Annexation paves the way for Adventure Park in Leavenworth

The Leavenworth City Council has approved the annexation of 10.5 acres of land at the intersection of Icicle Road and U.S. Highway 2. The approval came after a public hearing on the topic at the Feb. 27 Leavenworth City Council meeting.
The area has been owned for years by Larry Langston, but it was David Moffett, acting as his agent, who pursued annexation with the city, because he has plans to build an Adventure Park on that property.
“I grew up in the ski industry. My parents founded Snoqualmie Summit in 1937. In the ‘50s, I helped my dad run his business. Twenty years later, I ran the ski area for 17 years, but then sold it,” Moffett said. “We’re a large ski area, the largest in the northwest. We served a lot of people, 500,000 per year. I’ve been in the hospitality industry. I thought about doing one of these projects there, but the Forest Service was in the way.”
During that time, Moffett said his development partner, John Sutherland, founded the mountain bike center and was the ski school director. Sutherland has been with the project since October when they received a contract to buy the property.
Moffett said this was an important day for them.
“When we started this project, we had some milestones we needed to meet. The first was annexation. This is an important thing for us. The second will be the conditional use permit,” Moffett said. “Why do we want to be in the city? People might say we are crazy, that all cities are tough. Nate (Pate, Development director) has been particularly helpful to find solutions to some of the problems.”
The zoning is right, Moffett said, and they want to be part of this community. Assuming the project goes through, Sutherland would be moving here.
“Why should we, across the street, give those tax revenues to the county? It will all go straight to the city. There are a lot of restrictions here, but we don’t mind the restrictions. Hopefully, this will go through,” Moffett said.
Even though the meeting was just about the annexation, Sutherland made a presentation about the future plans for the Leavenworth Adventure Park. He said there are three or four different planned attractions. “Our feature for phase one is an alpine coaster, which was actually born in Bavaria. The company we’ve been working with is a German company called Wiegand. This is a 2,400 foot down track, 750 feet up,” Sutherland said.
Also planned is a ropes course, zip line, bungee trampoline, play area for kids, food service, picnic area.
“The Adventure Park is a family centered, year round activity park. I want to emphasize, the vast majority of activities we would have here are interactive. It’s not an amusement park, it is an interactive activity park,” Sutherland said.
The alpine coaster is a six-rail track, with up-stop wheels so it doesn’t come off the track.
“A lot of you might be familiar with the cement alpine slides that can come out of the track. This one, you can’t come out of the track,” Sutherland said. “It features four 360 degree circles, which is a lot of fun. The maximum speed is actually regulated to 25-29 mph, depending on the pitch of the hill. There are handles so people can regulate their own speed. There’s always a little braking going on.”
Another activity is called Via Ferrata, which is a climbing activity.
“There are rebar steps implanted into the rock. There is a cable running through it. People doing the activity are always hooked to the cable. Most people can do this,” Sutherland said. “It’s a really interesting activity. It was actually born out of WWII when they would put these in the rocks to get troops across the passes. This was born in Europe. This is an exciting experience, safe and guided.”
The rope challenge course would be in the base area, offering some climbing activities. The trampoline would be for kids and adults. The zip-line is passive.
“It pulls you back up, then you get the experience down. We look at this at being successful because there’s already a zip-line in the area. This is something people can do that wouldn’t be able to do at regular zip-line operations,” Sutherland said.
Sutherland said they feel pretty strongly this would be a really attractive western gate for the city.
“You’ll come out of Tumwater Canyon, you’ll see some climbers and activity there and some really great landscaping,” Sutherland said. “It’s a complimentary activity to all the recreation here, whether it is mountain biking, skiing, river rafting and everything else. We feel like, as we looked around town, it was a much needed family activity for kids.”
There has been a focus toward community engagement, Sutherland said. Toward that end, they’ve been working with a number of local partners like Syndicate Smith and Todd Smith, Leavenworth Realty with Mike and Ken West and RH2 engineers in Wenatchee.
Leavenworth is the fifth most visited tourist attraction in the state, doing 2.5 million visits per year, Sutherland noted. He said there is a pretty large tourist based economy here, but it is short on family activity, entertainment in town.
The Icicle Village used to have a train and bumper cars, he pointed out.
“We’re not that, per say, but we are family entertainment. Most of our activities are very interactive. The alpine coaster has been proven to be year round. This will be the first one in the northwest. There is one in Idaho. There is one in B.C. There isn’t one in Oregon. There’s one in California,” Sutherland said. “These are mostly at ski areas. There’s a collection in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. There’s not a lot on the west coast.”
The alpine coaster in Park City, Utah does 180,000 to 200,000 visits per year. Sutherland said they expect to do 100,000 visits in the first full year of operation. They are currently looking at four phases of development.
“Phase one is the alpine coaster. Phase two, we would add a couple more attractions including the zip line. Phase three, we would add a larger food service facility. Phase four, we would like create and uphill trail system so people could walk up there and go to an observation deck and view the valley,” Sutherland said. “Really right now, most of tourists are not going to hike up Icicle Ridge or Tumwater Mountain. This will give them a beautiful view of Tumwater Canyon and the valley.”
After the annexation, there would be the conditional use permit process, where people could provide comment. Sutherland said they would like to start construction this fall, then have final construction in March. They would open in June 2019, if everything falls into place.
Sutherland said they are being careful with everything.
“In the lighting plan, we know there are dark sky concerns. We want to make sure to pay attention to that,” Sutherland said. “The environment is really important to us personally. It’s not without impact, of course, but we try to minimize that impact with all of our choices in all the work we do on the hill.”
The only foundations for the coaster are on the circles and at the top and bottom, Sutherland said. The rest is just seated on the ground with stakes. To address the fire and rescue challenges, they are purchasing an off road vehicle for use by the fire department.
 
“Part of this process is the SEPA (State Environmental Policy Act) process. Noise is important. What is nice, this area is facing away from residential housing. We will have some sound-scaping and some music in the base area, but it will be pretty directed. We’ll do what we can to minimize noise,” Sutherland said. “There will be a traffic study as part of the conditional use process. We’ve talked about a flashing crosswalk for safety. We will have parking there.”
Leavenworth resident Zeke Reister asked about the impact of the park to the adjacent houses.
“Is that a consideration? What about parking? 100,000 visits planned. This road has a lot campers and hikers going up the Icicle during the summer. How will that get along with the all the folks going to the park? This is a pretty good idea. I’m glad it’s getting under the city,” Reister said.
Todd Piowski said he was concerned what it will look like and how it will play out.
“Why do people come here? I think it is for a number of reasons,” Piowski said. “We, as a city, have a choice of how we present ourselves and how we develop this city and the environment.”
Joe Vasta said we need to give a little more thought on what the vision is for the community.
“It was a very good presentation. A couple places mentioned like Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Park City, Utah. I’ve been to both those places. None of us could afford to live there. I certainly wouldn’t want to,” Vasta said.
Planning Commissioner Andy Lane commented on the annexation.
“There will be an application made to the city or the county depending on the annexation. Who would you prefer to have that application? I would rather have the city. That’s the best place to have the community interest represented,” Lane said.
Mayor Cheri Kelley Farivar said Lane made a good point.
“If this development was in the county, then no Bavarian code would be enforced,” Farivar said.
Peter Phillips, raised in Peshastin, but currently living in Seattle, said he has known David Moffett and John Sutherland for many years. He said they are really good, qualified, caring individuals.
“They are environmentalists of the highest caliber. They are eminently qualified. I’ve been working on this with John for a couple years. It’s just a quality addition to your community because it is environmentally sensitive. It provides activities for existing tourists. It’s not bringing more people. This is a unique, wonderful good use of that mountain. I’ve hiked it many times. I give it the highest endorsement,” Phillips said.
Farivar asked each of the council member to make a comment. Councilwoman Margaret Neighbors said she would vote for annexation.
“I believe something is going to happen there, whether we annex or not. We need to have control. It doesn’t have to be a park. It could be something else beneficial to the community,” Neighbors said. “I think this will be provide activities for our youth. Our kids need things like this. It will also provide some jobs for kids. I’m very convinced the developers are committed to making this a class facility.”
Councilwoman Mia Bretz said she has been really impressed with the developer’s presentations and their thoughts of community and having a classy Bavarian theme going in there.
“It’s already in a commercial zone. I’m interested in the project,” Bretz said. “At first, I thought it was a crazy idea. I’m still warming up to it. One of my big interests in diversifying the economy. Trinket shops only go so far. This is a big interest for me to see the town grow.”
What does the city get? The city gets tax revenue, Councilman Elmer Larsen said. He said he was willing to move forward with the conditional use process.
“Diversifying opportunities through town lessens the impact. We have overtaxed the high lakes. Anything that spreads that impact out. It may take a dozen rafters off the river. That would be a great thing,” Larsen said. “Larry Langston has had that property for 25 years and nobody else has stepped forward. I think this is a reasonable and environmentally manageable. We’re not cutting the top off a mountain. We’re just going to utilize what is there. It’s a good fit with the least impact.”
Councilwoman Sharon Waters said when she saw this project two weeks ago, she was horrified, thinking people come here for the natural beauty. Waters pressed for this issue to be further discussed at the March study session.
“I didn’t like that thought of all this going on the mountain side. My fear is this goes in, what will we look like 20 years from now? I’m concerned we just got this information two weeks ago, now here we are tonight. I’m not against it. I’m just feeling pushed,” Waters said.
Councilman Clint Strand said this is a project he was interested in. When he first read through it, he had some reservations.
“That whole western face is our good side and we’re talking about giving it a facelift. We need to make sure it’s in the best light. This area is zoned for that activity. This is something that could happen,” Strand said. “If it happens, I would like to make sure the city’s best interests are dovetailing with the developers.There is a lot questions yet to be answered. I look forward to that. I think there is deft of family options in this town.”
Councilman Jason Lundren said he believes the developers are thoughtful and sincere about this facility being nice and matches the geography. He didn’t feel they were blowing smoke and said he planned to vote for annexation.
Lundgren said he wished there was an option C. He wished they had thought about making this an open space.
“I bet you our residents would gladly pay $2 million for that site to keep it as open space had we known an adventure park was coming down the pike. There’s a lot of interest in this project. This is not another wine shop or distillery going in downtown. This is permanent infrastructure on the landscape. There are long term consequences with that,” Lundgren said. “My kids would love it. There is a shortage of family activities. I’m guessing the rates are not going to be affordable to a lot of residents. I have a lot of questions about the project.”
Farivar said this is privately held land and already zoned commercially. One of things nobody had brought up, she said, is the kind of inquiries that have come in about that property are nothing as attractive as this project.
“If this property is inside the city, then the residents and council have the opportunity to provide the guidance on what this property might look like,” Farivar said. “One of the ideas somebody came in here with was to lease the property not purchase it. There was a request to build a building that would be a marijuana distributor. That threw a little chill up my spine with having that be the gateway to our community. It would be the first thing you see. It scared me.”
That is one of the last parcels of commercially zoned property of any size in the city, Farivar said.
“ It was been on the market for some time. I would like to speak in favor of the annexation, regardless of what the business ends up being. That is a parcel of property in the urban growth area and lies in our gateway. I want to see us annex that parcel so we can guide what happens there and have a voice in what happens there,” Farivar said.
The council voted 6-1 for annexation, with Waters voting no, saying she didn’t have enough time to consider it. Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.