Building the proposed Wellington Hills Park Sports Complex just might be the same as pulling a loose string in mommy's wool sweater. Pull hard enough and the sweater is ruined. Guess what? That heirloom sweater will never be the same. Snohomish County seems to be in the string pulling business.
The issue of the County's inappropriate plan for a "Regional Tournament-level Sports Complex" is fueled by several factors:
• To build the Brightwater Sewage Plant in Snohomish County, King County gave Snohomish County 70 million mitigation dollars ... which caused Snohomish County authorities to swoon (free money!).
• The nearby Brightwater Sewage Plant is a housing, infrastructure & business growth generator.
• Special interest groups and land developers whispered their siren songs to County authorities.
• In existence, near Brightwater, is a quiet rural community with a jewel-like park.
• The plan: A Sports Complex with artificial turf fields, stadium lights, PA systems, 50,000 sq. ft. indoor sports fields w/ offices, 60,000 sq. ft. indoor mountain bike building & parking for more than 750 cars...
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| Brightwater Sewage Plant |
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| Wellington Hills Park |
In the backwash of the mitigation agreement, a community park was to be provided for those living near Brightwater. That wasn't good enough for the County, a community park was myopic - They wanted a park that would generate revenue ... So, instead of an appropriately designed park for local residents they proposed a humongous sports complex.
Once again, we're facing another short-sighted version of Manifest Destiny:
There's 100 acres of land (the park) - "Let's develop it!" ... We're witnessing another attempt that spreads urbanization where it need not be. This is local version of the story that's transformed the United States, with all it's aftershocks and fallouts ... sprawl - traffic jams - unnecessary noise and light pollution - almost no land-use planning - spread-out population - minimal effort to design harmony between people and nature leaving people with jangled nerves and zero tranquility.
The following photos are the arc of the boom years of World War II to the present.
It begins with a bulldozer and it never quite ends … except it will probably end badly for both humans and the planet.
It certainly will end badly for Wellington Hills and Woodinville Washington.
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| Bulldozing orange tree orchards |
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| mass produced housing |
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| frame houses for single families |
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| row upon row |
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| housing engulfs orchards |
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| The myth was born - everyone could own a "castle" |
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| Business was good, lines of people look at model homes |
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| Instant neighborhoods |
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| Old was out, freeways were in |
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| Today's version of a super highway |
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| Today's landscape: distant city, freeways and sprawl |
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| Of course more cars are needed |
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| Tract homes in the 1960s |
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| Tract homes 2013 |
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| Instead of urban planning, every community has this |
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| factories get bigger - people want stuff |
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| Oil is needed for all those homes, cars and factories |
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| Offshore oil is also a boom industry |
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| Coal is in big demand |
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| Open pit mining for more and more consumables |
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| Waste on a grand scale |
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| e waste, another booming business |
But, hey, that's progress, right?
Tell me again why a sports complex is more important than a Green Space?
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| Wellington Hills Park Trees |
Photos are from LIFE Google, Edward Burtynsky's "Manufactured Landscapes" and several are mine.
Bill Stankus
April 2013
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