Dedicated to Preserving the Rural
Character of Woodinville
10/12/22 City Council Mtg Oct 18th
10/21/19 CNW Endorsements
10/07/19 Meet the Candidates
05/09/14 CNW Celebrates Vote
03/17/14 Important City Council Vote
11/28/13 We're Thankful For
02/19/13 CNW News and Updates
01/29/13 CNW News and Updates
12/08/12 Montevallo Permit Application
09/05/12 Community Meeting 9/6
06/04/12 Updates on Important Topics
04/15/12 Protecting Our R1 Neighborhoods
04/02/12 You Make Difference!
02/28/12 Woodtrails Again!
05/09/14 CNW Celebrates Vote
06/16/11 CNW Prevails!!
07/11/10 Supreme Court Will Review
01/04/10 The Journey Continues
04/05/09 Wood Trails/Montevallo Update
03/08/08 Another Victory Celebration
02/18/08 We Won - Part II
08/13/07 Victory is Ours!
Documents marked with this image require the free Adobe® Reader® for viewing.
A new application has been filed by Phoenix Development to build homes in the Wood Trails area (the hillside between Wellington and the business/industrial district at the bottom of the hill. (See this map for the details.) The developer is proposing to develop with lot sizes as small as 12,000 square feet and is proposing sewer be extended to the development. CNW supports R-1 development, but not R-1 development with clustering and sewers as Phoenix has proposed! At this time, the City has not received an application for development of Montevallo but we do know that exploratory work has been done and plans have been drafted.
If Wood Trails has sewers installed, the likelihood is extremely high that it would sprawl through the entire R-1 area, costing each household $30,000 or more! As a home owner--and to make sure future development is consistent with the character of the neighborhood--there are three ways for you to help.
Donate what you can to CNW to help fund the legal costs relating to the review of the current situation and the best options we have to minimize the impact of the proposed development. Mail a check to the address below or contribute online via PayPal. With your generous support, we have raised $150,000 in donations to support our legal effort (99% of our expenses) and administrative costs (about 1% which covered printing and mailing charges) over the past 8 years. In addition, neighbors have volunteered hundreds of unpaid hours providing subject-matter expertise to win the battles in our fight to protect the R-1 areas in greater Woodinville. Now, we need to raise another $6,000 to cover new legal fees. Won’t you please help?
Send donations to:
CNW
PO Box 2968
Woodinville, WA 98072-2968
For your convenience, the following is a sample email that you can send to the Woodinville City Council. Please feel free to insert your own words, of course.
(beginning of sample email)
Dear Councilmember,
It is imperative the Ordinance 532 be modified to increase the minimum lot size in R-1 to be consistent with the lot size rules in the other areas. The R-4 and R -6 rules proposed limit the minimum lot size to 66% and 69% of the size as defined by the zone. If this was also done for the R-1 area using a base of 66%, the minimum lot size of a development constrained by critical areas could not be less than 28,750 square feet. Therefore, we ask you to please support a minimum lot size of 28,750 square feet.
In addition, Ordinance 532 should require that lots created in R-1 must have the minimum size to support on-site septic.
Also, the City of Woodinville needs to strike the language in its code that allows density transfer credits from one property to another or within the same property.
Lastly, the Woodinville Municipal Code should be modified to read that sewer hookups in the R-1 area are not required and households in the R-1 area with septic systems shall not be required to connect to sewer. I am requesting the language be changed so that R-1 households are not required to connect to sewer if they choose not to do so.
(end of sample email)
Thank you again for attending the March 13 public hearing meeting at 7 pm in City Hall chambers, for sending email to the City Council before March 13, and for your financial support as well! With your help, CNW can continue to vigilantly protect the wooded character of our neighborhoods.
In your service,
Your CNW Board
We must protect the R-1 zoned areas in the City of Woodinville and adjacent areas. To do so, we need to focus on three key issues:
Recently a moratorium was passed to prevent further residential development until City Council could consider pending legislation (Ordinance 532) developed by the Planning Commission to define minimum lot sizes and eliminate density transfer credits between zones so the character of the neighborhoods are protected. The moratorium was narrowly passed by a 4 to 2 vote with 1 abstention. Liz Aspen and Les Rubstello both voted No, Scott Hageman abstained. Supporting the moratorium was Susan Boundy-Sanders, Bernie Talmas, Art Pregler, and Paulette Bauman. We thank the City Councilmembers who supported this important initiative!!
A few hours before the moratorium went into effect, Phoenix Development--the developer for Wood Trails--filed a new application to develop the Wood Trails according the current R-1 standards, while at the same time claiming they were vested and should be allowed to develop according to the rules in place in 2004 when they made their initial application.
Essentially, they filed the new application relying on the studies previously done in their original proposal. Later it was discovered that there were many flaws in the studies, however, those same studies are being used for the new application. Despite CNW’s educational efforts, the City staff has decided that the application is “complete” and has “accepted” it. This means the application is “vested” and not subject to changes that Ordinance 532 may require. In short, Phoenix beat the deadline in order to avoid further requirements on how it develops Wood Trails.
However, the fact that the application has been “accepted” does not mean CNW’s work is done. Nor does it mean the battle is lost. In the same way we fought the first application and succeeded in staving off development for 7 years, we plan—with your help—to fight this new application for development in Wood Trails again.
The table below summarizes the size of lots as currently proposed in Ordinance 532. As you can see, the R-1 minimum lot sizes are much smaller as a percentage to the absolute lot size when compared to other zones in Woodinville. This means if a developed area is constrained by critical areas, R-1 lots can be developed at 38% of an acre. The total development is constrained to 1 house per acre, but this would allow the clustering of houses together on smaller lots which is not consistent the character of our neighborhood.
| Zone | Std | Min | Min/Std | Crit | Crit/Std |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R-1 | 43,560 | 35,000 | 80% | 16,700 | 38% |
| R-4 | 10,890 | 9,000 | 83% | 7,200 | 66% |
| R-6 | 7,260 | 6,000 | 83% | 5,000 | 69% |
| R-8 | 5,445 | 5,000 | 92% | 4,600 | 84% |
Std - Lot ize as defined by zone
Min - Minimum lot size as defined by zone
Crit - Minimum lot size if development is constrained by critical area
There are two solutions to this issue.
Our first choice would be option 1, but option 2 would also be an acceptable solution.
We should also add wording to the Ordinance that all R-1 lots must be able to provide on-site septic.
Currently, the City Code reads that if a lot is less than 1 acre (43,560 square feet,) and if sewer is available within 330 feet of the development, then parcels less than 43,560 square feet must hook up to sewer.
There is no reason for this requirement other than a way for the government to force sewer into the R-1 area. By requiring all lots in the R-1 area to provide on-site septic, it eliminates the necessity for sewer in this area. Therefore, the sewer rules should be modified to read that Sewer hookups in the R-1 area are not required and households in the R-1 area with septic systems shall not be required to connect to sewer, even if sewer becomes available.You’ll recall that our community, in general, did not favor the Brightwater Sewage Treatment plant. The government forced it into our area and will now try to force us over to sewer hookups in order for us to pay for the system that we never wanted. We need to make sure that the Woodinville Municipal Code cannot be used against us and force us to hook up when we have perfectly good and functioning septic systems. Spending $30,000 or more on a sewer hookup will not increase the value of our properties!
Please send your check to:
CNW
PO Box 2968
Woodinville, WA 98072-2968