Friday, March 29, 2024

Opposed to CUP and Setback Variance for Adventure Park

Leavenworth City Planning & City Council

Posted

As an area resident dependent on Icicle Road as the primary access to our home, my wife and I are totally opposed to the location of the proposed Adventure Park.  We believe the developer’s efforts to mitigate the parking, traffic, and noise falls short and find the City of Leavenworth efforts to help the developer navigate around city municipal code disturbing.  Agreeing with the developer’s position that major changes to Icicle Road and the installation of a traffic light at Highway 2/Icicle Road are not necessary, defies common sense.  The hundreds of additional cars making their way to and from the amusement park daily will require expanding Icicle Road to at least 4 lanes in that area, as well as, installing a traffic light to avoid traffic backing up in both directions on Highway 2, as well, as Icicle road.  The need to expand the width of Icicle Road to accommodate more lanes is the primary objection I have to the developer’s setback variance.

While the developer’s planned 69 parking stalls is a modest improvement over the original plan, it still falls far short of meeting parking needs for this type of development.  The applicant’s determination of the parking requirement does not adhere to the LMC 14.12. 150 E. (4) for outdoor commercial amusement enterprises.  The code states “Outdoor commercial amusement enterprise (except golf course and drive-in theater), one stall per 300 square feet of ground area.”  The amusement park is clearly not a golf course nor drive-in theater, and “ground area” means the total area of ground the amusement park sits on.  Even if you reduced the 10 acre site to the ~2 developed acres the park will sit on, the code requires nearly 300 parking stalls.

It is clear from reading previous public comments this project is dividing our community.  One side, you have the Leavenworth business community supporting this development under the belief more tourism for Leavenworth is a good thing, one that serves their self-interest.  On the other side, the vast majority of residents in the area are opposed as they see the development as harming our quality of life.  While the Leavenworth City Council generally sides with the business community, I urge you to consider siding the residents this time, both those who live in the city and well as those us in the surrounding area who are impacted by the decisions you make!

I urge you to disapprove the Conditional Use Permit for this development, as well as, the setback variance request.

Doug Gann

Leavenworth, WA 98826

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