School District Informational Meeting about Renton High Expansion; Condemned property owners to be asked for feedback

A Renton High School neighbor who’s home is threatened by eminent domain asked me if I could give background on why she received this postcard.

The postcard announces a public meeting that is part of the permit approval process for new large projects in the City of Renton.  The code that applies can be found here.

Here is an excerpt:

“4-8-090 PUBLIC NOTICE REQUIREMENTS:
A. NEIGHBORHOOD MEETINGS:

1. Purpose: A neighborhood meeting is an applicant-hosted forum intended to assist in producing applications that are responsive to neighborhood concerns, and to reduce the likelihood of delays and appeals. The City expects an applicant to take into consideration the reasonable concerns and recommendations of the neighbors and other interested persons when preparing an application. Neighborhood meetings are not City-sponsored and neither delegates any authority to the public nor reflects the City’s perspective on the merits of the project.”

The meeting will be held on August 6, at 6:00 PM, at Renton High School.  The point of this meeting is to hear concerns and inputs from neighbors before formal permit process get underway.  Neighbors can read the code to learn more about the expectations for the meeting.  The relevant section is (A) 1-9.

This could be a lively and important meeting since many of the neighbors are having their homes forcibly taken. School Officials will have to ask something to this effect: “Tell us how you REALLY feel about us taking your homes by eminent domain for a baseball stadium? … Please avoid profanity if possible.”  

Section 8 is a key paragraph:

“8. Consideration: The City shall consider as part of the development review process the concerns and issues raised by the neighbors and applicant at the neighborhood meeting, including any agreed-upon solutions or resolutions to outstanding issues or areas of contention. The City, however, shall not be bound in its decision-making by any agreements or understandings made between the neighbors and applicants. Nothing in this Section shall be construed to delegate design or project review decision-making authority to the participants in the public meeting.”