My Response to Snohomish County's LDA (Land Disturbing Activity) for Wellington Hills Park

Regarding the Notice for the "Pending Land-Use Application" … the "Land Disturbance" for Wellington Hills Park …

Every public display, every process that has dotted i's and crossed t's, every paper trail regarding Snohomish County Parks Department's proposal for Wellington Hills Park has cleverly ignored residents of the Wellington Hills/Woodinville region, mis-valued the existing park, and proceeded with total disregard for the original purpose of the Brightwater mitigation agreement - to build a Community Park for those living near Brightwater.

Instead, everything we've seen from the Parks Department has been:

1.   Misleading
2.   Incomplete
3.   Inaccurate
4.   Irresponsible

Furthermore, the Parks Department's proposal cannot be justified by either common sense or public need.

Why, in the name of all that's priceless and sacred … would you rip-up an existing eye-appealing park filled with tall trees and wildlife? 

Wellington Hills Park, as a natural park, could easily become a crown jewel for the County and an example of best-use of parks as a green space between commerce (on Route 9) and the adjacent residential neighborhoods (in this case, Wellington Hills and Woodinville).

Instead, this "Pending Land-Use Application" makes mockery of land management, ecological concerns, best use of public property and trivializes (in a major way) a residentially zoned rural area with all the associated vulgarities of gouging out the land to build tournament-level athletic fields adjacent to people’s homes. Think traffic congestion along with light and noise and pollution!

If you haven't personally experienced Wellington Hills Park, I invite you to visit my blog at http://neighborstosavewellingtonpark.blogspot.com/. You’ll see photographs of the park in sunny, rainy and snowy conditions … as it’s enjoyed by the public today.

What a waste of taxpayer money it would be to destroy the area by building the proposed tournament-level athletic fields and other commercial venues … which are designed, not for the public, but primarily for the limited benefit of private clubs and their tournaments.

Lastly, I see no reason to do a line item dissection of the land use proposal simply because the initial reason for the proposal is in error. The Parks Department began with a false premise (the so-called need for a regional sports complex in Wellington Hills) and any debate about it assumes the Parks Department's proposal actually has merit.

Bill Stankus
Woodinville, WA
Snohomish County