The old Providence Heights College property and former Sammamish YMCA is the site for ISD’s proposed high school. It borders Bellewood Senior Apartments and Providence Point 55+ community, and is within 100 yards of Marionwood Care Center, Spiritwood Senior Apartments, and Village Concepts Senior Homes. That’s five senior communities with more than 3,000 residents mingling on the road with high school drivers.
Litigation
2008: Churchome of Kirkland buys the 40 acre site consisting of three separate parcels;
2015: Churchome enters into a “first right of refusal” sales agreement with Brixton Homes, who plans to build 141 homes;
2016: The district files a Condemnation Lawsuit (Eminent Domain) against Churchome to acquire the property and null the agreement;
2017: Local nonprofit Preserve Providence Heights and the Sammamish Historical Society nominate the site for Landmark Designation with the City of Issaquah’s Landmarks Commission under the city’s Municipal Code.
The commissioners unanimously approve a motion to designate the site as a local landmark; ISD’s Eminent Domain trial is postponed due to the designation; they file a Termination of the Landmark Declaration. Issaquah School District files a Termination of Landmark Declaration.
Despite the ruling, the City of Issaquah approves a demolition permit request from Churchome, issuing a Determination of Non-Significance stating that the demolition would “not have a significant adverse effect on the environment.”
King County Superior Court judge Ken Schubert grants Preserve Providence Heights’ motion to vacate the Oct. 24 lawsuit settlement that had been reached between the city of Issaquah and the campus’ owner, Churchome. That judgment would have allowed Churchome to immediately proceed with demolition of the campus.
2018: Churchome files a lawsuit against the City in King County in King County Superior Court to vacate the Landmark Decision and begins demolition;
The Issaquah City Council votes to let ISD be the “Agency of Designation” for their own environmental reviews on the site;
2019: The City affirms that Churchome has satisfied all necessary conditions under its demolition permit.
With the demolition complete, King County Superior Court rules that the property no longer meets the landmark criteria. The school district’s Termination of Landmark lawsuit is approved. The district acquires the property for $22 million.
* Providence Point has not been involved in any of these lawsuits!
Those are rumors that continue to be spread either unwittingly, or perhaps… willingly...
Development and Environment
2019 The City of Issaquah’s Planning Policy Commission holds meetings to consider the district’s recommendation that the three parcels be re-zoned to accommodate a high school and elementary with a 2,000-seat lighted stadium, two ball fields, parking, and four lighted tennis courts. One commissioner states one of the commissioners states “I'd like to say for the record that I hope the school district can learn from this and see that this is not the way to engage with communities and this is not the way to try to draw up support in a community that wants to support schools and wants to support children and the way that this came about did not come about very well and for the record I think that it's important to recognize that how we build schools starts with how we build them with our neighbors and that did not happen here.”
PPC Commissioners propose a compromise plan to rezone the smaller parcels as parks for community use and requests that the district use the center site for a downsized school. Commissioners vote unanimously against the ISD’s re-zoning proposal.
2020 The city changes development code to require a parking garage structure; ISD’s architect reconfigures the site to accommodate it.
City staff develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) determining that there would be no environmental impact of the high school.
The City Council votes to reject the city’s own planning commissioners’ recommendations, passing Ordinance No. 2895 with a vote of five to two.
The City of Issaquah’s Development Commission holds hearings on the design of the school and use of the site to determine if it meets the of the city’s building codes. They request that the perimeter buffer be increased, and list 52 Conditions for the district in their final report. Todd Sawain from Bassetti states that they are “not seeking green or LEED certification” and that there is “bark-like texture on the exterior of the buildings to mimic the bark of a tree.”
2021 The City of Issaquah releases its Green Issaquah Project, which urges developers to preserve existing urban forests.
The City grants ISD a tree removal variance, allowing them to cut down and remove 77% of the trees on the site.
Due to concerns with the EIS and in response to public testimony from the Washington State Department of Ecology, Trout Unlimited, the Snoqualmie Tribe, Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, Friends of Kokanee salmon, and hundreds of district residents, the district’s contractor, Bassetti Architects, holds Environmental Neighborhood Meetings over Zoom.
The City of Sammamish, which owns the road along the site, issues a letter to ISD, stating “Simply put, not all sites can accommodate all programs and facilities; instead of building new facilities on a constrained site, we urge the District to reduce the program scope of this project and instead invest in improving existing nearby facilities creating shared amenities to meet the program needs of the broader District” and requests information be sent to them “before construction permits are issued [by Issaquah] to construct the school campus.”
The City of Issaquah grants ISD construction permits for the site.
Approval
2022 The Issaquah City Council approves the district’s design for the school, to which Mayor Pauly said: “I have served 20 years on the development commission and worked on many school district projects… There’s a huge lost opportunity here. I’m upset that we never talked about what this campus could do to bring our youth forward into the 21st century with something other than a stadium. I heard in the testimony that we were provided for this, somebody called having a stadium at every school ‘equity.’ That’s not. That’s equal. ‘Equity’ is making sure that all of the students in the school have opportunities for what they want to do and not just the sporting community. We should have been able to look at something that was amazing and imaginary and forward-thinking and instead we got a school from the 1970’s.”
The district runs three levies, one of which is to fund mental health support for our kids. Three weeks later, the district laid off counselors to “balance the budget” (King5, May 2, 2022). Prop 2 has $44 million earmarked for the school; the board reallocates that to other projects.
2023 ISD School Board’s president presents to Newcastle City Council with slides that contain “unfortunately project was delayed 3.5 years for litigation after designated historic site [and] additional 2.5 years for permit to be issued by City of Issaquah.”
The district is running a Special Election Bond on February 11, a likely levy in April, and definitely another in 2025! This follows the defeat of November’s bond, in which voters’ voices were resoundingly heard: NO to increased taxes with hidden interest, NO to misguided spending, NO to saying one thing and doing another, NO to misrepresenting your actions, and much more. Please join us to defeat these never-ending cycle.
Above information taken from the following resources:
Churchome has also gone by Plateau Campus LLC, and The City Church of Kirkland
Planning Policy Commission October 24, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6TKEW0eTw0
Re-zoning with Planning Commission and City Council, Ordinance No. 2895
Development Commission, July 15, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZOy0-J_DEE
City of Sammamish issues a Letter addressed to Tom Mullins, Director of Capital Projects, April 24, 2021
For more information, please visit our website ccare98027.com or email [email protected]
To help the cause, please send a donation made out to CCARE or donate on our website.
Paid for by CCARE, 3020 Issaquah Pine Lake Road SE #134, Sammamish, WA 98075
Top 5 contributors: Providence Point Umbrella Association, William Eades, Dave Osmer, Diane Exereide, James Berry
PDF provided below:
Litigation
2008: Churchome of Kirkland buys the 40 acre site consisting of three separate parcels;
2015: Churchome enters into a “first right of refusal” sales agreement with Brixton Homes, who plans to build 141 homes;
2016: The district files a Condemnation Lawsuit (Eminent Domain) against Churchome to acquire the property and null the agreement;
2017: Local nonprofit Preserve Providence Heights and the Sammamish Historical Society nominate the site for Landmark Designation with the City of Issaquah’s Landmarks Commission under the city’s Municipal Code.
The commissioners unanimously approve a motion to designate the site as a local landmark; ISD’s Eminent Domain trial is postponed due to the designation; they file a Termination of the Landmark Declaration. Issaquah School District files a Termination of Landmark Declaration.
Despite the ruling, the City of Issaquah approves a demolition permit request from Churchome, issuing a Determination of Non-Significance stating that the demolition would “not have a significant adverse effect on the environment.”
King County Superior Court judge Ken Schubert grants Preserve Providence Heights’ motion to vacate the Oct. 24 lawsuit settlement that had been reached between the city of Issaquah and the campus’ owner, Churchome. That judgment would have allowed Churchome to immediately proceed with demolition of the campus.
2018: Churchome files a lawsuit against the City in King County in King County Superior Court to vacate the Landmark Decision and begins demolition;
The Issaquah City Council votes to let ISD be the “Agency of Designation” for their own environmental reviews on the site;
2019: The City affirms that Churchome has satisfied all necessary conditions under its demolition permit.
With the demolition complete, King County Superior Court rules that the property no longer meets the landmark criteria. The school district’s Termination of Landmark lawsuit is approved. The district acquires the property for $22 million.
* Providence Point has not been involved in any of these lawsuits!
Those are rumors that continue to be spread either unwittingly, or perhaps… willingly...
Development and Environment
2019 The City of Issaquah’s Planning Policy Commission holds meetings to consider the district’s recommendation that the three parcels be re-zoned to accommodate a high school and elementary with a 2,000-seat lighted stadium, two ball fields, parking, and four lighted tennis courts. One commissioner states one of the commissioners states “I'd like to say for the record that I hope the school district can learn from this and see that this is not the way to engage with communities and this is not the way to try to draw up support in a community that wants to support schools and wants to support children and the way that this came about did not come about very well and for the record I think that it's important to recognize that how we build schools starts with how we build them with our neighbors and that did not happen here.”
PPC Commissioners propose a compromise plan to rezone the smaller parcels as parks for community use and requests that the district use the center site for a downsized school. Commissioners vote unanimously against the ISD’s re-zoning proposal.
2020 The city changes development code to require a parking garage structure; ISD’s architect reconfigures the site to accommodate it.
City staff develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) determining that there would be no environmental impact of the high school.
The City Council votes to reject the city’s own planning commissioners’ recommendations, passing Ordinance No. 2895 with a vote of five to two.
The City of Issaquah’s Development Commission holds hearings on the design of the school and use of the site to determine if it meets the of the city’s building codes. They request that the perimeter buffer be increased, and list 52 Conditions for the district in their final report. Todd Sawain from Bassetti states that they are “not seeking green or LEED certification” and that there is “bark-like texture on the exterior of the buildings to mimic the bark of a tree.”
2021 The City of Issaquah releases its Green Issaquah Project, which urges developers to preserve existing urban forests.
The City grants ISD a tree removal variance, allowing them to cut down and remove 77% of the trees on the site.
Due to concerns with the EIS and in response to public testimony from the Washington State Department of Ecology, Trout Unlimited, the Snoqualmie Tribe, Friends of the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, Friends of Kokanee salmon, and hundreds of district residents, the district’s contractor, Bassetti Architects, holds Environmental Neighborhood Meetings over Zoom.
The City of Sammamish, which owns the road along the site, issues a letter to ISD, stating “Simply put, not all sites can accommodate all programs and facilities; instead of building new facilities on a constrained site, we urge the District to reduce the program scope of this project and instead invest in improving existing nearby facilities creating shared amenities to meet the program needs of the broader District” and requests information be sent to them “before construction permits are issued [by Issaquah] to construct the school campus.”
The City of Issaquah grants ISD construction permits for the site.
Approval
2022 The Issaquah City Council approves the district’s design for the school, to which Mayor Pauly said: “I have served 20 years on the development commission and worked on many school district projects… There’s a huge lost opportunity here. I’m upset that we never talked about what this campus could do to bring our youth forward into the 21st century with something other than a stadium. I heard in the testimony that we were provided for this, somebody called having a stadium at every school ‘equity.’ That’s not. That’s equal. ‘Equity’ is making sure that all of the students in the school have opportunities for what they want to do and not just the sporting community. We should have been able to look at something that was amazing and imaginary and forward-thinking and instead we got a school from the 1970’s.”
The district runs three levies, one of which is to fund mental health support for our kids. Three weeks later, the district laid off counselors to “balance the budget” (King5, May 2, 2022). Prop 2 has $44 million earmarked for the school; the board reallocates that to other projects.
2023 ISD School Board’s president presents to Newcastle City Council with slides that contain “unfortunately project was delayed 3.5 years for litigation after designated historic site [and] additional 2.5 years for permit to be issued by City of Issaquah.”
The district is running a Special Election Bond on February 11, a likely levy in April, and definitely another in 2025! This follows the defeat of November’s bond, in which voters’ voices were resoundingly heard: NO to increased taxes with hidden interest, NO to misguided spending, NO to saying one thing and doing another, NO to misrepresenting your actions, and much more. Please join us to defeat these never-ending cycle.
Above information taken from the following resources:
Churchome has also gone by Plateau Campus LLC, and The City Church of Kirkland
Planning Policy Commission October 24, 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6TKEW0eTw0
Re-zoning with Planning Commission and City Council, Ordinance No. 2895
Development Commission, July 15, 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZOy0-J_DEE
City of Sammamish issues a Letter addressed to Tom Mullins, Director of Capital Projects, April 24, 2021
For more information, please visit our website ccare98027.com or email [email protected]
To help the cause, please send a donation made out to CCARE or donate on our website.
Paid for by CCARE, 3020 Issaquah Pine Lake Road SE #134, Sammamish, WA 98075
Top 5 contributors: Providence Point Umbrella Association, William Eades, Dave Osmer, Diane Exereide, James Berry
PDF provided below:
Noise Pollution
The District has chosen to ignore the impact noise pollution will have on student learning and well-being. Even prior to the proposed street widening and added traffic, traffic noise levels along 228th Avenue exceed legal limits during specific hours for surrounding neighborhoods. On-campus traffic noise is completely ignored in the District’s claims to meet noise code requirements. And as for the ball fields and stadium, only the noise coming directly from loudspeakers is recognized – not bands, not-site traffic, not cheers. The proposed design must be downsized to make for an environment that successful education requires.
Environmental Devastation
Laughing Jacob’s Creek – a major stream, home to threatened Kokanee salmon and classified at the most polluted level on the State’s list for impaired and threatened waters -- originates at Beaver Lake in the City of Sammamish, and meanders through the City’s frequently flooded neighborhoods, before cascading through ravines in the northeast corner of Issaquah and into Lake Sammamish. The proposed ISD school complex sits on a bluff midway between this flood-prone basin in Sammamish and the geologically hazard ravines of Issaquah. For sixty years, the proposed school site was home to a college campus, including classrooms, dorms, church, tennis courts and playfields. The campus buildings were demolished in 2017, but the two wetlands and remaining forests continue to play a key role in maintaining the fragile condition of the Creek, its basin, the ravines, and Lake Sammamish.
If Proposition 2 of the present Levy should pass, the District plans immediately to demolish one wetland, clear cut virtually all trees, and move tens of thousands of tons of bed rock and soil, all of this in a “first stage” of imposing its outdated, sprawling suburban campus design on this fragile urban site. The intent is ultimately to level the entire campus area and cover 75% with impermeable surfaces, while installing a high number of retaining walls. Nearly all stormwater run-off, including that from a few proposed underground detention tanks, will be channeled into a small culvert in poor condition that runs under Providence Point property (but is owned and maintained by the City of Issaquah), and from there, cascade down the landslide-prone ravine and into Lake Sammamish -- all of this within a mile or two of the Seattle earthquake fault. Without the capital funds from Proposition 2, the District will be forced to face reality, to call off its ill-conceived phase 1.
Then and
Now in the Issaquah School District
|
2016 Bond Resolution |
2022 Reality |
|
What A Great Idea |
It Seemed Like A Good Idea
At The Time |
|
$533,500,000 Bond Proceeds |
Still need $44,000,000 to complete High School (on
the April 2022 Levy Ballot) and an unfunded $34,000,000 or more to build
Elementary 17 |
|
4 new schools (1 HS, 1MS, 2 Elem) |
2 new schools built (1 MS, 1 Elem) |
|
Purchase land for 4 schools |
70 acres purchased – enough for 5 schools |
|
High School $120,000,000 budget |
High School $198,000,000 Budget (Nov 2021
budget $182,900,000) |
|
Overcrowded High Schools |
Overcrowded Hallways, Bathrooms, and Lunch Rooms |
|
2020 - 2021 High School Enrollment Projection – 6253
(2017 CFP) |
2020-2021 High School Enrollment Actual – 5566 (2021
CFP) |
|
2031 - 2032 High School Enrollment Projection – 6979
(2017 CFP) |
2031-2032 High School Enrollment Projection – 4537
(2021 CFP) |
|
Middle School 6 - $74,000,000 budget |
Middle School 6 - $107,000,000 budget, $100,000,000
actual as of Dec 2021 |
|
Middle School 6 - “Before purchasing the site -- due diligence --
including geotechnical work, was done,” Director of Capital Projects Tom
Mullins said. |
Middle School 6 - “Unfortunately, some significant underground
runoff from the mountain was not discovered during that process. After the
reengineering efforts and additional review by our city partners, we feel
entirely confident that the site is safe and stable.” |
|
Elementary School 16 - $36,500,000 |
Elementary School 16 - $48,000,000 actual |
|
Elementary School 17 - $34,000,000 |
Postponed – money not available |
|
Original Bond Resolution 1063 – approved by voters -
Remodel Admin Bldg |
Bond Resolution 1093 – approved by School Board to
Amend voter approved Bond resolution - Demolish existing Admin Bldg, Build new school on that site, Purchase new Admin Bldg |
|
|
Note: Admin Bldg not
demolished; Bldg being converted to early learning center |
|
Remodel Admin Bldg
$7,500,000 |
Purchase Admin Bldg
$22,500,000 + Remodel Admin Bldg
$14,000,000 Total = $36,500,000 |
|
Discovery Remodel $9,000,000 |
Discovery Remodel - $14,000,000 actual |
|
Endeavour Remodel $9,000,000 |
Endeavor Remodel - $11,900,000 actual |
|
Cougar Ridge Remodel $9,000,000 |
Cougar Ridge Remodel - $15,000,000 actual |
|
Sunset Remodel $7,000,000 |
Sunset Remodel - $11,000,000 actual |
Sources: Board Resolution 1063, Resolution 1093,
Superintendent recommended list of 2016 bond Projects, 2017 Capital Facilities
Plan (2017 CFP), 2021 Capital Facilities Plan (2021 CFP), December 2021 Budget
Status Report presented on March 10,2022 board meeting, Issaquah School
District website