Issaquah to voters: We have to do this ourselves
Jul 7, 2016, 5:54 AM | Updated: 5:54 am
It could be a very spendy November election for residents of Issaquah. Not only will they be asked to approve the $54 billion Sound Transit-3 project, they will likely be asked for another $50 million for local transportation projects.
Issaquah is like a lot of cities around Seattle. It is bursting at the seams with new residents and developments, but the infrastructure has not been able to keep pace. Downtown Issaquah still looks quaint and quiet, but its streets can’t handle all the cars trying to get around.
“Traffic has been our number one issue in our citizen satisfaction survey,” Deputy City Administrator Emily Moon said.
The city has been working hard to build projects where it can, but there isn’t a lot of money to go around.
“We’ve done what we can, I believe, to seek out grant opportunities, private partnerships, and increased development fees, but we have a funding gap,” Moon said.
Federal, state and county money has all but dried up, and Issaquah, like many cities, is being forced to go it alone.
The city council will decide on the July 18 whether to put forward a nearly $50 million tax package for much-needed transportation improvements.
“We have projects that add capacity to our roadways,” Moon said. “We have projects that improve our ability to get around, outside of a car like on a bike or on foot, and we have projects that enhance safety in our community.”
The council asked the public what it wanted in this process, and an advisory panel came back with a list of nine major projects with a price-tag of nearly $71 million. That list was whittled down to four by the council. Many of these fixes will come along Newport Way, allowing for more cars to travel from the downtown core to the shopping areas. They will also provide more mobility in downtown.
Moon said this tax package, if forwarded to the ballot and approved, would add less than $200 a year to the property taxes of a $500,000 home.
