City of Sammamish Abandons Inglewood Roads
Residents given one month to come up with a plan that replaces nearly a century of public maintenance.
What happened? Residents who live in the Inglewood neighborhood of Sammamish received an unwelcome letter last Saturday from the City of Sammamish’s public works director, stating that "the city has no choice but to cease maintenance of and enforcement on Inglewood's roads by the end of June." This shocking development has left homeowners scrambling to understand why, and what options they have moving forward.
Bottom Line Up Front: The City claims Washington's Non-User Statute forces them to abandon road maintenance in Inglewood, but other cities in Washington State have found creative solutions to similar problems. Inglewood residents have legal and practical options to explore before accepting this outcome.
The City of Sammamish has announced that it will cease maintaining roads in the Inglewood neighborhood by June 30, 2025. According to the city, most of Inglewood's streets were "never formally opened to the public" despite being platted in 1889. The city claims that under Washington's Non-User Statute, ownership of these streets has reverted to adjacent property owners, designating them as private roads that the city cannot legally maintain with public funds.
Services ending include:
Road paving and pothole repair
Snow and ice removal
Vegetation management and ditch maintenance
Street sweeping
Parking enforcement
Emergency services (911 response) will continue, but residents face the prospect of organizing their own road, vegetation, and possibly stormwater maintenance.
A brief timeline:
Inglewood was platted in 1889.
King County (unincorporated) maintained Inglewood until Sammamish’s incorporation in 1999.
The City of Sammamish has been maintaining Inglewood for 26 years (this is a critical figure to remember, read further below on why).
Understanding Washington's Non-User Statute
Washington's Non-User Statute is a legal principle that can cause public roads to revert to private ownership if certain conditions aren't met. While the specific statute isn't codified in a single RCW, it's rooted in common law principles and various Washington statutes governing municipal authority and property rights (see RCW 35A.11.020 for municipal powers over public ways).
The statute addresses situations where:
Streets were platted but never formally opened: Roads appear on old subdivision maps but were never officially accepted by the public.
Time limits weren't met: Under Washington law, public roads must be established through formal processes within specific timeframes.
Continuous public use wasn't maintained: Roads can lose public status if they aren't continuously used and maintained as public ways.
The 10-year rule: Washington law allows governments to gain legal road rights through continuous public use and maintenance, even on private property. If a government maintains and uses a road for 10 years in an open, obvious, and continuous way without the property owner's permission, the government can establish permanent legal rights to that road. Additionally, Washington law (RCW 36.75.080) states that highways "used as public highways for a period of not less than ten years are county roads."
Decades of public maintenance by King County and then 26 years by the City of Sammamish should have created legal public rights for Inglewood’s roads.1
How have other Washington cities handled similar issues?
From my research, I could not find an instance where Washington cities facing a similar dilemma so hastily cut off maintenance services. Instead, they worked to find pre-emptive solutions and compromises:
Seattle acknowledges similar issues in its official policy but continues maintaining disputed roads, stating, "Property owners are responsible for any unopened street areas next to their property," while still providing some services.
Bellevue implemented a detailed municipal code requiring private road covenants to be approved and recorded before allowing private roads—a preventive approach likely learned from past disputes.
Yakima established formal procedures for "accepting private roads to public ownership," including legal processes for resolving ownership confusion.
The bomb cyclone hit Inglewood hard. What happens in the next emergency?
Last November’s devastating bomb cyclone killed at least two people in the region and left over 600,000 Puget Sound Energy (PSE) customers without power for days. Eastside Fire and Rescue’s (EFR) Deputy Chief of Special Operations called the damage “catastrophic...the top two [worse events] of my career” as they received more than 250 calls for downed trees and an additional 70 calls related to fires and carbon monoxide concerns.
Inglewood was among the hardest hit areas in Sammamish. Cranes had to be brought in to hoist away huge trees that fell on several homes. The city had to clear the roads in order for PSE crews and cranes to access the damaged areas to restore service and clear the devastation.
The city not only had to clear the roads to provide access to these crews and their heavy equipment; they also had to clear the roads so that residents whose homes were rendered uninhabitable could evacuate.
In the next emergency, like a bomb cyclone, what are Inglewood residents to do if their roads are not maintained and cleared by the city? This summer will, unfortunately, bring another wave of “above-normal risk” wildfires. Are Inglewood residents expected to manage the vegetation and highly forested vicinity on their own?
Inglewood does not have a homeowners association. It needs one now.
It is unreasonable for the city to expect Inglewood residents to assume maintenance of their roads, vegetation maintenance, and snow and ice removal within 30 days. While not mentioned in the letter, the possibility of adding stormwater management by maintaining water culverts will be another unexpected and costly endeavor.
Inglewood residents will need to organize and consider the responsibilities and costs of maintaining their neighborhood on their own. As a former board member of my homeowners’ association (HOA), here are a few questions I thought of:
What are the annual costs for road maintenance, snow removal, and emergency tree clearing?
How will common areas be cared for? You need to think of everything from signage to gates to flower beds.
How will the HOA vet and select contractors?
How will the HOA calculate the dues needed? How many households would share these costs? How will the costs be allocated?
Who will serve on the HOA board? How will they hold elections?
Will all homeowners participate? Will participation be mandated? Will the HOA place liens on homes that don’t pay dues?
Sammamish residents: This could happen to your neighborhood.
All Sammamish residents should demand accountability and answers from our local government, lest other neighborhoods receive the same notice on their doors.
Demand due diligence and transparency.
Has the city conducted a comprehensive audit of road ownership throughout Sammamish? How did Sammamish incorporate these roads into its maintenance system without verifying ownership during the incorporation process? What safeguards exist to prevent similar surprises in other neighborhoods? Why wasn't this discovered during the city's incorporation process?
Demand accountability and solutions.
After nearly a century of public maintenance, why the rush to cut off services in 30 days? Why not a gradual transition to allow Inglewood residents to organize and advocate for themselves? What are the liabilities that the city cannot accept or afford? What legal opinions did the city obtain? Were alternatives explored? What are they? Were other cities and King County consulted? Has the city explored purchase or easement negotiations?
What can Sammamish residents learn from this?
This rigid, abrupt, and unempathetic posture the City of Sammamish has taken in this situation demonstrates that our local government is not holding itself accountable to its number one purpose – serving the city’s residents.
The Inglewood situation exposes serious gaps in municipal competence, transparency, and accountability. While legal technicalities may complicate the issues, the complete abandonment of problem-solving suggests a city more interested in limiting liability than protecting and serving its residents
The City of Sammamish will hold a public meeting for Inglewood residents on Thursday, June 12, 2025 at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. Residents can also submit questions online through the city's dedicated form.
Sammamish Local News will be present at the meeting and will do follow-up reporting on this issue.
For more information, visit the city's Inglewood Right of Way webpage, which contains links to the Inglewood Neighborhood Map, the letter from the city’s public works director, and a map of the original Inglewood Plat (these are also attached to this article).
For more detailed information on Washington's road vacation and ownership laws, see the Municipal Research and Services Center's guide to street vacations and Washington's statutes on municipal rights-of-way authority. The specific requirements for prescriptive easements are detailed in MRSC's easement guidance.
