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Longtime S. Tobin Street resident Catherine Ploue-Smith (right) offers numerous reasons that the Renton School Board should not be taking her house by eminent domain; Board Member Pam Teal looks on
Last night the Renton School Board voted 4-0 to continue their condemnation efforts near Renton High School.
As I described in yesterday’s post, the Renton School Board held a special meeting last night to continue their taking of private homes to expand their Renton High School playfield site. (Please see yesterday’s post for full background, with links, on this topic)
Board Members began yesterday’s meeting by asking a few basic questions of Matt Feldmeyer, the District’s Executive Director of Capitol Construction and Planning who is leading the design of the project. One of the questions was whether any of the furniture could be saved in Renton High’s brand new $11.5 million science center that the District just completed last year and now plans to demolish. Mr. Feldmeyer said yes, some of the furniture could probably be repurposed. Board members seemed happy with this answer, as if saving $100,000 in furnishings would somehow make tearing down a new $11.5 building acceptable.
They also asked whether Renton High School sometimes shares their nearby Renton Memorial Stadium with other schools, and Mr. Feldmeyer said they do; based on their reaction, this seemed to be justification to the board that Renton High needed a second football field.
Several residents then testified, offering alternatives to condemnation and other baseball field locations. They also challenged the assumption that Renton High needs a second football field just because they sometimes share their large and well-equipped Memorial Stadium, noting the Memorial Stadium was built for Renton High, and many schools sometimes share facilities (The stadium sits on 17 acres, and has 5,500 covered seats, an electronic scoreboard, a pressbox, concessions, and an all-weather surface). Residents asked the Board to take time to review the many options they have submitted before proceeding. They also itemized many other related concerns.
North Renton Resident Meredith Farmer (who is also the North Renton Neighborhood President but was not speaking in that capacity), gave detailed testimony and closed by asking the Board Members an important question: “If this was your house, would you vote to condemn?”
Catherine Ploue-Smith, a S. Tobin resident who has lovingly maintained her beautiful home and gardens for about 20 years, gave many reasons she and her neighbors should be allowed to keep their homes.
She said the District had just completed the above-mentioned major remodel of the science building, and residents would continue paying taxes for decades to pay off the $11.5 million in bonds for the demolished center.
She also pointed out that the District is not properly maintaining the properties they have already acquired, in many cases leaving them deteriorating with boarded-up windows. These properties are likely to continue being a blight for months or years, as much permit process lies ahead for the project. These properties run down the neighborhood and city, and the haphazard unpainted plywood window-coverings are not allowed by Renton code. (Renton code requires either uncovered windows or painted architectural panels on vacant buildings).
Renton School District is breaking Renton’s ordinances when leaving houses in this boarded up, deteriorating condition. It’s also not fair to those nearby homeowners that are having their homes appraised.
She also felt that the Board was losing sight of how much money they were actually spending in bonds, noting that the last few bonds added together amounted to over a billion dollars, and there was still much unmet need in the district.
Partway through Ms. Ploue-Smith’s thorough testimony I began video recording, and I have provided the video below.
Following about 15-20 minutes of public testimony, the board deliberated for about seven minutes. Part of the brief deliberations included a back-and-forth with a member of the public about whether they would publically read the letters and correspondence they had received, and the Board President said they would not. One Board member mentioned that an airplane once landed on Renton High’s ballfield in the 1990s, but no one explained how redeveloping the baseball field into a soccer field and track (the current plan) would prevent this risk. (I video-recorded the deliberations and provide a link below.)
The Board then voted 4-0 (with one member absent) to proceed with condemning the latest home in the process, 402 S. Tobin Street.
Renton’s School Superintendent (left) and four School Board members watch aa a concerned resident asks them to reconsider taking private property for a new baseball field and reminding them that the bond issue was supposed to pay for a swimming pool for Renton High (which has now been dropped).
In the clip below, S. Tobin Street resident Catherine Ploue-Smith is partway through her testimony encouraging the school board not to take her and her neighbor’s homes for a relocated baseball field. The clip begins with her discussing the 11.5 million dollar Renton High science center that was completed last year and will be demolished for a parking lot.
The clip below is the full deliberations of the Renton School Board (April 24, 2025) as they choose to authorize the latest eminent domain action, the taking of 402 S. Tobin Street.
The latest home being targeted by eminent domain in the meeting. The house will be leveled, along with many others on the block, to relocate the high school baseball field.
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