A developer has expressed interest in building a hotel on Snoqualmie Ridge, in a project that will require amendments to the city’s comprehensive plan. The city will hold a public hearing on the proposed amendments, taking public comment during the Snoqualmie Planning Commission meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6, in city hall. Written comments can also be submitted to the city by 5 p.m. that day.
To be built, the new hotel will need amendments to the Snoqualmie Ridge Mixed Use Final Plan, Snoqualmie Ridge Development Standards, and Business Park Binding Site Improvement Plan. These amendments include a reduction in the distance from the road from a 50-foot average to a 15-foot average, allowing the building to have a fifth story without increasing the height, and allowing vehicles in-and-out access to and from Snoqualmie Parkway.
Snoqualmie Senior Planner Ben Swanson explained that the buffer reduction was needed because Puget Sound Energy power lines run through a portion of the property; the developers plan to avoid the power lines and create a pedestrian- friendly area closer to the sidewalk. For the amendment adding a fifth floor, Swanson said that because the site is sloped, the building can add a partial ground floor without increasing the total height.
The city must hold a public hearing on each proposed amendment. The first of the public hearings will be at the planning commission meeting on Feb. 6, and will include a presentation of all of the proposed amendments as well has the preliminary design renderings.
If the planning commission recommends the city move forward with the amendments, the city council will then have its own hearing. If the council adopts the amendments, the next step in the hotel process would be a building permit application, to be reviewed and approved first by the planning commission and then by the city council.
In a press release from Snoqualmie, Director of Community Development Mark Hofman explained, while the city does have design guidelines and standards, the public feedback is an important way to gauge the opinions of the residents in the city.
“A hotel or any business in Snoqualmie needs to be respectful of residents’ expectations, as this well-designed concept for Parcel 20 of the Business Park does,” he said. “We try to anticipate and support expectations, and always encourage people to voice their opinions through the public hearings.”
The press release stated the construction of a hotel could create a revenue source to help fund capital projects, public safety and public services. Further, the hotel could help the city attract more businesses to the city.
Verbal comments can be made at the public hearing on Feb. 6. Written comments may be submitted on or before Feb. 6 at 5 p.m. to the City of Snoqualmie, Attention Ben Swanson, PO Box 987, Snoqualmie WA 98065.
