REDMOND
˜
.com
REPORTER
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
NEWSLINE: 425.867.0353
INITIATIVE LAWSUIT | Eyman’s attorney files opening brief to Court of Appeals [4] SPORTS | Redmond boys fend off Issaquah [10]
ON THE GO?
GET OUR FREE MOBILE APP Scan this code and start receiving local news on your mobile device today!
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2012
Roaring in the Chinese New Year
Group seeks to save trees, files petition with county court Sustainable Redmond takes legal action to prevent the removal of trees for planned development BILL CHRISTIANSON bchristianson@redmond-reporter.com
The Chinese New Year started with a roar at the Old Fire House Teen Center last Saturday with its annual celebration. SLIDESHOW ONLINE Attendees rang in the Year of the Dragon as the Seattle-based Lieu Quan Lion Dance Troupe opened the event with a lion www.redmond-reporter.com dance, held inside due to the snowy and icy conditions outside. The troupe performed and held a question-and-answer period after the event, which was sponsored by the Redmond Youth Partnership Advisory Committee (RYPAC) and supported by the Asian Student Association at Redmond High School (RHS). About 60 people, young and old, attended the event and enjoyed activities including making paper lanterns, creating traditional red envelopes to be shared with others and making fortune cookies. Calligrapher Dachun Ling from the Redmond Senior Center (RSC) also attended and wrote participants names in Chinese with a new year wish. Courtesy photo
School board extends timeline on superintendent search Meet-and-greet events with trustees’ preferred candidate rescheduled due to storms SAMANTHA PAK spak@redmond-reporter.com
The Lake Washington School District (LWSD) board of directors is extending the timeline on its superintendent search as a result of last week’s snow, ice and wind storms, according to community relations and communications coordinator Shannon Parthemer. Trustees could have made a hiring decision as early as this Monday’s board meeting, but the inclement weather
These events are an opportunity caused district officials to postfor the public to meet Pierce in pone three meet-and-greet events an informal setting and provide at the LWSD Resource Center in feedback for the board. Redmond, along with two others In addition, the community in Kirkland and Sammamish with can give their input by filling preferred superintendent candiout comment cards at the events date Dr. Traci Pierce. Dr. Traci Pierce or online through the LWSD’s Instead, Parthemer said the website at lwsd.org. Parthemer board will use Monday’s meetsaid the deadline for online coming to figure out the next steps in ments, originally Jan. 22, has been extendnaming a new Lake Washington schools ed to an undetermined date as not all of leader. the three remaining meet and greets have “They’ll be deciding when they’ll decide (on hiring a new superintendent),” been rescheduled. The event at the LWSD Resource Center was held Wednesday she said. night and the Sammamish event will be A meet-and-greet event was held at on Feb. 7, but Parthemer said the district Redmond City Hall on Jan. 10, but the is still working on rescheduling the meet remaining three scheduled for last week and greet at Kirkland City Hall. were postponed because of the weather.
Sustainable Redmond is leading a legal charge to save more than 1,000 trees slated to be cut down as part of a 28-acre, mixed-use, transit-oriented development in Overlake. The grass-roots organization, along with two local neighborhood groups and former Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives, filed a land-use petition in King County Superior Court Tuesday, seeking to block Group Health Cooperative’s plans of cutting down 1,050 “significant” trees from a vacant site of the planned development. Significant trees are defined by the city as having a diameter of 6 inches or more at the height of 4 1/2 feet above the ground. The vacant property, located at 2464 152nd Ave. NE, is the site of a hospital that closed in 2008. The parcel is bordered by the Microsoft, Corp. campus and is adjacent to a proposed East Link light rail station. The Group Health Overlake Village project would add 10-12 apartment buildings and 1.4 million square feet of commercial space to the neighborhood. It also calls for removing 65 landmark trees, estimated to be 150 to 250 years old, and another 985 trees up to 150 years old, according to a Sustainable Redmond press release issued Wednesday night. Last December, the City Council approved the Group Health plan, which includes an exception to a section of the city zoning code that requires developers to retain 35 percent of existing significant trees. Council member Kim Allen was the only dissenting vote in the Council’s 6-1 approval of the plan, which calls for the removal of all trees, including the significant ones, at the site. “We would like to see the city continue its tradition of protecting trees and would like the city to uphold its tree preservation ordinance, which states that all landmark trees shall be preserved and 35 percent of significant trees shall be retained,” Sustainable Redmond spokesperson Cindy Jayne said in an email to the Redmond Reporter. The judge is scheduled to hear oral arguments of the case June 25, according to city attorney Jim Haney. The judge can rule from [ more TREES page 3 ]