q SUNNYSIDE - REVERSE PHONE DIRECTORY
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- City denies 67-acre rezone request
- SUNNYSIDE (1-11-99)---The city voted 4-3 this evening to deny Issaquah developer Clint Hergert's request to rezone 67 local acres from low-density R1 to high density R3.
The property is located at Allen Road along the Sunnyside-Mabton Highway, about a quarter-mile south of Les Schwab's Tire Center. Planners years ago designated it as R1.
The forum was a closed-record appeal hearing, which meant decisions made by the council should be based on past testimony given at Planning Commission and Council meetings. The format precluded most rehashing of viewpoints before the vote.
Voting to deny the rezone were Don Vlieger, Mike Farmer, Chad Werkhoven, and Mike Aguirre. Voting to rezone the 67 acres from R1 to R3 were Roy Anciso, Errol Brown, and Mayor Ed Prilucik.
After the vote, the council was applauded by a half dozen concerned property owners who indicated the council's--albeit close--vote will help put Sunnyside on the road to being a classy town people want to live in.
The "new" council made clear this evening its intention to make Sunnyside a model community inhabited by stable, highly productive persons who own their homes, care about the city, and care about their neighbors.
For a lot of years, Sunnyside has embraced "affordable" housing. That's the liberal buzzword for tightly packed, low income ticky-tacky that often looks slummish after a few years. Interests of renters who live in such places tend to lie less with the community and more with where they're headed next.
Several persons were delighted with the council's decision this evening.
- Dr. Jim Stevens said "We need to look out for our community." He pointed to stagnating property values, and the fact many persons who work in Sunnyside choose to live elsewhere.
- Due to Sunnyside crime, Stevens and several neighbors banded together to form a crime watch program to help stave off local burglars, robbers, and violent thugs.
- "Homeowners were glad to join. But when we asked renters to join in, they told us they weren't interested," Stevens said. "So--incompatible."
- Stevens said property owners have a right to maintain the value of their property. "It's difficult to sell property near high-density zones," he said.
Sharon Tyler said "We've done our fair share for low-income housing. More of it will just draw people here who take, but don't give, to the community. And developers don't care what they've built looks like in five years."
She said low-income housing is "totally opposite of what we're trying to do. You made the right decision this evening," Tyler told councilmen.
Referring to earlier Planning Commission approval of Hergert's rezone request, she urged councilmen to attend some Planning Commission meetings. "You can see how comments fall on deaf ears," she said. Planners serve at the pleasure of the Council.
Bruce Ricks, long an advocate for maintaining property values, thanked the council for preserving the R1 zoning in the city.
Fenn Schrader, who himself owns some multifamily dwellings, said "We have more than enough low and medium income property available now."
- Some were not so happy about the council's decision to deny the rezone, including Kevin Hergert (Clint's son) and representative Douglas Gray.
Hergert asked each of those commending the council whether they lived adjacent to the property in question. All Sunnysiders said they did not, however, they live closer than Hergert, who hails from Issaquah.
- If the argument that "more affordable housing" is needed in Sunnyside, Hergert probably didn't make his case. He said South Hill Road's Village Park--which his company built--remains "85-percent full," (15 % empty) several years after it was built.
Al Tebaldi, former police chief, real estate broker, and chairman of the Sunnyside Planning Commission, noted commissioners "had no objection to Hergert's request for a rezone."
In other business, the council:
- Approved annexing C. Speck Motors, to include Guy Roberts' nearby property. The move will bring in $180,000 more annual revenues to the city.
- Declared a moratorium on further requests to build duplexes in R1-zoned properties. Permits already approved will allow such building.
- Discussed lowering city building fees on nonstructural items such as sprinklers and broken window panes.
- Added two surplus weapons to a list of those up for auction by the police department.
- Did not let Martin Luther King's birthday interfere with the City Council meeting Monday, Jan. 18. Sunnyside doesn't recognize MLK day. City staffer Mark Egemo told the council that's "disgraceful." (And one day less off for him.)
- Intends to answer a question by Don Outhet about who owns water meters residents pay for. Can a resident take them when he leaves? City Mgr. Don Hahnfeldt said he would answer this question soon.
- Noted the city likely will end up with a budget surplus of around $250,000 this year. Exact figures will be displayed next week, according to Finance Director Hugo R. "Bud" Schatz. This, on top of the fact the "new" council recently whacked a proposed "business as usual" tax bite on city residents for '99.
- Approved a liquor license for the R.L. Wine Company, 111 E. Lincoln Ave. #A, Sunnyside.