Our Wing Point Neighborhood has been Denied Due Process!
The Mayor has made a land use decision directly impacting citizens and the character of the neighborhood without public participation!
Is this what our Island community and other neighborhoods should expect from our City Leader on land use decisions?
The land use in question involves the property owned by Wing Point Country Club. The property runs along Hawley Creek which feeds the wetlands in our island’s Wing Point 13-acre shoreline park, recently named Hawley Cove Park. The developer, Capstone Partners, has agreed to buy the property from Wing Point Country Club if their conditional use permit is approved to build 11 “patio” homes.
Significant Events to Date:
July 21, 2006 - The Hearing Examiner DENIED the 11 “patio” home application (finding the property too small for the development and out of character for the neighborhood.)
August 8, 2006 - Capstone/Wing Point CC appealed the Hearing Examiner’s decision to Superior Court.
June 24, 2007 - The Mayor granted a $25K no-bid contract to Capstone for a downtown garage study, which is part of the Winslow Tomorrow Plan.
July 13, 2007 - The Mayor directed the City Attorney to sign a stipulation with Capstone to remand the application back to the Hearing Examiner, who had already denied the application twice.
Questions for the Mayor:
Aren’t land use decisions on denied applications made only by the Superior Court or City Council? Why were the laws regarding remand procedures bypassed?
Why is Capstone allowed to introduce new evidence and new characteristics into the remand hearing when this is not ordinarily allowed? Isn’t this effectively a new Conditional Use Permit? If Capstone applied for a new CUP, wouldn’t they have to comply with the new and stricter Critical Areas Ordinance, which protects the stream/wetlands/shoreline to a greater extent?
Doesn’t the signing of this agreement give Capstone advantages they would not have if they followed due process (namely, Superior Court, or applying for a new application under stricter CAO rules)?
Did you consider the appearance of fairness when you signed the questionable out-of-court agreement with Capstone after granting a no-bid contract to Capstone, especially since both events bypass public participation?
(To read the law on remand procedures go to http://www.mrsc.org/nxt/gateway.dll/bnbgmc?f=templates&fn=bnbgpage.htm$vid=municodes:BainbridgeIsland)
If you want answers to these questions, or have opinions you can CONTACT your City Leader(s), and/or write to your favorite paper/editor(s), and of course show up for the next hearing!:
Darlene Kordonoy, Mayor
Mayor@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us / 842-2545
Your City Council
Council@ci.bainbridge-isl.wa.us
The Contract Attorney who advised the City on this matter – Jay P. Derr
jderr@GordonDerr.com / 206-382-9540
Bainbridge Review Editor – Douglas Crist
editor@bainbridgereview.com / 842-6613
The Sun Editor – Scott Ware
http://www.kitsapsun.com/forms/letters/ (360) 792-9202
The Bainbridge Islander reporter – Rachel A. Pritchett
rpritchett@kitsapsun.com / 842-4018
The Seattle Times Local News – Suki Dardarian, Managing Editor
newstips@seattletimes.com / (206) 464-2791
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5 comments:
Capstone continues to get special treatment! Don Audleman of Capstone Partners has been appointed to the Streetscape Advisory Group (Winslow Tomorrow)!
Check out the following:
http://www.winslowwaystreetscape.com/WinslowWayStreetscape/Advisory%20Group.html
I have a problem with unsigned
items that are supposedly factual.
If you are serious, you might want
to check your details. The City
Council probably had discussions
about this, and probably approved
the result.
One of our fellow neighbors received direct communication from Jay Deer, the attorney involved in the stipulation. The City Council did not interfere with the due process. The Mayor chose to override the City Council and initiated the signing.
It very fun to see someone say that they have problems with unsigned items and then sign it anonymous. A little bit of a double standard. I don't like it but its ok if I do it. Sounds like someone at City Hall and of course I'm going to sign this "anonymous".
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