Comment by Natalia Ilyin

From: Natalia Ilyin 

Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2019 10:41 PM

To: PCD

Subject: Concerns regarding Winslow Hotel project, permit numberPLN50880 SPR/CUP

First, I would like to request that the City reschedule the Public Hearing on this project application. April 25th at 10 AM is a bad time for concerned citizens who work 9-5. Working citizens cannot get to a hearing scheduled at 10 am in the morning. This scheduling on a weekday morning gives the impression--however false-- that the City is trying to limit public participation in the hearing process. My concerns regarding the plans for the Winslow Hotel:

1. Noise. The hotel owner envisions this hotel as a wedding destination.The plans include an outdoor amphitheater. I am concerned that amplified wedding music will drift over the neighborhood constantly in the summer months. The architect assures us that no one will play amplified music, they'll only have weddings. That assurance is unenforceable. Am I supposed to go over there and rip someone's pick-up off their harp in the middle of a wedding? I would like an assurance, attached to the property, not to the owner, that states that no amplified music will be played outside. We are assured that amplified music will only be played inside. Will the hotel seal their guests in? Will there not be any access to the planned terraces? Open windows mean noise. This needs to be resolved. I live right next door to the development. When there was a bar farther away from me on that same property, I could hear every word of the music every weekend night and the sound of the bass kept me awake every weekend. I had to call the police twice to enforce the code. To give you an idea of the way sound moves up Winslow Way, When they have jazz bands on Winslow Green in the Summer, I must close my windows in order not to hear the music clearly. And jazz bands are not wedding bands. Neighbors cannot be expected to have the bass line of "Single Ladies" fill their weekends during the Summer.
2. Garbage smells and dumping. The architects assure us that they have contracted with the City to pick up garbage later in the day. That's a good start. But it doesn't cut down on the truck backing sounds, or the constant sound of bins of bottles being thrown into recycling by restaurant staff. The garbage pick up is planned for the west side of the hotel, where people' live ten feet from the property line. If the plan put the garbage on the other side of the building, no one would be disturbed. The closest neighbors on the east side are two office buildings.
3.  Parking and increased congestion on Winslow Way. Winslow way is a two-way street that already bears heavy ferry traffic hourly throughout the day. I am concerned about additional traffic on Winslow Way. We have a school bus stop right by the planned hotel. I am concerned about safety. The architect tells us that his parking advisors "don't build the church parking lot for Easter morning." And so, estimating 179 car capacity need, he has planned 90 spaces, and plans to lease space from other parking areas. The floated notion that "no one is going to be using cars anymore" is idealistic, not to 2 say privileged. Please don't let the Famous Pavilion Parking Plan Mistaker happen in this case. Evidently the Pavilion was supposed to have leased space too. That fell through after the building began. Can we not do this again?
4. Cooking smells. The architect assures us that he has put the kitchen exhaust between two gables on the front of the building. How this will affect the drifting smells of 70 wedding party salmon dinners? Are the neighbors doomed to spend June enveloped in the smell of grilling salmon while being bombarded with "How Long Will I Love You?"
5.  What happens when the sewage treatment facility belches? They have this on-going problem with the same treatment system over at Islandwood. What happens if it fails? Will 70 patrons then flush toilets into the downtown sewage system? Can the sewage system take that? 6. The Aquifer. Why would this property, which is very big for a downtown building, be granted a variance to build a well, when tax payers who live in the neighborhood are not allowed to have wells, and the alarm has already been sounded about aquifer issues with new building on the Island? Granting such a variance seems short-sighted and seems to favor wealthy developers over neighbors.
6. I support the proposal for a green buffer. This proposal was made to the architects last month. The neighbors proposed that they create a 10 foot wide natural buffer between the west side of their building and the property line, to create space for a "wildlife corridor" between the two highly developed properties. We have a surprising amount of wildlife in the area, even now. The center of the block (with the rusty cars) is a bit of a refuge. It's cool to see a Steller's Jay appear on my railing in the morning With a ten foot buffer, he could still feel safe enough to show up.
7. The Redwood will be hard to see by regular people. I think it's too bad that, especially after I fought to save the redwood (I am the person who told Olaf Ribeiro about the tree in the first place) regular people will now not be able to see most of it because of the three story hotel wrapped around it. It will be hidden from passersby. I'm glad that it will be saved, should it survive the building disruption of its roots, but I wish that people that cannot pay luxurious hotel fees would still have a chance to enjoy it. Thank you for reading and hearing my concerns. The building will no doubt be beautiful, but these details need to be dealt with in a transparent way by the City and the architects, in order for the neighbors of this development to be able to welcome it. Sincerely, Natalia Ilyin 325 Winslow Way W. unit 100 Bainbridge Island, WA 98110