Yesterday, January 28, 2014, I and a number of residents from the Wellington Hills/Woodinville area attended the Snohomish County Council's Operations Committee.
Two of the County's scheduled "Discussion Points" were: • Parks Update
• Snoco Parks and Recreation Visioning Plan for RCO (Washington State Recreation & Conservation Office).
At the beginning of the meeting the public is allowed to speak ... each person is limited to 3 minutes so it's difficult to go into much detail on whatever you feel you need to say.
Anyway, here's my three minutes:
Does the Snohomish County Council or the County’s Parks Department understand the difference between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” or the concept of fiscal responsibility?
Does the Snohomish County Council or the County’s Parks Department understand the difference between “appropriate” and “inappropriate” or the concept of fiscal responsibility?
The plan to replace Wellington Hills Park with
a "regional tournament-level
athletic field site" puts both south Snohomish County and the City of
Woodinville in a precarious situation.
The proposed plan is so huge and so disruptive that it would radically change the area and it would most certainly degrade the quality of our daily lives.
Look through your kitchen window and imagine this … a sports complex that would cover as much ground as Safeco Field with parking lots equal to that of Costco… jammed into a rurally zoned residential area.
If the plan proceeds, the areas on both sides of 240th SE (between Route 9 and Bostain Road) will be drastically transformed. And, “drastic” means de-watering the area then followed by the costly removal of 250,000 cubic yards of soil from the south side of 240th and dumping it on the rolling terrain seen on the north side of 240th.
The reason for this incredible altering of the landscape? … It’s just to make the area flat.
Not only is the proposed plan for a regional sports complex inappropriate for a residential neighborhood, it is rife with problems, contradictions and waste.
If it’s built, we will have frustrating traffic jams and unnecessary congestion … there will be unprecedented noise and light pollution … an increase in crime, lowered property values and the possibility of required sewer and water hook-ups.
The proposed “special interests plan” is a waste of public money that will result in unnecessary and unjustified development and, adding further insult, it’s an inappropriate use of an existing natural park.
Instead of providing a Community Park – as was called for in the Brightwater mitigation deal … the plan for a "regional tournament-level athletic field site" is nothing but a boondoggle.
Bill Stankus
The proposed plan is so huge and so disruptive that it would radically change the area and it would most certainly degrade the quality of our daily lives.
Look through your kitchen window and imagine this … a sports complex that would cover as much ground as Safeco Field with parking lots equal to that of Costco… jammed into a rurally zoned residential area.
If the plan proceeds, the areas on both sides of 240th SE (between Route 9 and Bostain Road) will be drastically transformed. And, “drastic” means de-watering the area then followed by the costly removal of 250,000 cubic yards of soil from the south side of 240th and dumping it on the rolling terrain seen on the north side of 240th.
The reason for this incredible altering of the landscape? … It’s just to make the area flat.
Not only is the proposed plan for a regional sports complex inappropriate for a residential neighborhood, it is rife with problems, contradictions and waste.
If it’s built, we will have frustrating traffic jams and unnecessary congestion … there will be unprecedented noise and light pollution … an increase in crime, lowered property values and the possibility of required sewer and water hook-ups.
The proposed “special interests plan” is a waste of public money that will result in unnecessary and unjustified development and, adding further insult, it’s an inappropriate use of an existing natural park.
Instead of providing a Community Park – as was called for in the Brightwater mitigation deal … the plan for a "regional tournament-level athletic field site" is nothing but a boondoggle.
Bill Stankus
2 comments:
Having attended that meeting, I'd like to add that the Parks Department stated that Snohomish County residents feel strongly that Parks should concentrate on adding features to (and renovating) existing facilities rather than building new parks.
And they also stated that residents' top priorities are Trails, Leisure and Water Access.
And exactly who who will be on the hook for paying for this monstrosity?
Parks wants to move a quarter million yards of dirt on over 46 acres of land for the entire project…but they have no funding for anything beyond BUILDING the athletic fields.
What's that going to look like?
"So bleak is the picture... that the bulldozer and not the atomic bomb may turn out to be the most destructive invention of the 20th century." ~Philip Shabecoff, New York Times
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