After attending two more meetings last week regarding North West University’s plans for expansion, I am sorry to say that I am still deeply troubled by what they are proposing.
Please go to their proposed site at the campus and see for yourself what their tennis complex will look like from the street. It will stretch from the school fence line on the west, all the way up to 111th Street to the east.
It is almost as long as the east wall of our Kirkland Costco and almost double in height. Would you want that on your residential street? It will be only 30-35 feet from the sidewalk, and all of the trees now standing will be cut down. They have pretty sketches at these meeting but don’t be fooled by them.
The sketches make the 30-foot setback from the sidewalk look like 100 feet and they make 53rd Street look like a small lane, and their water feature looks like a small river. I saw this ploy many times as a Building and Zoning Commissioner.
I can only hope, as should we all, that the City of Kirkland will hold the University to the same standards that they made the Central Park Tennis Complex comply with.
I went over to visit Central Park in Bridal Trail the other day and had a nice visit with the club Manager.
She gave me a tour and explained that the City of Kirkland made them build down six feet below grade in increments of three feet to comply with building heights. And, yes, they had a sloping hill to deal with too just like NU.
On the South side of the complex where the Center is across from a residential area, they made them berm six feet up the side of the building on top of the six feet below grade required. There are mature trees planted the entire length of the building which greatly reduces the visual impact as well.
Furthermore the building is made of concrete painted a somewhat subdued earth tone color. North West is proposing a metal building with some token embellishments attached to the facade. The NW tennis building is 50 feet high but the staff kept telling me that the view line is only 30 feet. That’s like saying the elephants knees are only five-feet high, ignore the other 12 feet.
They say “Oh well it has to be that high because we want underground parking and it would cost too much to dig deeper.” Well how about if you can’t respect the neighborhood and can’t afford to do it the right way don’t do it until you can afford to do it the right way.
They also claim that to be able to play NCAA Div.111 tournaments they must have six courts. Not true. I’ve looked up many Colleges, some very well known ones, and they have only four courts and compete in NCAA DIV. 111 tournaments.
But wait, they also want running tracks and all sorts of whistles and bells, but just maybe they can’t have it all. Their claim is the tennis will make their students better people. Well if that is their goal, four courts would be more than adequate for their students. And by the way, it would be remarkable if more than 5 percent of their student body played in intercollegiate competition.
You do the math. Five percent of 1,200 students is 60 students. In talking with colleges with four courts they agree that four courts have been adequate for on campus use and almost all of the colleges I researched had a much larger student body than NU. In fact in one of their handouts regarding the tennis center they refer to four prestigious colleges who sponsor intercollegiate tennis and guess what, two have four courts and one has three courts. Imagine that. Yes, there are colleges with 6 courts but their student body dwarfs that at NU.
Let’s be real here, NU is no different than Patola Village or Park Place/Urban developers. They come in wanting it all and sometimes it just doesn’t work out. If you agree that this is not acceptable for Houghton please make your voice heard.
I hope and pray that the City of Kirkland will hold NW to the same standards that they made Central Park Tennis complex comply with.
Dennis Schor, Kirkland
