Opinion: Did the District Buy a Hazardous Waste Dump?

LWSD property viewed from south along NE 67th St.

When LWSD announced that they were purchasing the 25-acre Cadman site for $40 million, I sent a public records request to the District for documents and information about the purchase.  I got a reply that I would get the information by May 28, 2021.  The district closed on the property on May 6.  It has or is next to a giant pile of construction debris (see picture).

The Bargain and Sales Deed that I found on King County's parcel viewer contains an "Environmental Release" on pages 8-9 that states that there may be hazardous substances on the property.  Page 10 grants a "Noise, Dust and Vibration Easement" to Cadman so that they can still run their gravel operation next door.

It is disturbing that the District agreed to these terms.  It's also disturbing that the District was so secretive about this purchase until a few days before the sale was completed.  Did the District just buy a hazardous waste dump?

-- Susan Wilkins, opinion

    5/19/2021

No, I can't imagine the District would ever build a school over a hazardous waste dump.  B. Yoder

 

Downtown Redmond Marymoor Link Extension Light Rail To Begin Construction

Starting soon: Sound Transit's light rail project near Marymoor Park

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As soon as the week of August 3rd, Sound Transit will begin construction on the segment of the Downtown Redmond Link Extension Light Rail that goes along SR 520 at the northern boundary of Marymoor Park.

This construction activity will not directly affect the park nor require closure of any Marymoor facilities.

Sound Transit will install fencing around the construction zone along the north boundary of the park and expects to start removing trees within the construction zone as soon as September 1.

Sound Transit expects light rail construction near Marymoor Park to continue through summer 2023.

For more information

Sound Transit’s Downtown Redmond Link Extension

Ryan Bianchi, Community Outreach Specialist

Comment:  This is an environmentally sensitive project with a section of the rail running about 5 feet over Bear Creek. Scores of trees will be removed (most of them small.) Off site mitigation will be employed with higher ratios of tree replacements than normal. Also, there is a wetland downstream that will be dredged into a back-channel. This will be good for the salmon. Myself, a City engineer, a City planner and Redmond resident Susan Wilkins made the site visitation. -- Bob Yoder

Primary Candidate's Explanatory Statements, On August 6th Ballot

City of Redmond, Mayor

• Angela Birney
• Andrew Koeppen
• Steve Fields

City of Redmond, Council Position 7

• Shad Ansari
• David Carson
• Carlos Jimenez
• Osama Hamdan

Lake Washington School District 414, Director District 5

• Siri Bliesner
• John Towers
• Susan Wilkins

UPDATED: Willowmoor, Lake Sammamish - Sammamish River floodplain

A member of the task force, Susan Wilkins of Redmond said implementing either option would only reduce the lake level by 1 inch.  When Bear Creek is in a the flood stage the Sammamish River backs up reducing out-flow.  5/31/19 

The "Willowmoor transition zone" connecting Lake Sammamish to the Sammamish River is under scrutiny by environmentalists and recreational boaters.  Willow trees were planted years ago in the transition zone to provide salmon and bird habitat.  Since then, they've grown causing the outgoing water to back up, raising lake levels to the point boat docks are submerged. To compensate, the willows were cut down to lower lake levels for the boaters.  But the wildlife habitat was once again challenged.  So you see, restoration of the transition zone is complicated and has been studied for over five years.  For an enlightening, full summary of the "Willowmoor Floodplain Restoration Project "READ MORE."

LETTER: School taxes are growing too fast

LWSD is considering an additional $120M levy. 

This 6-year [school] levy will cost homeowners $29.00 for every $100,000 in assessed value. So the owner of a $700,000 house would pay $203 more per year in property taxes (2020-2026.)

Property taxes on the $700,000 house are already:

State School Taxes: $1330
McCleary School Taxes: $700
LWSD School Taxes: $1900
Roads, City, ST3, Hosp, etc: $2,800
Total: $6730

School taxes now make up 60% of our property taxes. This levy provides 4 elementary school additions and an addition at Lake Washington High School that was rebuilt in 2011. The District isn't even addressing the construction projects authorized by the Long Term Facilities Task Force. They will ask taxpayers to fund these in the 2020 bond measure. Additionally, the McCleary tax is scheduled to increase by 30% in 2021.

I've lived in the same house for 20+ years. In 2012, my property tax bill was $4998 and the school taxes were $2600. In 2018, my property tax bill was $7,900 and the school taxes were $4700. The McCleary tax accounted for $795 of my 2018 tax bill. It appears that nearly $1200 of my annual property taxes are dedicated to paying off LWSD construction bonds for all the new schools that were built in the last 20 years. I don't feel that the quality of education has improved with all the money that has been spent.

 -- Susan Wilkins
    Redmond Learning Community

Note:  McCleary taxes pay for salaries and teacher support, NOT for classrooms.  BY

Opinion: We need more school buses

If all students in LWSD who were eligible for school bus transportation were provided bus service and rode the bus to school, the traffic jams around our schools would not exist. The trouble is that our students are not provided with buses so their parents must drive them to school. 

Note that in Washington State, students who must walk more than a mile to school are eligible for bus transportation as part of basic education. (See the section on the 1-mile walk-area in 28A-160-160 in the R C W)

Water Tenders "Salmon Seeson" Cancelled, No Rain

Water Tender President Susan Wilkins at 
 Issaquah fish hatchery 

Lexie was a member of Water Tenders 

At tour of the Salmon Fish Hatchery with Water Tender President Susan Wilkins.  . 

Every year from September - October during the "Salmon Seeson" you will find the Water Tenders at North Bear Creek educating children, families and adults about the life cycle of salmon.  This Fall was the 4-year cycle for sockeye so we were expecting a good run.  The Water Tenders put up sandwich board signs along Avondale Road to direct viewers to the creek. We usually see a lot of  returning salmon but this year owing to a prolonged drought there were none to be seen so the exhibit was shut down. Usually over 100 viewers walk up the trail to see coho, sockeye and chinook salmon.

Every year the Water Tenders pick up 1-2 Chinook salmon from the Issaquah fish hatchery for their Bear Creel exhibit.  Susan Wilkins, Water Tenders President says," this is an excellent way for viewers to see and touch the gills, scaling, and fins for show and tell."  Here's a picture of Susan at the hatchery standing by two chinook she was saving for the exhibit.

Salmon docent holding chinook 

According to their mission statement, "The Water Tenders are a group of individuals who care about the wetlands and streams in King County. We are your neighbors, friends, and family. All of us are willing donate our time and energy to preserving, protecting and restoring the wonderful natural  heritage of Washington State. We believe that it is our community’s responsibility to be good stewards of our natural resources in order to preserve them for the next generations. Water Tenders was founded in 1989 and is proud to have spearheaded and accomplished many efforts towards those ends."

A few other Water Tenders projects are removal of invasive Knotweed and Blackberry shrubs from wetlands and creeks, monitoring the Western Pearl Schell populations -- an indicator of stream health -- measuring rainfall within the Bear Creek Basin, and activism to protect wetlands and streams from proposed environmental sensitive land-use developments.   

If you'd like more information about the Water Tenders or want to join this non--profit ($25) please e-mail Bob at redmondblog@gmail.com  

 -- Bob Yoder, Fall of 2018
    Photos, Yoder

The Planning Commission openly deliberates on key issues, the Comprehensive Plan

(l-r)  Stephanie Rodriquez, Vidyonana Rajpatkak, Chair Scott Beithan, Vice-Chair Roy Captain, Phil Miller, Sherri Nichols.
 Planning Director Karen Haluza and  two Senior Planners are sitting with backs turned.  

Every year the City offers citizens, developers, property owners and other entities an opportunity to amend (update) the Comprehensive Plan. This amending process is a Planning Commission duty of high significance and importance.

The Planning Commission has been meeting for months to take input and review five re-zoning proposals for consideration of being "calendared" or docketed for further review and approval by the Commission and Council.     

This LINK provides every topic currently under review by the Planning Commission.   It includes docketing proposals, memos, staff recommendations, public/developer comments, exhibits and project approvals. Below are a few topics under review:    

1)  The City is currently proposing to update to their Capital Facilities Element titled   "Future Vision for Redmond - Capital Facilities Element."  The proposal is already docketed and contains a lot of interesting information about the City's future plans. Find it HERE. 

2)  It's my understanding a proposed "Quadrant Homes" rezone from "Business Park" to "Mixed-Use Development" will be re-docketed.   Quadrant is considering constructing 165 town homes, 300 apartments, and 10,000 s.f. of retail/commercial space on 15.57 acres -- on the SW corner of NE 124th & Willows Road. Installing a stoplight on the corner is in the proposal.  

The N.Y,C. developer

3)  A controversial, long-winded proposal by an aggressive N.Y.C developer, Capital Partners is under consideration by the commission.  The developer wants to rezone 4.21 acres on the corner of Avondale and NE 104th from R-4 to R-30. Staff members (the "TC") are not recommending approval though a rezone to R-12 for senior housing is a possibility.  (It seems the commission usually goes along with many or most of the TC's recommendations.)  

4)   A while back, the owners of Redmond Town Center (RTC) proposed a modification of their "Open Space Designation" agreement with the city.  They have since withdrawn this proposal.  

Interesting background:  A 1997 agreement between the City and RTC conveyed a perpetual, non-inclusive easement to allow "among other things, the right to operate a farmers market"  Presently, the "Saturday Market" is located on this 2-acre easement.  Termination of the Open Space Designation requires a mutual agreement between the City and RTC.  

5)  Susan Wilkins, a Redmond citizen, asked the commission to docket an amendment to the zoning code to "adequately plan school facilities" so students residing inside the City of Redmond are not required to travel outside the Urban Growth Boundary in order to attend school. The Planning Commission voted against the proposal.  Ms. Wilkins put in a ton of work, without pay, to formulate this proposal.  Planning commissioners don't get paid either.  

The commissioners are citizen volunteers living in Redmond, appointed by the Mayor and approved by Council.  They don't make land-use decisions; they conduct Hearings and serve only as an advisory body to Council.  

B.Yoder
photos/by

Disclosure:  Trying to understand the Planning Commission's reviews of complex topics is very challenging.  Expect errors, omissions and mis-representations. 

Water Tenders is resurrected

Key Club members help to restore a Bear Creek tributary
My daughter Lexie is far left; she recruited the Key Club
members.

Water Tenders is a group of people who care about the wetlands and streams in the Bear Creek area and King county.

The torch of Water Tenders (WT) leadership was passed from President Eric Soshea to Susan Wilkins at the WT Annual Meeting last week.  Many of the of the original tenders were present, including a relative of the founder. Leader Terry Lavender and past president Dick Schaetzel were out of town. Gary Smith was present. Debbie Aftebro from Novelty Hill had never attended a WT meeting yet she collects and measures rainwater for Guy Baltzelle's program. She wanted to meet Guy but unfortunately he wasn't at the meeting.  Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl was up front with Susan and Eric. Shirley was once President and is now the Treasurer, replacing John Reinke,who replaced Dick S.  One of the new board members, Heather Poe was president and secretary for WT in the Early 2000 - 2005 era (before Susan became a member.) Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl was also once a president along with five others. 

In her presentation, (video) Susan held up a map of the entire Bear Creek watershed. She was re-directing and expanding our attention to the entire Bear Creek watershed.  She states:

UPDATED: Bear Creek advocates hold meeting

Credit/ Water Tender John Reinke 

Water Tenders is a group of people who care about the wetlands and streams in the Bear Creek area and King county.

The torch of Water Tenders (WT) leadership was passed from President Eric Soshea to Susan Wilkins at the WT Annual Meeting last week.  Many of the of the original tenders were present, including a relative of the founder. Leader Terry Lavender and past president Dick Schaetzel were out of town. Gary Smith was present. Debbie Aftebro from Novelty Hill had never attended a WT meeting yet she collects and measures rainwater for Guy Baltzelle's program. She wanted to meet Guy but unfortunately he wasn't at the meeting.  Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl was up front with Susan and Eric. Shirley was once President and is now the Treasurer, replacing John Reinke,who replaced Dick S.  One of the new board members, Heather Poe was president and secretary for WT in the Early 2000 - 2005 era (before Susan became a member.) Shirley Doolittle-Egerdahl was also once a president along with five others. 

In her presentation, (video) Susan held up a map of the entire Bear Creek watershed. She was re-directing and expanding our attention to the entire Bear Creek watershed.  She states:

"The Bear Creek Basin is an exceptionally natural and healthy environment for our native salmon runs given that it is so close to a major metropolitan area.  We want to direct more community involvement into observing the stream habitat and collecting year-round data (such as rainfall, water temperature, stream flow) across the whole Bear Creek Basin.  We also want to carefully monitor land use planning by the local government jurisdictions to encourage preservation and protection of our land and water resources."

Five members who volunteered for the new Board met with Susan after the meeting.  The first order of business was to select officers.  Susan is the President, Mark Reynolds is the V.P. (he told a touching "avatar" story about the value of engaging children.)  Mark is a software engineer for Nordstrom and a "take charge" kind of guy.  He is working on a new website and very motivated for WT to make a difference for kids.  Me too.

Youth have been involved in WT over the years:

My daughter, Lexie Conley, was once a Youth Board member -- the first and last.  She wrote an article on the history of environmentalism that was published in the WT's 25th Anniversary Issue of the newsletter.  Terry recruited her to lead the Green Team in a Derby Day parade...and work the booth. Lexie recruited her Key Club members to help restore a forest in what is now the Redmond Bike Park site.  Notably, Dick S. attended that.  The Key Club also spent a day restoring a northern Bear Creek tributary -- an ongoing WT project.

Susan Wilkins actively engaged her children in the environment.  Her daughter was a docent for the annual WT salmon "SEEson" event.  In 2007 her children surveyed the Camwest Perrigo Heights preliminary plat's northern forest boundary ...in preparation for the citizen/council/mayor/Eric Campbell's woodland march to the proposed Steep Slope sewer location.

Colorful salmon cut-outs were made for children. (don't have the details.)  Kiosks were built to educate children and adults. Exhibits were held at REI.  Terry Lavender worked at the Redmond Medical Center from where the Derby Day Children's Parade started every year. She organized the kids and I think gave them a short education on salmon before they took off on their bikes. 

### 

A 5-minute YouTube of Susan Willkin's presentation at the Annual Meeting:  https://youtu.be/_SfMBTinhqg

A slide show of my daughter and her Key Club/ Bio-Chem classmates restoring the Bear Creek tributary.  

Speedy work on the Downtown Park

Completion scheduled for mid-2018.   Yep, speedy.

Peat (from eons ago) was trucked-out last year.  My and Susan Wilkins (a Redmond geologist), guess is Bear Creek once meandered here leaving vegetation in it's wake; peat was the by-product. I personally think native Indians once camped here along the creek leaving artifacts behind, but we'll never know because a specific law prevents disclosure.

Bob
  

Restoring Tosh Creek improves fish habitat and mitigates flooding in the Overlake neighborhood

City Planner Roger Dane (l) and Project Manager Steve Hitch book-end Tosh Creek

Susan, Bob, and Steve
Credit John Reinke

A few weeks ago Steve Hitch and Roger Dane of the City went out of their way to give Water Tenders’ Susan Wilkins, John Reinke, and myself a short tour of the Tosh Creek Restoration Project.   Do you see the creek running between Roger and Steve?  

Salmon fry and lamprey were found right at this spot in May.  Can you believe it? You've got to watch the City’s fascinating underwater video!    (removed.)

Tosh Creek is an important tributary to the Sammamish River. Its headwaters are actually in the Overlake neighborhood up the hill from West Lake Sammamish Parkway.  In 2013, the culvert running under the parkway was improved and the stream was re-aligned away from the road to be more "fish friendly," and to reduce sediment build-up near the culvert.  Willows and other native plants were planted to shade the creek and keep it cool. The $1.9M project was managed by Roger Dane and Mike Haley and funded primarily from city stormwater utility funds.

The Sammamish River's federally protected Chinook salmon and endangered Kokanee salmon need the cool water Tosh Creek provides to thrive and reproduce. Coho salmon and trout live in Tosh Creek. As small as Tosh Creek is, its flow is significant in the Fall when salmon are spawning and need cool water.  

But, the restoration of Tosh Creek does much more than improve fish habitat.  Serious erosion and flooding from stormwater run-off upstream is damaging the creek and threatening adjacent properties.  Thus, the city is installing an expensive stormwater detention system (vault) near 159th Avenue NE. and facilities in 4 other locations.  The cost for the vault is over $8M but the city was able to secure a  $5M grant and $1.6M low interest loan from the Washington State Department of Ecology. 

This is a bit more than a fish story!  At the end of our tour we saw a doe and two fawns wandering south from the creek. Hmmm.... I wonder what they were doing? 

 If you want to participate in the planning process of the vault and treatment facilities, Steve is hosting two September meetings.  For details, GO HERE. 

Bob Yoder

Redmond Councilmember Kim Allen testifies at the "Willowmoor Flood Plain" public meeting

Above, is a 6-minute video of the "Willowmoor Flood Plain Restoration project."  The purpose of the project is to control floods in the Sammamish River and Lake Basin while improving fish habitat.

In 2010 residents living along Lake Sammamish started to complain about floods on the lake that eroded the shorelines and damaged docks and piers. The King County Flood Control District organized a task force to find solutions. Nine meetings and 500 volunteer hours later, on June 6th a few days ago, the District held their final public design meeting. The options are: the "split channel with cold water supplementation" or "transition zone river widening."  Both are significantly cheaper than the County's current willow shrub maintenance program.    

Susan Wilkins, a Redmond Water Tender was on the Task Force and testified at the public meeting. (Well over 40 to 50 citizens attended.) She recommended the Split Channel because it is more salmon friendly while still offering flood control. The Split Channel option provides cool water supplementation and enhanced habitat important to Kokanee and King Salmon survival.  Matt Baerwalde, Water Quality Manager for the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, also spoke in favor of the split channel option and highlighted the Tribe's concern about declining salmon runs and the cultural significance of salmon to the Native American people.

Redmond Councilmember Kim Allan testified and recommended the Split Channel. The City of Redmond spent $150,000 from their Opportunity Fund towards project planning. Ms. Allen said the city invested $1.7 million on Tosh Creek restoration and the Split Channel would be the better option for Tosh Creek.  Redmond's water table is high and it's expensive and troublesome for developers to "de-water."  Ms. Allen said the wide channel option would make matters worse.  

I counted nine people who testified at the meeting. Six were in favor of the Split Channel. I prefer it too. The Chair implied the study was over-vetted and a decision would be moved up to June 20. Construction isn't expected for completion until 2020 or 2021!

Of note, an old "weir" that acts as a "brake" to control river flows is beyond its useful life. Several testified a new "dynamic weir" is necessary for either option to work.  

Bob Yoder

The naming and history behind Evans Creek

This is a 2008 post

According to the Minutes for the July 17, 2008 Planning and Public Works Committee chaired by Councilmember Hank Margeson, the committee held a discussion about naming city streams. Mayor Marchione noted that "there is some debate regarding the current name of Evans Creek; the Historical Society believes the name of the stream is Martin’s Creek."  

In 1910, Ben Martin homesteaded on what is now known as Evans Creek. Below, is a brief description, provided by the Redmond Historical Society, on his history and life on the creek.  

Ben Martin’s homestead, c.1910

Martin, John “Ben” Benjamin 1827 - 1920:

Ben Martin was a Civil War veteran who fought for the North under Gen. Sherman.  John was a survivor of Gettysburg. He arrived in Redmond in 1875 coming with the John Perry family on a scow.  Read More >>

How the District keeps track of millions of dollars of classroom space

COMMENTARY: (Susan Wilkins)  I have a 2010-2011 student directory from Horace Mann Elementary that lists 19 teachers in 19 classrooms in the school. But look at the LWSD 6-Year Capital Facilities Plan and it says that Horace Mann has 17 classrooms. Which is it? 17 classrooms or 19 classrooms? I brought up this discrepancy with Janene Fogard who is the acting facilities planner for the district. I was told that I needed to meet with Barbara Posthumous who is the Director of Finance because she was in charge of classroom counts for the district. (I actually don't know why she is in charge of this.)

I went to Barbara's office and she took out a photocopy of Horace Mann's floor plan and proceeded to number the rooms at Horace Mann with a pen. She numbered the classrooms from 1 to 19, then she looked at another sheet and said that two rooms were "resource rooms" so that Horace Mann had 17 rooms. Which rooms were 'resource rooms' and what were the resource rooms used for? She did not know. I pointed out that my directory said that Horace Mann had 19 classrooms that were clearly used as classrooms. We argued whether Horace Mann had 19 or 17 rooms for another 30 minutes until she needed to get to another meeting. Two rooms is not a lot; however, the district has 56 'resource rooms' in its elementary schools - enough classroom space for 3 additional schools. 

I found the whole experience to be unreal. Was the district really keeping track of millions of dollars of classroom space using a pen and paper? The district says that they have 56 'resource rooms.' What are they all used for? Many members of the task force asked for a space audit and a classroom inventory to find out what the classrooms were being used for. From January through June, Janene Fogard refused to authorize a space audit until school was out and then stated that the district would do a space inventory in the future. 

The district isn't sure how all of its classroom space is being used, or if it's being used efficiently, but they've declared a space shortage because of surging enrollment and they want taxpayers to fund a bond.  I have my concerns.  

Commentary by Susan Wilkins
Member of the Task Force for Facilities Planning

LETTER: Lake Washington School District Director gives the Facts on the District's facility planning process

While Susan Wilkins is entitled to her opinions concerning the Lake Washington School District’s facilities planning, I would like to provide corrections to a number of misstatements in her various letters and comments posted here.

Fact: There is no district proposal concerning Evergreen Middle School at this time, as Ms. Wilkins states. The Long-Term Facilities Planning Task Force is recommending a set of projects, including one that would modernize Evergreen Middle School. These recommendations would meet the district’s needs through the 2029-30 school year, or the next 14 years. Specific funding measures and final project lists are still to be determined.

Fact: The Long Term Facilities Planning Task Force proposes an addition to Redmond High School OR a small Choice High School to serve the Redmond and Eastlake Learning Communities at a site to be determined. An addition to Redmond High is not the only proposal, as Ms. Wilkins states.
Read More >>

LETTER: Protecting Redmond's Streams and Groundwater Supply

PROTECTING REDMOND'S STREAMS AND GROUNDWATER SUPPLY

Over the years, I have tried to participate in Redmond's planning and development

process by commenting on projects, especially those that affect the environment.  I have

been concerned about water quality issues that affect our local streams and our

underground aquifer.  The city of Redmond has 5 wells that have a 1.8 BILLION gallon

annual water right. Two wells are located at Anderson Park. One is near Redmond City

Hall. Another is along Avondale Road and the most productive, Well No. 5, is on the

corner between Target and Home Depot.

In 2003, I participated in the writing and adoption of the Wellhead Protection

Ordinance that was meant to keep our drinking water supply clean and safe from

contamination. I attended meetings, made comments on the proposed ordinance and

testified at the public hearing. The Wellhead Protection Ordinance prohibited the storage

of hazardous material and fluids near wells.

I was shocked in 2009 when I read that Costco would be building a warehouse on

the old Redmond Delta gravel pit along 188th Avenue NE south of Union Hill Road and

that it would have a HUGE gas station.  READ MORE >>

UPDATED: Thoughts from an engaged citizen about LWSD's facility plan and land acquisition strategy

COMMENTARY (by Susan Wilkins):  I agree that building a middle school at Redmond Ridge is a good idea since many students live nearby and they could walk to school.  The issue is that the district already has Evergreen Middle School (EMS) that those students can attend.  If the district's plan were to build the new middle school at Redmond Ridge and get rid of EMS, that would make sense, but the district's proposal is to tear down and rebuild EMS with space for 1000 students and that means that students who live in downtown Redmond and on the east side of Education Hill will be bussed out to EMS.  Evergreen is 3 miles outside the city limits on Union Hill Road. I live near Hartman Park and my entire neighborhood would likely be zoned for EMS.  The trade-off is that Redmond Ridge will get a "walkable" school and my neighborhood will be bussed to far-away EMS.  I don't think this is a reasonable solution.  Read More>>

LETTER: Why I'm Voting for the challengers in the School Board election

    I have been part of the Long Term Facilities Task Force since last December. It was run by an Associate Superintendent who acts as the Director of Facilities for the District.  I question her knowledge about facilities planning.  Our "experienced" school board has let her run the district's facilities planning for the past decade.  

    The plan that the task force was guided into proposing is nearly identical to the Feb 11, 2014 bond measure that failed.  It's just displayed in the planning table in a different order.  The task force will be presenting it to the board at the October 26 study session.  It is estimated to cost $775,000,000 - $900,000,000.

    The new plan will be horrible for Redmond.  It will add 400 more students to RHS. It will build a new middle school at Redmond Ridge - meaning that all current Evergreen students will be sent to the new Redmond Ridge Middle School. This means that 1000 middle school students from inside Redmond will be sent out to Evergreen.  So Redmond El, Horace Mann-east of Hartman Park, Einstein, parts of Rockwell and probably McAuliffe in Sammamish will be feeder schools for Evergreen. This is nuts.  

    During the Task Force meetings we were never allowed to discuss whether it was a good idea to build the new middle school at Redmond Ridge - the Assoc. Superintendent's response was, "We haven't yet decided where the new middle school will go."  She's inaccurate.  I did a public records request and it is clear that the new middle school will go at Redmond Ridge.

    The current Long Term Facilities plan is unsatisfactory because we have a school board that is asleep at the wheel.  If we vote our current board back into office, we will have nobody to blame but ourselves for the results.

By Susan Wilkins

LETTER: Adding Portables at Rural Schools is a Regional Planning Issue

By Susan Wilkins, LWSD parent and taxpayer

King County's Growth Management Planning Council convened a School Siting Task Force in 2012 to address the issue of school districts building schools in rural areas and then sending city kids out to the schools. The Task Force made a rule that no new schools could be built outside the Urban Growth Boundary, but didn't have time to address the issue of whether existing rural schools could be remodeled or be expanded. 

The intent of the School Siting Task Force was to require school districts to build inside city boundaries where most people live and where ALL of the new homes, condos and apartments are being built. Chip Kimball, the school district's previous superintendent was on the Task Force so the district was aware of the Task Force's recommendation.

The Lake Washington School District has been tone-deaf to the intent of the School Siting Task Force and the needs of its students and families. The district has decided to add most of the new classroom portables and remodeled space at its rural schools. It plans to send HUNDREDS of additional students out to rural schools from inside the Redmond and Sammamish city limits. The district says they must add portables to rural schools because that is the only place that space is available. This is just NOT true. 

The school district has known for nearly three years that King County's Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC) and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) do not want students who live in cities to be sent to rural schools. Both of these governing bodies have a mandate to create regional development plans and objectives that dictate how, when and where growth occurs. Vision 2040's MPP-PS-21 & 22 dictate that new school facilities (even if it is a portable or remodeled space) should be located inside cities.* The school district has a mandate to follow their rules and recommendations. LWSD should not be adding classroom capacity to Evergreen, Alcott, Dickinson or Wilder and students should not be required to leave the city to go to these rural schools.

In addition to contacting the Lake Washington School District School Board, parents should contact King County, the GMPC and the PSRC. In your email, note that students will not be able to walk, bike or even ride a Metro bus to/from the rural schools because they are located on dangerous rural roads far from the students' homes. Tell King County not to issue Building Permits and Conditional Use Permits for the interior remodels and portables. (The PSRC does have the authority to freeze King County's transportation funds if the county issues permits that don't comply with Vision 2040 - so that just might be an incentive for the county not to issue the permits...)

Send email about this issue to:
King County Executive - Dow Constantine (natasha.jones@kingcounty.gov)
King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert (kathy.lambert@kingcounty.gov)
Growth Management Planning Council - Karen Wolf (karen.wolf@kingcounty.gov) 
Puget Sound Regional Council - Rick Olsen (rolsen@psrc.org)
*(http://www.psrc.org/assets/1745/Public_Services.pdf)