Letter to the Editor: Did you hear about the Planning Commission meeting Feb 5?

To the Editor:

Did you hear about the Planning Commission Hearing last night – Thursday, Feb. 5th? The Open House was from 6-7pm, followed by the Hearing from 7-9:15pm. There were about 80 concerned citizens there for the Hearing from 7-9:15pm.  The topic was the 145th Light Rail rezoning.

There were so many speakers signed up that they had to continue the meeting agenda until February 19th, the next scheduled Planning Commission meeting. The Planning Commission members were very polite and attentive to every one of the speakers and even let several go over their “allotted 3 minutes”.  We appreciated that.

The main topics that were discussed were to slow down the project and make it smaller. When both of these topics were brought up by speakers, about 90% of the room was in total agreement shown by raising their hands. Residents were passionate about their ideas, but no one was angry.

The Planning Commission was supposed to give their decision about the 145th Street Station EIS after last night’s meeting. However, that will not happen right away because of the meeting scheduled for February 19th. Therefore, their decision will not get to the City Council in time for the February 23rd City Council meeting. (This is the meeting where the City Council was going to try to cover both 145th and 185th Light Rail projects – not a good idea!) So, we are happy that we are already slowing down the process.

Important Meeting coming up! Please come to the City Council Meeting on February 9 at City Hall from 7-9pm. We would like to at least double the number of concerned citizens who come to this meeting. Let’s fill the lobby and the council meeting room.

Ginny Scantlebury

Shoreline