Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Part One: Woodinville Village - Tourism and Agriculture in the Sammamish Valley is up for grabs.

This story was emailed by Barbara Lau, 8/26 Redmond resident.

Hopefully many of you have already heard about the proposed changes to the zoning for the Woodinville Village (formerly "Wine" Village, future car dealership??) This is the property near Tully's and the Hollywood School House. The City of Woodinville planners will be at a town hall meeting at the Sammamish Valley Grange tonight, 8/26, at 7 pm to discuss the changes. If you can't make the meeting you may email your comments to the City of Woodinville at: erinm@ci.woodinville.wa.us

Here is the info received from the Root Connection:

"This area was supposed to be zoned for "tourism" which included some
commercial uses, but with a lot of restrictions. Now the developer would like to
have that changed so that the property will be more valuable. Woodinville is
considering this request. If the changes are allowed, this would mean a higher
density than now is allowed in downtown Woodinville, less tree cover than
anywhere else, buildings up to 65 ft, and uses that could include warehouse
stores (like Costco), home improvement centers (like Home Depot) and other
things such as auto dealerships, warehouses, etc."
The Sammamish Valley Grange will host a Town Hall meeting on Wednesday, August 26, from 7-9 pm at 14654 148th NE.

Very few Woodinville residents know about this proposal. It is especially important for the planning commission to hear from Woodinville residents. However, everyone with an interest in keeping the valley as a beautiful rural agriculture valley as it has been designated, should attend this meeting (or email Erin) and let the Planning Commission know their opinion.

This zoning change is very important to the whole Sammamish Valley, as other developers will also want to follow if a precedent is set. If this occurs we could easily be looking at to similar situation to the former agricultural valleys to the south of us, like Tukwila and Kent.
--by Barbara Lau

The Root Connection, http://rootllc.com/
Woodinville Villiage, http://woodinvillevillage.com/

City Contact:
Erin Martindale
City of Woodinville
17301 133rd Avenue NE
Woodinville, WA 98072
425-877-2283
erinm@ci.woodinville.wa.us (email comments to Erin Martindale)
DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENTS OR OPINION YOU WANT TO SHARE HERE?

4 comments:

  1. Too: City of Woodinville and Woodinville Village Ownership

    Hello,

    I just found out about the Town Hall Meeting which was held on August 26th, 2009 to discuss the proposed (?) zoning changes for the Woodinville Village.

    I live just up the hill from this site and the thought of an industrial type project whether it be a large whole sale business, car dealership, stupid prices x 10 or anything else in this range seems like a complete waste of a very valuable piece of land.

    I think the owner's of this property and City of Woodinville need to uphold up their promises and build something suitable to this beautiful valley and not corrupt it w/ ugly buildings etc.... I realize the economy has turned south however everyone else is feeling this too and to "sell out" and just try to make money from big business is not the way to do business. The owners/city had agreed on a plan on how to use this site and just because they have invested x amount of dollars and made an error in their calculations for investors this is no reason to make the surrounding area pay for their mistakes by having to drive by a monstrosity each day multiple times.

    My hope is that this group will do what's best for the surrounding area residents and businesses.



    Sincerely,

    Karen Quarre
    Woodinville, WA

    ReplyDelete
  2. Now i haave an acct. Did not intend to be labled as anonymous ....I'd be very interested to hear from others in this area about what their opinions are on this proposed change and any details about the progess from the City and Woodinville Village Onwership group....Cheers! Karen

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  3. Ms. Quarre - thank you for commenting on the proposed zoning changes by Woodinville.

    I would like to put your comment on the "front page' as a LETTER but need your permission because you entered it as "anonymous". If you agree to posting this with your name (and a few edits for space) please tell me so my emailing me at redmondblog@gmail.com. Thanks. BY

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  4. We have a small "agricultural" zoned business operating in the Sammamish Valley (closer to Woodinville's southern border) near Olympic Nursery and Kirshner Trailers. These are long-time businesses operating in "agriculturally" zoned Samm Valley (which I believe is governed by King County).

    Historically, the Samm Valley is known as among the most "fertile land" in the country. This issue is of great importance because we all need to eat locally grown food.

    Recently, the Kirchner property was posted "FOR SALE." The 5-acre parcel is home to some 5 businesses. The land developer could not build out the Kirchner property because it is zoned for agricultural use (by King County).

    I can only imagine the Woodinville Village is a done deal. Construction of new roadways is well underway, and the village itself is partially constructed. It all looks like a big mess now, but if the village is actually completed it will change the landscape forever.

    Remember those large metal BULLS that were grazing the Woodinville Village? The art sculpture is now visible down near South Olympia, on the way to Ocean Shores! And that is NO BULL...

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