We, the neighbors of Ms. Hergert, want to let the community know the complete story regarding her intent to place a commercial preschool in the backyard of her 2,360-sq.-ft. residence. The proposed 2,900-sq.-ft. commercial building in her backyard will house up to 48 children per session. The proposal includes separate morning and afternoon sessions.

Ms. Hergert has compared her proposal to Rainbow Montessori, Evergreen Academy, Woodinville Montessori, Woodinville Family Preschool, and others. However, none of these facilities are located in the backyard of a residence.

Rainbow Montessori is the only preschool mentioned that is in the city of Woodinville. The property includes a single structure that is an 1,800-sq.-ft. converted residence and is located on the Woodinville-Duvall road.

Ms. Hergert’s proposal to have both her home and the preschool situated on one residential lot results in significant negative impact on the surrounding neighborhood. The design includes an additional septic system and drain field for the commercial structure. This further restricts how the facility can be situated in her backyard.

For example, the parking lot is split into two parts, with six stalls in front for staff and six stalls behind the residence for the drop-off and pick-up of up to 48 students per session. There is no on-street parking available near the site. This is potentially 204 vehicle trips to the residence every day.

Access to the backyard parking lot will be a two lane driveway that will require each vehicle to back up in order to turn around.

Due to the specific start and ending times of classes, a significant amount of vehicle congestion (and idling vehicles) occurs during drop-off and pick-up times. This congestion has been observed at both Rainbow Montessori and Evergreen Academy. Based on Ms. Hergert’s design, congestion will back up and overflow onto 156th Ave. NE.

The families that use her current commercial preschool come from an area that is 10 times the size of the area serviced by Wellington Elementary. This means that almost all of the children are driven several miles to and from the facility in private vehicles each day. This is unlike our public schools which serve local children that either walk to school or ride the school bus.

All of these site-specific issues are due to the size of Ms. Hergert’s proposal and the continued use of the site as a residence. The Woodinville zoning law refers to the proposed “preschool” as “accessory to residential” use. The “accessory to residential” use has specific size restrictions. These size restrictions are summarized below:

• 50% of residence living space (“home industry” and “accessory dwelling”)
• 2 non-resident employees (“daycare 1” and “home industry”)
• 12 children or students (“daycare 1” and “specialized instruction schools”)

The Woodinville “preschool” zoning category has no specific size restrictions for residential zones. However it is this comparison with other “accessory to residential” usages that was presented to the City of Woodinville Planning Commission. The Planning Commission determined that for residential zones only, the “preschool” zoning category should have a size restriction that is consistent with other “accessory to residential” usages.

The Planning Commission discussed this issue and voted on it three times (June 2005, Sept. 2005, and Feb. 2006). Each time the recommendation to limit the residential “preschool” zoning category to 12 children at a time and 24 children in a 24 hour period passed. On two of the three votes, the decision was unanimous. Mr. Stecker was involved in the first two votes, but not the third. As the third vote indicates, his presence was not a significant factor in the Commission’s recommendation.

The Planning Commission’s “preschool” recommendation only restricts the size of commercial preschools in residential zones. It does not affect the size or location of preschools located in other zones, such as the neighborhood business zone, public/institutional zone, or other commercial zones. Ms. Hergert currently operates one preschool in a neighborhood business zone in Woodinville and another preschool in a commercial zone in Kenmore. Most of the other preschools located in the city of Woodinville are in commercial and business zones.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation does not affect Ms. Hergert’s proposal for the facility behind her residence. According to Washington state law, her proposal is evaluated according to Woodinville law at the time that her original application was submitted to the City. For the same reason, the recommendation does not affect Rainbow Montessori.

The neighborhood’s involvement with the Planning Commission is to prevent a reoccurrence. Other residents of the City of Woodinville should not have to deal with a repeat of our situation.

Ms. Hergert’s misrepresentation that City Council members Roskind and Stecker are against preschools and education is blatantly false. They both have young children who have used our community’s preschool system and now attend Wellington Elementary. Both City Council members Stecker and Roskind voted for the Northshore School Levy on the City Council and voted for the Levy personally. Most of Ms. Hergert’s neighbors have children in the Northshore Schools and strongly support education in the community.

Ms. Hergert accusing these individuals of not supporting this levy after they voted for it is a shameful attempt to continue to gain support and profit at others expense.

With regard to Councilman Stecker, the City of Woodinville attorney has stated that there was no conflict of interest between Mr. Stecker’s personal standing and his volunteer position on the Planning Commission. Prior to Mr. Stecker becoming a City Council member he requested to be removed from the lawsuit. This request was immediately processed and he is no longer formally involved with the lawsuit.

Mr. Stecker’s support of our neighborhood lawsuit by adding his name to our action is appreciated. We are sorry that Ms. Hergert has decided to malign him and blow his participation out of proportion.

Councilman Roskind and Planning Commissioners Martin, Rubstello, Edmonds, and Jarvis have never been formally involved with the lawsuit. They are aware of the lawsuit as it is public knowledge. As members of the Council and the Planning Commission, it’s their responsibility to be aware of land use issues affecting the City.

This issue is not about being for or against education. This is about someone building an oversized commercial enterprise in a residential area. Ms. Hergert’s proposal is for her personal profit and comes at the financial expense and reduced quality of life of her neighbors and neighborhood.