Mayor Baker of the city of Kenmore in pursuit of a 4 percent tax to benefit the city and is encouraging Bastyr University and Daniel Real Estate to redevelop the failing and obsolete 90,000 square foot seminary building into college classrooms and living quarters. In effect, the park grounds would become a college campus. To anyone familiar with the area, it is common knowledge the roads are overburdened with traffic in the afternoons. North-bound cars regularly back two miles up Juanita Way to the park entrance and beyond.

This proposal will add thousands of automobile trips each week. The roads will be further strangled and the quality of life for those using the roads degraded. It would be a grievous error to just restart the school, because it was a school before and give the developers a pass on traffic. This project should not be grandfathered and exempted from strict traffic mitigation. For all practical purposes this is a problem without a good solution.

Please attend the state parks public meeting and voice your disapproval to a college campus in Saint Edward State Park. The meeting will take place from 6:30-8 p.m. on Sept. 10 at the Northshore Utility District Building, located at 6830 NE 185th Street in Kenmore. You can also send your comments to “Parks Commission” at commission@parks.wa.gov.

Peter Lance, Kenmore