Written by To: council@ci.renton.wa.us
Subject: Windsor Hills Neighborhood
Date: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:08:07 -0700
My name is Jackie Lewis and my husband and I have lived at 408 Windsor Way N.E. for over 20 years. I moved back into that home that I was born in over 62 years ago after the death of my Father.
We are asking the City Council to place a moratorium on new home construction in the Windsor Hills neighborhood until the Planning Commission an address the issue of the R-8 zoning.
Our views are being impacted as well as the over all appearance of Windsor Hills. The “McMansions” seem very out of place and there seems to be more than one family living in them.
Please contact us if there are any issues that we can help address. Thank you for your time.
Brad and Jackie
Windsor Way N.E.
Renton, Washington 98056
Randy,
We’ve also had a big problem in our neighborhood with an investor buying a single family home, converting it internally into a duplex, and renting both floors then to 2 different families. The city has actually been good about investigating but there doesn’t seem to be any teeth in fines/penalties to stop the investor from breaking city regulations over and over.
Elizabeth
Help the Fight!
Hi Neighbors!
If you feel strongly about this issue, as I do, here’s how you can help:
– PLEASE come to the City Council meeting Monday night (3/17/2008) at 7:00PM to make your views on this issue known! The building industry is very powerful and it takes many, many ordinary people like us to shout over the megaphone their campaign contributions provide.
– It takes me about 2 hours to walk each block, and I’ll be handing out fliers tomorrow too. Still, there’s a limit to what I can do alone. If you feel as strongly about this issue as I do, please print out fliers for neighbors I missed and help to spread the word! You can download a flier from http://www.porkland.org/renton/McMansionEmail.pdf
– Residents of other areas of the city… this issue affects you too! If you would like to spread this campaign to your neighborhood, download the flier from http://www.porkland.org/renton/McMansionCity.doc – update with your name and neighborhood and start meeting your neighbors!
It’s really incredible what a great community we have here in the Windsor Hills neighborhood. Hopefully, with a little luck and a lot of hard work, we can convince Renton city government to keep developers in check and protect our beautiful views.
-Robert Walker
432 Bronson Way NE
(425) 802-5385
Tipping point!
Renton has reached the point where we can be picky about what we want in our city.
We no longer have to ‘beg’ for glorious developers to come, and it’s time we started acting like it.
I’m not a socialist by any means, and I don’t like government telling us what to do, but when you live in close proximity to other people it’s fine for government to enact strict rules on what people can build.
Re: Tipping point!
Being picky hasn’t hurt the desirability of some of the most expensive areas on the Eastside. (Where many of the developers live, not so co-incidentally.) You are right about the tipping point, and I doubt that the people enforcing strict development laws in other cities are socialists. Quality, not quantity, should replace our current mantra of “never say no” to even the most inappropriate neighborhood desecration. The call to action should go far beyond Windsor Hills, and include everyone who is concerned about the results of the city’s planning.
Notes on the council meeting
First of all, let me say thanks to Randy, the council members, the mayor and staff.
The ran the meeting professionally, and you can tell they work hard and work well together.
Their work is truly a labor of love, and I have a renewed appreciation for the amount of work that they do.
We’re really fortunate to have the ability to speak directly to the council members – the ability to address our concerns to our government is really precious. Some of the comments were especially tedious – there we two out-of-towners with weird economic theories who mistook the Renton council for a branch of the Federal Reserve. While their talk could have bored anybody to tears – the council was polite at all times. Again, I want to thank the council for listening to us – even if some of us don’t quite know how to string together rational sentences.
My son got to go up with me as I thanked the members for listening to us- Beforehand I explained to my son that the council was responsible for the “parks and playgrounds.” He now understands there’s a bunch of nice people who can and do affect our daily lives. He got to give them a “happy-dance” – our Renton playgrounds are really that good!
Kudos for Mr. Walker who ‘roused up his neighborhood – the problem has been simmering for a while, and hopefully their can be a rational accommodation for the nice views in his neighborhoods and for the people who have been there for such a long time.
megahouses
There has been concern in Bellevue about megahouses. Residents there don’t like them either. I think I read that the Bellevue City Council was going to do something about it.
Don’t count on Renton doing anything. They let developers clear lots without having building permits; allow developers to send muddy water to May Creek (we are supposed to be protecting the salmon in the stream — Renton doesn’t care, etc.)
Renton is developer’s heaven.