Letters to the Editor, Feb. 9

Some words of thanks

Once again, the Puget Sound Pet Food Bank (formerly CSL Pet Food Bank) wants to thank the citizens of Gig Harbor for their continuing support, and in particular, the Peninsula Pet Hospital for allowing us to place a collection barrel in their lobby, where it is serviced by Tracy Dunham. We are staffed by a group of 15 dedicated volunteers, and rely 100 percent on contributions,so your donations are greatly needed and appreciated.

Puget Sound PFB is not “an ordinary food bank.” We strive to be a warm and welcoming place where everyone fells free to come for help and be greeted with love, respect and genuine interest in their pets. On January 13, we celebrated our fourth year of operations, during which we grew considerably at both the Tacoma and Spanaway sites, serving 1,595 families with more than 5,000 pets. We also expanded our outreach to assist other food banks, rescue groups and individuals who are not able to come to the pet food bank. the ongoing support of the wonderful people of Gig Harbor helps make this possible.

Thank you all for your generosity.

Education-themed conference not just about education

As a former member of the Peninsula School District Audit Committee, I was shocked to learn the school board was planning to attend the National School Board Association (NSBA) conference in Denver. I support training for our school board members, like the training they receive when they attend the in state Washington State School Directors’ Association (WSSDA) conferences, but many taxpayers would be surprised to learn that the NSBA conference in Denver is not what it seems. A visit to the NSBA conference website exposes the political partisan nature of this conference.

A conference where the keynote speaker is Arianna Huffington (founder of The Huffington Post, with zero experience in education) and other very liberal speakers, it becomes obvious what this conference is about. Not to mention the cost to attend: $965 registration fees, airfare, hotels, meals, tours, workshops — all add up to thousands of dollars to attend this politically partisan event. As our school buildings fall further into disrepair affecting learning outcomes our school board plans to spend our tax dollars to attend this event?

This expenditure reminds me of Nero fiddling as Rome burned. Is the Peninsula School District fiddling our tax dollars away as our school buildings crumble? I understand the district has reconsidered attending the NSBA conference because of public scrutiny but because trust has been lost with school board leadership, this must be confirmed.

Developer agreements will decide the future

Everyone who calls Gig Harbor home is urged to attend the Feb. 13 City Council meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Civic Center.

The Cheney Foundation is interested in buying the Haub property including the Gig Harbor heron property triangle downtown if the city council will rubber stamp its plans of bulldozing the trees, adding 10 buildings to create 35 apartments and adding 122 cars in a gated area. The buildings would be taller than currently allowed. (In a separate development, Olympic Property Group wants to put 200 additional cars on Judson Street. Neither of these developers live in Gig Harbor. The Cheneys do not live in the Gig Harbor city limits. They have a nice business in Tacoma.)

Today, with the current property configuration and zoning, only four units are allowed on this property. Do not believe the misleading poppycock about 15 units being allowed. That is not the truth.

The Cheneys’ developer is on the record as saying if the community does not want this grid-locking development, the Cheneys will not buy this property.

There have been three other offers made to the Haub family to purchase their property. All three of the other conversations include keeping the triangle as a park for our community.

For the Cheneys to overwhelm this area with 40 apartments and 122 new cars on the corner of Soundview and Harborview, they would need a development agreement.

The subject of the Feb. 13 Council meeting and public hearing are two developer agreements:

1. Gig Harbor’s current development agreement allows for a “special” agreement between the city council and a developer. Gig Harbor’s current zoning regulations would be wiped out in favor of profitability regulations for the developer. Gig Harbor citizens would not be allowed to appeal the council’s decision unless they owned property within 300 feet of the development. The current development agreement eliminates meaningful citizen input. Do we want downtown to look like Gig Harbor North?

2. A proposed Amendment by Jeffrey Katke to the Gig Harbor’s current development agreement. This amendment to the city’s development agreement gives Gig Harbor citizens more of a voice in every development in our community. The Katke amendment holds developers accountable to the regulations our planning commission creates. Katke’s proposed amendment helps to eliminate “special” deals between the City Council and developers.

These developer agreements will decide the future of downtown Gig Harbor. I’ll be speaking in favor of Katke’s proposed amendment. Who will you speak for?

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 2:30 PM with the headline "Letters to the Editor, Feb. 9."