When we say "Our Rural Lands Are in Your Hands," we take it seriously. And toward that end, we have worked tirelessly for several years to prevent the overdevelopment of the seven lakes region. We've had some successes, and still struggle with others.
1.) Rural Clusters. The development of more than 600 homes in rural cluster style has been given the green light. The rural cluster development that was recently won in superior court by the developer was appealed by us to the County Council. While we were financially unable to appeal the very important point of requiring an environmental review, there were other points of contention. The developer has said work will begin in 2011. They must pipe in water from Everett's source for these homes.
2.) DUPLEXES: The decision of the Court of Appeals was handed down in the case of whether or not duplexes were allowed on substandard lots of rural Snohomish County. 7-Lakes had originally appealed the decision of the former Snohomish County Director of Planning, who made a code interpretation that said duplexes were allowed on lots that, in some cases, you could not build a single family house on.
This was clearly erroneous and we appealed to Superior Court and won. The developer took the case to the Court of Appeals. With our tremendous gratitude, the Warm Beach Stewards took up the fight and funded our attorney to follow through. He deftly won the case. Duplexes are not allowed.
This was a case that could have opened up a substantial number of small rural lots, grandfathered in for development before the area became R5 zoned. The original intention was to allow for landowners the right to develop, while limiting over-development. A loss here would have more than doubled the density, contrary to the law's intent and to its exact wording. We are very grateful to residents Bob Landles and Roger Hill who gave much time, resources and expertise to this case.
3.) Fully Contained Communities: The seven lakes community worked hard and in 2009 convinced the Snohomish County Council to eliminate the code that allowed for a city in the rural area. What was then called Fully Contained Communities would have allowed 6,000 housing units in the seven lakes area. The developer of 600 rural clusters was aiming toward that goal. Together, we prevented such egregious overdevelopment.
4.) Rural Conservation Village: proposed legislation in the 2011 session would have opened the door to a 1600-unit development on 700 acres and was directly targeted at the seven lakes area. Community pressure killed the bill. See Livable Snohomish County Coalition for details on the proposal.
While we look forward to the day when we can be more proactively, and less combatively, involved in shaping the growth of the seven lakes area and North Snohomish County, we are grateful to the many people who recognize that, while development will happen we must work to shape it. Citizens, we believe, have a right to expect that the codes and laws will be followed.
We all, developer, landowner, and rural resident alike, need to know what kind of growth to expect. We also all have a role in how that happens.
As 7-Lakes moves forward we hope to engage more of our neighbors in the conversation about how we grow, and be a productive force within the county planning process.