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• 04/03/2007 Letter

Concerned Neighbors of Wellington,

Please join us for the third Public Hearing for Wood Trails and Montevallo—this is the time for which we have been preparing and anticipating for three years!

Where:  Woodinville - Carrol Edwards Gym  (not City Hall) 
 When:  THIS THURSDAY, April 5, 2007
 Time:  7pm start

Together, we are a powerful community. If you attended either the March 14 or the March 15 Public Hearing, or read the great write-up in the following Monday’s issue of the Woodinville Weekly, then your eyes may have been opened to the extensive behind-the-scenes research and work that the CNW team has been doing for the past year. What a team!!! We were all so encouraged by the many public comments that were given on March 14 and 15 and we are grateful for each and every speaker who took the time to make a comment and/or submit a written comment, report, diagram, or chart of wildlife observed.

But, our work is not yet done. This Thursday night is the last night you’ll have a chance to submit comments to the Hearing Examiner before the public records are sealed. It is important to again have a huge turnout at this Thursday’s meeting in order to impress the hearing examiner that this is not a typical “rubber stamp” hearing. Bring your spouse, bring your teenager for some civic education, and pick up a hitchhiker on your way. Please just come. Please. Even if you can’t stay long, please try to come at the beginning. We need as many folks as possible to “pack the house.”

We also expect that Rick Aramburu, CNW’s lawyer, will make a presentation on Thursday and many of the authors of the 36” of notebooks and documentation that CNW submitted to the Hearing Examiner may also speak again on Thursday. And these speakers really do receive great encouragement from the audience!! (By the way, the cost of producing those notebooks was largely absorbed by the individuals themselves, not out of the CNW bank account.)

If you have submitted written comments on either Wood Trails or Montevallo previously, great. You are also allowed to speak twice (once each for either Wood Trails or for Montevallo), to submit new comments, especially if testimony from the developer, news that you’ve read, or conversations with your neighbors have brought up new issues. We want to get as many citizens to sign up to speak on Thursday as we can!! It would be a huge advantage if there were so many folks signed up to give public comments that the Hearing Examiner was forced to continue the public hearing AGAIN—every week we buy on the calendar is one less week for the developer to take advantage of the 2007 building season and one week closer to November City Council elections. You can read or summarize any letters you submitted on the Draft Environmental Impact Statement or the Final Environmental Impact Statement or make new comments. You are also welcome to rebut any testimony given by the developer or by any of their hired hands. Full video of each of the two hearings is available on the City of Woodinville web site at http://www.ci.woodinville.wa.us/events/EIS.asp, as well as extensive documentation.

After the Hearing, Then What? Following the official close of the hearing, the Hearing Examiner will take time to review all the comments that have been submitted. Then he will make a formal recommendation on the up zone request and also a recommendation on each of the developments to the City Council. The City Council of Woodinville VOTES on the Hearing Examiner’s recommendation, so your elected City of Woodinville Council Members are the final authority who has the right to say “yes” or “no” to the proposed Wood Trails and Montevallo developments. As such, your active participation in Monday night City Council meetings is also important. If you are not able to physically attend, you can watch the meetings on TV channel 21—they are aired 4 times daily—or log onto the city’s web site to see testimony online. City Council meeting recordings are usually posted within 48 hours of the actual event. You can also express your feelings to the City Council at any time via email.

Help Save Our Neighborhood. Contributions from many neighbors in the community have enabled us to meet our financial obligations for March. But our costs for attorney’s fees for April will also be huge. Is it your turn to help? Remember that your home’s value will actually decrease if huge houses on postage-sized lots are crammed into our lovely, pristine neighborhood. The proposed developments of Wood Trails and Montevallo are not about growth—but about greed. Don’t just let this happen--Please bring a check and look for a person wearing CNW name tag. Thank you in advance.

Tips for speaking at hearings:

• Sign up to speak early.
• Clearly identify yourself by giving your name and address.
• Submit written testimony if you have it in addition to your oral comments.
• Bring extra copies for each member of the committee, reporters, and interested observers.
• Be brief and courteous.
• Make eye contact.
• Personalize your testimony.
• Use facts to support your assertion.

Sincerely,

Fred Green, President                              Sharon Peterson
Concerned Neighbors of Wellington                  CNW Board Member

P.S. Where to Send Contributions:

Please write your check Payable to CNW and mail to:

Concerned Neighbors of Wellington
PO Box 2968
Woodinville, WA 98072-2968

$250 = one hour of legal time. Please consider how much you are able to give, whether more than one hour of time or less. Contributions are not tax-deductible.

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