Woodinville: Rural, Urban or Suburban?

Woodinville has changed greatly since the Woodin Family first built their homestead in 1871. There are sidewalks along NE 175th Street, family-friendly businesses have replaced Goodtime Charley’s topless-dance club. The downtown has been developed, with redevelopment on the horizon. Woodinville has , , , a new (outside the city limits on NE Woodinville-Duvall Road), a Tourist District and the usual services needed for modern life.

Looking at Woodinville today, it seems to be a mix of urban, suburban and rural. Larry Lewis, a columnist on Shoreline-Lake Forest Park Patch, wrote last week about what constitutes suburbia (). In that article he wrote:

Mark Hinshaw wrote in Crosscut “It occurs to me that the very term “suburb” may have outlived its usefulness. In an earlier era, when large, mature cities were surrounded by expansive subdivisions and shopping malls, this might have reflected a definite distinction. In those times, “bedroom suburbs” lived up their name as nighttime havens of mostly white families, often with a stay-at-home mother and a commuting father. Those were your grandfather’s suburbs.”

King County views the City of Woodinville as urban and unincorporated Woodinville as rural. So, 17 parcels of land along 140th Place NE, many that are fully developed (, , ), are on unincorporated land and considered rural by the county, which will not change the Urban Growth Boundary to allow the city to annex that land (story to come). Where a property lands on the county’s Comprehensive Plan (which is currently under review by the county council) determines things like whether sidewalks or bike lanes may be added to a neighborhood.

So, how do you characterize Woodinville, urban, suburban or rural?