Part Two: 150 citizens protest proposed changes to Woodinville Village.

Awaiting authorization to post citizen reporter's name, emailed 9/27

Part One of my 9/26 Woodinville Village story. (next story down)

Over 150 people attended the meeting last night.

Hopefully there will be an article in the Woodinville Weekly. The proposal was definitely opposed by all those attending, for a variety of reasons. Erin Martindale (Woodinville city planner) will be taking comments; this was an informational meeting, so all comments will be helpful. EMAIL your comments to Erin at: erinm@ci.woodinville.wa.us.

Erin went through the proposed changes to city code, which will actually apply to the entire tourist business district.

These code changes will allow for 60 foot buildings, movie theaters, car
dealerships, 20,000 square foot stores, a much greater type of use than
presently allowed, and only a 10% tree cover, of which the proposal asks that
landscaping plants be considered trees! It also has a large amount of
apartment/timeshare residential component.

From the residents who spoke that knew the history of the site, it became obvious that the construction company is in trouble and trying to find a way out of agreements that have already been signed. The cost of the Hollywood Hills & RED-WOOD roundabout is apparently $9 million so far, and they owe the city a portion of it. The cost to the city for entertaining this proposal will also be considerable. There have been no studies (traffic, environmental, etc.) done on this proposal. The actual proposed code changes were handed out, but not available online. Contact Erin, she has more info!

Here is the link to the Woodinville Planning Commission agenda page: http://woodinville.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=4. Look at the August 19, 2009 agenda for the Woodinville Village proposal for the Tourist Business zone.

Website for Woodinville Village: http://www.woodinvillevillage.com/