LEAVENWORTH — A proposal for a 70-lot cluster subdivision, Alpenglow Village 3, on Ski Hill Drive in Leavenworth, is set to sprawl across roughly 28 acres, including wetland areas, and anticipated to house 175 people.
Map of phase three of the Alpenglow Village, located off Ski Hill Drive in Leavenworth.
Provided photo/City of Leavenworth
The city's recent stamp of non-significance moved the environmental impact assessment to the next step for determination, the city hearing examiner. The move also spurred some residents into questioning how the project could be built on apparent wetlands and how quickly it passed a step.
The subdivision’s proposal and its environmental impact was determined by the city of Leavenworth to be non-significant with mitigation. The city came to this conclusion through the optional “Determination of Nonsignificance” (DNS) process, which limits public comment.
According to city of Chelan community development director, John Ajax, the optional DNS process is “often utilized for timing benefits, particularly when prevailing codes are sufficient for project review and compliance.”
“For instance, in a land use application that necessitates public notice and (State Environmental Policy Act) SEPA review, the optional DNS process has a particular advantage in that it combines the notice of application and SEPA comment period into a single process, which usually lasts for two weeks,” Ajax wrote in an email.
He continued, “On the other hand, the non-optional SEPA process would require a two-week notice for the project application and SEPA, followed by a SEPA determination and an additional two-week comment period on the SEPA determination.”
The SEPA process evaluates whether a proposal would have significant environmental impacts prior to government issued permits, according to the Department of Ecology website.
What is the optional process?
With the optional DNS process combining the SEPA comment period and notice of application; the notice includes this line: “This may be your only opportunity to comment on the environmental impacts of the proposed project,” according to the Department of Ecology website. The combined notice of the project’s application and notice of the optional DNS was posted by the city Dec. 7.
According to state Department of Ecology spokesperson, Emily Tasaka, the optional DNS route consolidates the SEPA comment and Notice of Application comments periods rather than the two separate comment periods under the “standard DNS route.”
“Consolidating the two comment periods into one can contribute to quicker turnaround time, but not necessarily,” Tasaka wrote. “Each project has a unique permit and review path depending on the proposal, permits required, and site conditions.”
She declined to say how common it was to consolidate comment periods and said it was up to the lead agency on which route to take.
The project
The proposal includes residential lots ranging from a little more than 4,200 square feet to 10,000 square feet on the north side of town. Alpenglow Village is zoned residential, per city of Leavenworth zoning districts, but due to being defined as a “major subdivision,” it requires undergoing a SEPA process, which is handed down from the Department of Ecology; as well as going before the city hearing examiner for approval.
The city of Leavenworth was the lead agency for the subdivision’s SEPA process.
Written public comment collected by the city showed concerns and pushback from Leavenworth residents. Residents Coalition of Chelan County, a local grassroots effort organized by Chelan County citizens, flagged the subdivision project as an issue on its website.
“Where everybody (residents) objected was, the optional can be used for applications that have little significance, when nobody anticipates any impact,” said Bob Fallon, a Leavenworth resident. “That struck everybody; because this project is in a wetland and has huge impacts because it’s a huge project. It will have all sorts of impacts on traffic, recreation, and the wetlands.”
The city did not respond to multiple requests for comments on why it chose the optional DNS route.
“It’s worth noting that the optional DNS process is not suitable for land use applications where the project is inconsistent with the underlying zoning or requires significant mitigation of a potential or known environmental impact to proceed,” Ajax wrote. “In such cases, a full SEPA review is necessary, which includes the possibility of an environmental impact assessment.”
Growth
The 70-lot cluster is phase three of the Alpenglow Village subdivision. Phase one of the subdivision lines the south side of the 70-lot cluster. Details for phase one were not immediately available.
Phase two includes nine lots for homes that were all sold as of March 9, according to the developer’s website.
The proposal includes new Alpenglow Drive that would run from Central Avenue to Ski Hill Drive, extending Cascade Street and Central Avenue and providing land to the north for a potential future road.
Provided photo/Department of Ecology
Alpenglow Village, listed at 10175 Ski Hill Drive, sits north of Pine Street. The planned Alpenglow Village 3 is roughly .2 miles away from Alpine Lakes Elementary School and less than a one-minute walk from the Pinegrass subdivision, which houses more than 30 lots.
Another planned development, Leavenworth Meadows — a 300-unit apartment complex divided into 21 separate buildings, according to city documents — would be a roughly 1-mile drive away from the Alpenglow Village.
“This is a small valley with just one road that goes in and out, Highway 2, and it’s already impacted big time,” Fallon said. “What is the capacity of the Icicle Valley here for growth? Everybody wants to live here, but we don’t have the space and we don’t have the infrastructure.”
The city of Leavenworth reviewed the subdivision proposal under the SEPA checklist and determined a “Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance” (MDNS) for the development; meaning “the project as proposed with mitigation does not have a probable significant adverse impact on the environment,” according to city documents.
Leavenworth residents, like Fallon, have raised concerns due to the determination being “short circuited” prior to the completion of two studies: one on the wetlands and one on traffic.
Three wetlands and one ditch with wetland conditions were identified in 2021 by Wenatchee-based Grette Associates Environmental Consultants. The SEPA checklist with staff comments released in December 2022 identified four wetlands on site.
The Department of Ecology is requiring additional information on the wetlands be conducted and stated in its SEPA comments:
“(Three of the wetlands) is groundwater seeps that discharge on the northern portion of the property and flow south down the slope. In addition, a piped conveyance from Wetland C into Wetland D exists along the eastern property boundary. Any proposed interruption of these piped conveyance, and interruption to surface water flow in grading may need review as it pertains to potential wetland impacts.”
Fallon, a nearby neighbor to the development, and the Residents Coalition of Chelan County, documented concerns over sewer treatment infrastructure and stormwater management related to the potential subdivision.
“There’s a lot of water running off that hill… once you start building, all that wetland water running downhill would be intercepted by streets and there will be much more hard surface so the ground won’t absorb rainwater anymore,” Fallon said. “All that water has to go into the stormwater system in addition to all the sewer from the new houses. One of the big issues in Leavenworth is that all of our water systems are very close to capacity and it’s ancient.
“Those are the things that really have people in town worried. If they get a building permit, how are they going to build it if we don’t have the infrastructure to support it?”
The city’s traffic impact analysis, included in its comprehensive plan, requires studying traffic flow at uniform times, 4-6 p.m. on weekdays and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Sundays in the summer (June-September). The Traffic Impact Analysis dated in December 2021, did not include a study of Sundays in the summer traffic, and will require a review and potentially a revision or amendment, according to the SEPA checklist with city staff comments dated in December 2022.
“The big thing is three schools — Alpine Lakes Elementary, Icicle River Middle School, Cascade High School — all get out at the same time and they all try to get through Chumstick (Highway) and Fir (Street) intersection onto Highway 2,” Fallon said. “That intersection fails every morning at 8 a.m. and every afternoon when schools let out at 3 (p.m.). You do not try it at 3 in the afternoon. The intersection is already failing. The traffic engineers for Leavenworth Meadows and Alpenglow (Village) did not look at that intersection at 3 in the afternoon.”
The development proposal includes a new Alpenglow Drive that would run from Central Avenue to Ski Hill Drive, and extend Cascade Street and Central Avenue to thread into the subdivision. The proposal also includes land to the north for a potential future road.
The city of Leavenworth did not respond to The Wenatchee World’s multiple requests for comments on the project.
This story has been updated with a clarification in the second paragraph.
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