Hill Street neighbors concerned about sale of school property in Plain

The potential sale of land in Plain has people on Hill Street upset. The Cascade School District is considering selling 5.5 acres of land adjacent to their Beaver Valley School to Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue next door. Hill Street borders both properties. 

Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue desires the land to expand their fire station to accommodate the increasing demand in the Plain/Lake Wenatchee area. These plans have Hill Street residents concerned. 

Several Hill Street neighbors packed into the Cascade School Board meeting on Nov. 27 to press the board on this issue, even though it was not on the agenda. Hill Street resident Diane Patterson said the fire department decided to expand with no input from them. 

“I would like to have some input. I’m happy to have them expand on their 2.6 acres. That’s great. We love them, but they want to buy six more acres. I’ve been told by the fire chief they want to burn some of the shipping containers that are presently behind the fire department,” Patterson said. “I don’t feel it is appropriate to be doing burning training in an area next to a school and in the middle of a residential area that is zoned residential. I don’t think anyone from the fire department would want that in their front yard either.”

Don Bottoms said he and his wife, Pat, live on Hill Street right across from the school. He said they love the school and also believe Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue performs a very valuable service and are great people. 

“They’re proposing to put this in a big residential area. Before this was just a big open meadow. 

Now, there is a good number of very expensive homes right in that circle of properties there. The activities they are telling us they’ll put in are things that don’t belong in a private neighborhood. We would urge you to take your time and consider this very carefully and get the input from us and other people in Plain before you make a final decision,” Bottoms said. 

Bottoms felt there were plenty of other places in Plain where the fire department could locate. Katie Stevens lives next door to the fire department. She said she has concerns about the ill-defined uses of the building. 

“They don’t seem to have a proper plan. I’m concerned about the various things that could happen with that land if it is sold to the fire department. I have two small children. I know they can burn what they have now,” Stevens said. “I guess I really didn’t know that when I purchased the house. I think it is not a great idea to expand behind the school into a residential area. I think if they need more land it would be better outside residential and school properties. I know they have training to do. Maybe it could be done in a slightly better area. At this point, I have concerns for my kids and our house.”

Hill Street neighbor David Stoller urged the board not to approve the sale to the fire department, which he feels is ill-concieved. 

“I think the process has been secretive and lacking in transparency with lacking of input from those of us that would be most immediately affected. My biggest concern is the elephant in the room and that is the live fire burn training that is likely to occur on this six acre parcel,” Stoller said. “Seems to me the fire department’s needs could be met on the 2.5 acre parcel they currently have, except for the live fire burns. The six extra acres would give them close nine acres in the Hill Street area. I can’t imagine any purpose other than the live fire burns.”

Stoller said he traveled to Snohomish to the live fire site there. He said it was about eight acres with a chain link fence topped with barbed wire, motion detecting cameras, lights and about 30 cars and trucks. 

“It was rainy day with no wind. I didn’t get closer than 100 yards from the burn. There was copius amounts of smoke and steam. It was very acrid. It burned my eyes 100 yards away. Terrible sense of smell and taste in my mouth. My clothes smelled until I washed them,” Stoller said. 

Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue Chief Mick LaMar said they have been a good neighbor there for 25 years. 

“We’ve been there for a long time. We think we’re good neighbors. We’ve been partners with the school. We’ll be a good fit,” LaMar said. “We’ll be respective with the concerns of the neighbors and address them at the appropriate time.”

Chelan County Fire District 9 Board member Rollie Schmitten said they are the first responders in a very large district. He noted responding to two rollovers on Stevens Pass the day before. 

The biggest reason to expand, Schmitten said, is because their calls have gone up 400 percent over the past 15 years.  

“In our strategic plan in 2016, we looked at what can we do to enhance our facilities and provide better service. Our neighbors are important to us and we need to listen to them. One of the things we heard early on because we did have a public hearing on this issue, was concerns about design,” Schmitten said. “That is a legitimate concern. Like a school district, you don’t put 100s of thousands of dollars into your architect then go find a piece property. It just doesn’t work that way. You acquire the property, then do the design.”

The Hill Street group submitted 33 questions to the fire district, Schmitten said. Many of those concerns they have been able to answer, he said. 

“A regional fire training facility like this gentleman visited, we have no desire to do that. The liability and cost to do that is overwhelming. Please hear me, it will not be a regional fire training center,” Schmitten said. “Also, fuel station. We have no intent to have a fuel station on this property. Heli-base facility. Yes and no. There would be one there. If there is a Harborview call to save a life, they can land on our helipad. Yes, if it is a kids safety week. Very rare occurrences. Probably less that 10 a year.”

Ingress and egress is a big issue, Schmitten said. The fire district favor ingress and egress from Beaver Valley Road. There would be no high chain link fences, no security lights. 

“Those are many of the things we can reach an accommodation of their concerns. We do need a place to grow to meet the needs of the district,” Schmitten said. 

One of the neighbors read a letter from Matt Rogers, a Hill Street resident who is a 27 year veteran of the fire service and a battalion chief in a major city. 

“To date, I’ve not been offered any reasonable explanation or consistently articulated argument for Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue to need 10 acres of operational property,” Rogers wrote. “This is a residential station in a residential community with no growth projections to suggest otherwise. If projections were valid, I believe you as board members would keep the property for educational needs.”

Roger stated Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue officials have been inconsistent, non-specific and in some cases incoherent in collectively articulating the intended use of the property. 

“This is damaging to the neighborhood on multiple fronts, from real estate sale, financial impact and most of all, the intended quality of life provided from rural residential home owning,” Rogers wrote. “It also provides a developing lack of confidence in the agency. Despite the lack of justification for the need for the additional property, Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue is also minimally using their current fire station, further raising questions of fiduciary responsibility.”

Live fire training is not an appropriate activity for a residential neighborhood, Rogers wrote. 

“I’m an ardent supporter of the fire service and this is difficult for me to express. I will sadly lose multiple friends over this letter,” Rogers wrote. “The only guiding principal is right and wrong. My family supports this philosophy over politics. In my opinion, Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue has not met the bar in public agency transparency, and financial responsibility for this proposal. There are other options open to them that will more than adequately support their mission.”

Rebecca Olson said she was really upset and nervous about this. She explained that she and her sister had bought a piece of property in Plain 12 years ago. She said Plain is the place where they wanted to spend their retirement. 

“We are currently building a home that looks directly at this piece of property. I haven’t stopped crying for three weeks since I found out about the plan. If had known about the plan, we never ever would have invested our life savings, our retirement savings and go in this house. Never. I should have known about it,” Olson said. “But it wasn’t disclosed. It was clandestine. It’s been secretive. When people are not up front about things, you have to smell a rat. With deceit comes a lack of trust. I should have known about this.”

Olson said she does not trust what is being said about what is going to happen to the property. 

“You look at the property right now and it looks like a garbage dump. Whose to say that is not going to continue? If I knew there was a conversation on potentially lighting things on fire, toxic fumes, smoke inhalation, next to a school, I would be outrage if I were you guys, not in partnership,” Olson said. “Do I support the fire department? Of course. Do I think we need an emergency center? Of course. It can be done on the existing property.”

Nan Bolton, Rebecca Olson’s sister, said she is very upset about this. 

“I could cry. All my life, I dreamed of living here. When I found out about this, I was shocked. I was shocked too because I was an educator and a teacher for years in the Edmonds and Renton school districts,” Bolton said. “I’ve been telling my friends about what is being proposed. They said, you have to be kidding me, next to a school? I said yes. We didn’t know anything about this. We would have never built.”

One Hill Street neighbor complained the school board meeting was not advertised, nor the community meeting in Plain on Nov. 6, which drew 80 people. 

“The meeting at the fire station was advertised. That was a public hearing three weeks ago. Things are very much in the planning. From my perspective, things are very much in the planning stage. This has not been going on for months or years,” said Board President Carrie Sorensen, who represents the Plain area. “It’s a new concept, so we are gathering information. We are listening. This is not our agenda. This is not a decision at the moment. Our job is to decide what is best for the school district for all of our students.”

Another Hill Street neighbor pressed the board on the fire department plans for the property. 

“This is the school board. We have nothing to do with the fire department planning. Our decision is whether or not we sell the land,” Sorensen said, banging her gavel for quiet. “We don’t have that information at the school board meeting. That’s not a school board question. Talk to Fire District 9.”

Ian Dunn can be reached at 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.