storm losses, power outages and tree management
Summary
Commissioners and staff discussed extensive tree losses from a recent storm, repeated power outages and the limits of city authority over utility infrastructure. The commission considered tree-code updates, right-of-way inventories and communication roles between the city and Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
Commissioners used a large portion of the Jan. 9 meeting to review storm impacts after a “bomb cyclone” that downed many trees and caused multi-day power outages in Sammamish.
Commissioners and staff described both the tangible damage and the operational lessons. Rose (city staff) said the city did a right-of-way tree inventory the week before the storm and that the inventory provides pre- and post-storm data: “you got some great, pre and post storm data,” she said, noting parks crews have at least 300 trees that require attention and cleanup that will likely extend through the end of the first quarter.
Commission members pressed staff about the city’s role in grid resilience. Several commissioners noted that the city does not control utility lines; PSE (Puget Sound Energy) is the utility responsible for live-line work. Commissioners said residents’ attention after the outage focused on grid reliability and called for clearer public messaging about what the city can and cannot do. One commissioner suggested the city should lobby at the state level and coordinate with utilities about storm hardening and undergrounding costs, though staff noted undergrounding is typically paid by ratepayers and is prohibitively expensive.
Tree and vegetation management also featured centrally. Commissioners and staff discussed the tradeoffs between preserving canopy and reducing fire and outage risk. Staff said the upcoming tree-code update and the right-of-way tree study will be opportunities to evaluate pruning rules, tree ranking and mitigation measures. Rose said consultants (Bassett) are finalizing a right-of-way tree report with recommendations.
Ending: Staff said the city will continue cleanup through Q1, will share the right-of-way tree study when complete, and will coordinate messaging to help residents understand which aspects of outage response are the city’s responsibility and which are PSE’s.
