Open letter to Craig Gildroy, Planning Director, City of Chelan

I cannot fathom how you can issue a determination of non-significance (DNS) for this project (Holiday Hills) when there are so many probable negative impacts to both the natural and human environments; to name just a few: Scale (at 85 acres this could be the largest development project in the valley’s history); Size (between 420 and 1068 units are being proposed; this project at full size is nearly as large as the City of Chelan itself); Location (the project surrounds a neighborhood that has been in existence for nearly half a century; how will Holiday Hills mitigate the many negative impacts on the neighborhood?); Contaminated soil (located on a historic apple orchard location there must be arsenic, lead, and a variety of DDT and other pesticide residues in the soil; Brian Patterson has emailed a report to you regarding the same); With 2000 to 3000 people potentially onsite, how does this project affect the 27 essential public services that the city provides? (for example: since Chelan is a lake resort community, where will these additional people access the lake when the existing parks are already overwhelmed?); Run-off (with this level of additional hardened surfaces where will the storm water run-off go?) How can the site handle hundreds of additional cars? Construction disruptions?…and more!
In reviewing both the NEPA and SEPA environmental checklists there are dozens of additional questions that come up:
Social and economic impacts to the local community; Impacts on available housing stocks (already stressed);
Economic impacts to businesses; Property values; Aesthetics; Noise;…and more!
With these considerations and more, I would encourage you to require a full environmental impact statement covering these issues, and more. Under both the national and the state environmental laws, the public has a right to answers to these questions, and more. It is your obligation to ensure that the proponent provides this information to both the local decision-makers, and to the public.
Thank you in advance for your consideration,
For the Friends of Lake Chelan, John R. Olson, Steve Kline, Chelan