Friday, March 29, 2024

Adventure Park Concerns Peak

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The promise of an Alpine Coaster, a Soaring Eagle Zipline, Eurobungy Trampoline - and 58 parking spots. The progression leading to the development of the both dreaded and eagerly awaited Adventure Park has put residents, the city and businesses interlocked in controversy. Residential concerns have wedged a divide between locals and the future amusement park that makes some locals less welcoming than others. As another step in the process is completed, residents piled into the City Council meeting, August 14, to vocalize their worries and fears about the project. 

 

"The comment period on the environmental determination for the upcoming Adventure Park closed today," City Attorney, Thomas Graafstra said. "A lot of comments were received, more than 100, maybe almost 200."

 

After clarifying the mechanics of the seven day appeal, the crowd was visibly eager to further discuss the impending Adventure Park. Each given three minutes, the residents used those 180 seconds to paint a positive narrative of their beloved Leavenworth and then launched into illustrating the issues that they believe are rooted in the Adventure Park plans. 

 

"I would like us to help maintain our image as a vibrant and enjoyable Bavarian Village, not a noisy, crass Bavarian theme park," Wayne Pravitz, Leavenworth resident, said. 

 

The comments gravitated back to the same areas of concern: traffic, noise and parking problems that are expected to stem from the amusement park. 

 

"Said business must bear the burden of mitigating the impact on the small, already successful visitor destination," Momi Palmieri, member of Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, said. "They must mitigate now, not in some dim future."

 

Palmieri explained that Adventure Park should provide ample parking and be required to pay for a traffic light along with other measures to decompress the surge of traffic. 

 

"Invite the new business, but make them mitigate fully their proposed impact just as you do our residents," Palmieri said. 

 

Icicle Road residents fear a future of avoiding morning coffee on the porch or slamming windows shut to avoid the echo from children squealing, teens shrieking and the churn of the coaster as the carts barrel down the thunderous tracks. 

 

"I've had a great deal of anxiety, because of the Adventure Park, about my property value and about my quality of life that I feel will be drastically impacted by the building of this," Pat Jefferson, Leavenworth resident, said. 

 

Jefferson is concerned that the decision from the city is based on faulty data, such as the debate over traffic peak hours being on the weekends or weekdays. She also worries that the city is not looking realistically at what the park will bring.  Residents like her want to avoid the same fate as tourist clogged cities like Gatlinburg and Myrtle Beach.

 

"People are starting to realize this thing is happening - globally - which is over tourism," Duane Goehner, member of Friends of Leavenworth, said. “Town folks are pushed out or walked on." 

 

Goehner emphasized that putting a cap on tourism entirely is not the motive, but instead to keep the tourism to a healthy degree. Goehner said that a family oriented park is a wonderful addition instead of another beer garden, it's something for families to do. However, he explained, there needs to be caution about the danger of over tourism and the issues that branch off from it. He stated that people migrating from Seattle to Leavenworth for a vacation aren't going to want to return to the Bavarian Village if it doesn't offer a brief hiatus from the hectic city traffic the Seattle natives are trying to escape. 

 

Roads congested with traffic, inadequate parking and overwhelming noise were all components brought up by the individuals who used the meeting as a platform to plead with the representatives. Despite the gridlock deciding on the park, the pleas are not falling on deaf ears. City Council meetings have been a focus point for pressure from residents in regard to the future amusement park. City Council members seem to be working to balance the needs of a city where the economy is stilted on income from tourism while simultaneously maintaining the desires of the core of the city - the residents. The Adventure Park process has been a transparent one for the public to follow. 

 

"(They) have been stellar at putting information online," Goehner said. Applications, checklists, assessments and the site plan package is available on the Leavenworth city's website. 

 

At the City Council study session on the morning of August 14, there was discussion about the impending traffic study on Highway 2, part of the intersection that has surfaced in some of the arguments about Adventure Park. Also Nancy Smith, from Leavenworth Chamber of Commerce, shared that a Survey Monkey was sent out about Adventure Park due to rising complaints about traffic, parking and noise. 

 

"Most in the business community that responded are in support, probably about 85 percent in support of the Adventure Park," Smith said. 

 

Despite the clash of viewpoints causing a strain on the community, the city continues working on other projects, such as the Six-Year Capital Facilities Plan, to ensure a positive living space for its residents. 

 

"All those people here, the last few days complaining and with questions, they're not hearing this," Mia Bretz, council member, said after concluding the discussion of the Six-Year Capital Facilities Plan. "They're not hearing how the city is working really hard to take care of its residents and to make the experience of living here and visiting here really amazing."

 

The Adventure Park has been a constant topic since its inception but remains a prominent fixation for the city as the development of the amusement park continues to unfold.

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