The Mercer Island Center for the Arts is currently under environmental review for a proposed huge building in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas of the Town Center — the wetland-hillside portion of Mercerdale Park. City staff has indicated that the likelihood of him requiring environmental impact statements (EIS) for the project is remote.

Before Development Service Director Scott Greenberg, the city used to be much more protective of Mercer Island’s environment. In 1998, the city required an EIS for the visual effects of a wireless monopole. The company representatives said that was the first time in Washington that an EIS was required for a monopole:

A wireless communications facility (WCF) monopole sits next to the south-end fire station at QFC Village. The monopole is 133 feet tall in an area where the Mercer Island City Code only allowed a 60-foot structure. In 1997/1998, the developers were asking for a 70-foot variance to more than double the allowed height of the monopole.

The city issued a Determination of Significance (DS) for the visual effects of the WCF monopole so the developer was required to do an EIS.

City Council members are constantly bragging in public about how the city is in the lead in protecting the environment. The next time any of us hears this from a city representative, I think we should dispute the claim by insisting that any city in the environmental lead would never even consider siting a huge building in the wetland-hillside area of Mercerdale Park.

Ira B. Appelman

Mercer Island