We were stunned and disappointed to received word that the Seattle Hearing Examiner denied all parts of our appeal of the city's Master Use Permit and environmental decision. The decision came on September 3, 2008. The decision, our press release, and supporting materials can be found here.
The city admitted in the hearing that they were experimenting on our neighborhood in terms of the control of toxic lead dust from demolition and ground disturbance connected with this development. The developer has yet to apply for the demolition permits. The Maple Leaf Community Council will being work on teaching community members safe practices during and after the time of demolition. We will also be closely monitoring the demolition permit process, challenging it at every opportunity if we do not believe it adequately protects our community. If you are not on the e-mail list, click here to join as we will be using it extensively during this part of the process.
Angry and want to help? Scroll down the page to see how.
Join the e-mail list to stay up-to-date. Click on the red box to the right.
We will be holding a community meeting to discuss the decision and the next steps, of which there are several options. We will also talk about lead dust safety issues at the meeting.
When: Wednesday, September 10
Time: 7-9pm
Place: Olympic View Elementary, 95th and 5th.
We are asking the Mayor to provide clemency to Waldo Woods by withdrawing DPD’s decision to fix the errors identified in our appeal and by the Hearing Examiner. The best and most immediate thing you can do to help is send the following via e-mail to the Mayor and City Council (e-mail addresses at the bottom):
If every one of you could send this in an e-mail, it may create enough of an impact to help our cause. Here are the target addresses (remember that our Councilmembers have been mostly supportive of our effort, so if you add critical language please make sure you don't hit them with it!):
Tim.Ceis@Seattle.gov
Robert.Mak@Seattle.gov
Richard.Conlin@Seattle.gov
Sally.Clark@Seattle.gov
Tim.Burgess@Seattle.gov
Tom.Rasmussen@Seattle.gov
Jan.Drago@Seattle.gov
Bruce.Harrell@Seattle.gov
Nick.Licata@Seattle.gov
Richard.McIver@Seattle.gov
Jean.Godden@Seattle.gov
On May 1, Mayor Nickels' Department of Planning and Development (DPD) issued a "Determination of Non-Significance" (DNS) for the proposed project at Waldo Hospital. In the DNS, there was no indication DPD seriously considers Waldo Woods important. They also don't consider the release of toxic demolition dust important. File documents obtained via Public Disclosure Request show the Mayor's DPD broke their own rules to issue the decision on the developer's timeline instead of taking the care necessary to make an intelligent decision. The Maple Leaf Community Council Executive Boards' appeal runs 35 pages. The first 8 pages of the appeal are notable in that they only deal with errors or omissions of fact. These nearly 60 items aren't disagreements or differences of interpretation -- they are factual mistakes and omissions made by DPD while rushing to meet the developer's timelines. Click here to see Maple Leaf's appeal document.
The Seattle Times published a guest editorial from the Maple Leaf Community Council about Waldo Woods. We point out that the Mayor has authored Agendas, Initiatives, and Plans. Despite this, we're not saving significant number of trees from the pressure of development. The editorial points out strong leadership will be required to start saving trees, and offers Waldo Woods as a test case to turn the best intentions into reality. You can help by emphasizing this message to the Mayor and City Council, as well as via a letter to the editor to your favorite news outlet. Click here to see some ideas to include in your letter.
Please click the red box to the right (or click here)and sign up for the e-mail list. We will be sending out important information on what you can do to help. The new toxin report mentioned above throws a wrinkle into the mix, but the next step in the City's process is to make a decision on whether to require an EIS.
The Maple Leaf Community Council Executive Board submitted formal comments concerning the proposal and the SEPA environmental checklist submitted by the developer. This document, running about 50 pages, has received high marks from our community, environmental groups, other neighborhoods, and the City. This letter joined over 130 letters written about this project since January 1, 2008 -- and over 150 letters about the project written in 2007. Click here to access this document.
Click here to for a page with links to electronic copies of documents in the DPD file. This includes some photos of the site plans, traffic studies, environmental studies, arborists report, etc. As more information becomes available in electronic format, we will include it here. (Thank you to Maple Leaf volunteers for acquiring the paper documents and scanning them for electronic distribution.)
Anyone can go to the DPD offices downtown and request to see the paper copies of these documents. Just go to the 20th Floor of the Municipal Building and give them the address (8511 15th Ave NE) and they will get you the file.
Updated documents will be posted as soon as we are able to retrieve and digitize the paper copies placed on file downtown. We will send out an e-mail to the e-mail list (click the red box to the right to sign up for the list) when the updates are posted on this web site. Or, you can just click here periodically and check the bottom of the page to see if anything has been added.
On March 10, the MLCC sponsored a meeting to discuss what traffic and pedestrian mitigations are required should this proposed development go through as planned. About 50 Maple Leaf neighbors attended and consensus was reached on several items. Click here to read more about what items did and did not achieve consensus. to read the developer's response.
We've compiled a page with facts about the development and its potential effects on the environment. Click here to get some ideas for letters or other comments.
Development will happen at the Waldo Hospital site. We’re working together to have a positive effect on the development plans. There are three easy things you can do to help:
Click here to e-mail Save Waldo committee head David Miller |
