At its Oct. 11 special meeting, the Sammamish City Council unanimously approved authorization of a contract agreement with engineering consultant Otak for design of the Zackuse Creek culvert replacement project.

The project is estimated to cost $1.2 million, senior stormwater program manager Tawni Dalziel told council members, with $522,400 coming from grant funding through King County and $677,600 expected to be matched by the city.

Dalziel said the project has three objectives to achieve its goal of removing culvert barriers and providing a habitat for kokanee salmon: 1) replace the East Lake Sammamish Parkway culvert with one that is passable for fish 2) realign and regrade roughly 200 linear feet of Zackuse Creek upstream of East Lake Sammamish Parkway and 3) coordinate with other King County culvert projects.

Following the approval of the design contract, a preliminary design is scheduled to be created by next February. Permits are expected to be submitted in March, a final design is expected to be completed between April and December of 2017 and construction is expected to take place between July and September of 2018.

Last year’s return of about 5,500 fish was the third highest in the last two decades. Another large spawning run is expected in 2018-19.

Prior to the contract discussion, McKenna Sweet Dorman of the Snoqualmie Tribe gave a presentation to council members.

She stated the once plentiful “little red fish” kokanee are now threatened in Lake Sammamish and that it was the goal of the Snoqualmie Tribe to join in efforts to help return the kokanee to healthy spawning streams.

“It is our duty to protect our lands and our sacred places,” she said.