In his quarterly report to the Sammamish City Council on Tuesday night, Eastside Fire and Rescue (EFR) Deputy Chief Jeff Griffin said that connecting 244th Avenue Northeast, in the area south of Northeast 8th Street, would save critical minutes in responding to fire and medical emergencies in the city.

As a number of residents of the area near the western corner of Allen Lake urge the city to consider the environmental impacts of a roadway that would connect 244th, Griffin said that making the city more connected would pay dividends to the city’s residents.

He said between two to three minutes would be shaved off response times, a critical statistic in the case of cardiac arrests and those requiring resuscitation.

After the presentation, Councilmen Jack Barry and Lee Fellinge said that, following their involvement in the annual EFR retreat, they were eager for the council to explore ways in which the relationship between the city and fire services could be improved, and explore what alternatives were available.

Annexation approved

At Tuesday night’s meeting, the council unanimously voted to approve the annexation of the Camden Park neighborhood and adjacent areas.

The approval comes following the recommendation of the King County Boundary Review Board to accept the annexation.

The date of annexation into the city was registered as Tuesday, April 14, 2009.

Resident Chris Timms, who was involved in the annexation process, said that he felt the Camden Park annexation push had “forged a new road.”

“It’s perhaps now fashionable to annex into the city of Sammamish,” he said.

The city is now in the process of considering the annexation requests of two other neighborhoods – the Aldarra/Montaine Estate to the east of Klahanie, and the small Rosemont neighborhood to the north-west of the Sahalee Golf and Country Club.

Those neighborhoods have submitted their petitions carrying signatures of 10 percent of the residents.

The next stage of their process is to collect a 60 percent petition, which will be considered by the council along with the financial and logistic connotations of accepting responsibility for the neighborhoods, and the likelihood of capital works.