HomeMy WebLinkAboutLUA-20-000266 appealCAUTION: This email originated from outside the City of Renton. Do not click links, reply or open
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From:CityClerk
To:Cynthia Moya
Subject:FW: LUA20-000266, Appeal
Date:Monday, January 11, 2021 8:08:58 AM
Attachments:image006.png
Please determine who the project manager is for this project. Then request an appeal invoice be set
up. I will respond that we’ve received the appeal and will send them an invoice to pay the appeal fee
online.
-Jason
Jason A. Seth, MMC
City Clerk/Public Records Officer
425-430-6502
rentonwa.gov/cityclerk
All correspondence received at this email address is subject to Washington State’s Public Records Act
– RCW 42.56.
From: Tours and Events <tours@duwamishtribe.org>
Sent: Friday, January 8, 2021 6:12 PM
To: CityClerk <CityClerk@Rentonwa.gov>
Subject: LUA20-000266, Appeal
Attention: Renton City Clerk
RE: LUA20-000266 3835 Lincoln Ave NE (APN 3345700130), Appeal of a Determination of Non-
Significance
We have reviewed the environmental impact statement prepared for this project and also the Renton
municipal code pertaining to the protection of watersheds, and found both to be fully inadequate.
The present condition of May Creek, and adjoining wetlands, was judged to be of low ecological
value and thus the buffer zone and caution mandated for development are low. May Creek has been a
place of agriculture, gathering and sustenance for the Duwamish since long before the city of Renton
was conceived. Designating this wetland and stream as low functioning or low value is clearly a
flawed assessment suffering from recency bias, and a lack of understanding about how to care for the
land and sustain our natural resources.
This project allows for 18 out of 36 significant trees on the property to be removed. Even in the
justifying assessment it is mentioned that the property is at high risk of erosion and moderate risk of a
slide. Increasing the impervious surfaces and removing tree cover will make both of these
consequences inevitable and more pronounced. Erosion and landslides will not only jeopardize the
functionality of the nearby wetlands, but will also eventually pose threats to the structures on site. The
wetland on site as well as nearby wetlands will become even less effective at filtering groundwater
and runoff if they are overburdened by the pollution emitted during construction, and subsequently
during use by more vehicles.
We recommend a number of approaches for remediation, and also to alter the municipal code so that
ecological sustainability can actually be achieved and not simply paid lip service.
First and foremost, environmental impact assessments cannot be made separately from one another.
Seemingly external projects must be considered in conjunction if an accurate environmental impact is
to be calculated. If every large and natural property parcel were subdivided by separate owners, and
the impact statements prepared by separate individuals and/or firms, they could all meet the standards
of municipal code, yet collectively contribute to ecological destruction that threatens environmental
and human health.
We urge the city of Renton to reallocate funds to not only remediate the watershed remnant of May
Creek, but all the portions of the watersheds that Renton occupies. Renton lies at a major center of
Duwamish Territory, and must adhere to federal/treaty law to ensure that the Duwamish may continue
to practice their cultural traditions on their home territory. Although the Duwamish Tribe has
shamefully been ignored and denied its treaty rights, the Treaty of Point Elliott still stands, as does the
treaty of Medicine Creek. In both afforementioned treaties the rights of native people are preserved to
fish, hunt, gather and observe cultural traditions in their usual and accustomed places (i.e. in their
home territory). By allowing continual development of industry and housing as though each project
exists in a vacuum, the city of Renton is abandoning its responsibility to uphold the law of the land
which must provide a chance for native flora and fauna to live in perpetuity.
Remediation for the May Creek watershed, and the rest of the watersheds Renton currently occupies
should be carried out with substantive input from the Duwamish Tribe, as well as other ecological
experts recommended by the Duwamish.
Obviously time cannot be reversed. We realize that pollution from nearby infrastructure such as I-405
is much more of a threat to ecosystem health than this small subdivision, but this is another reminder
of the necessity to include cumulative impacts from other nearby infrastructure when an
environmental impact is assessed and weighed.
We saw that the appeal fee will be postponed due to teleworking and Covid-19, so we will await
instructions on how to pay that.
Please continue to stay safe and healthy while this virus spikes nationwide.
DUWAMISH TRIBE
4705 W. Marginal Way SW, Seattle, WA 98106-1514
206 431.1582
Duwamish Tribe Cultural Preservation
John Boddy, johnboddy@duwamishtribe.org
James Rassmussen, james@duwamishcleanup.org
Duwamish Tribe
Chairwoman, Cecile Hansen
Tribal Council Members