Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Upper Ridge Cottages

The Public Hearing last Thursday Dec 6 went extremely well according to people knowledgeable in these matters. We will have the official decision on Dec 28th from the hearing examiner and we are confident that all of the conditions that were documented by the City of Everett will be mitigated to our satisfaction with the exception of one condition which is still open.

Our plans call for a permeable surface material for the curvy sidewalk in the city right of way and the city wants to use regular non-porous cement. It seems to be a maintenance issue as the city doesn't really have procedures in place for maintaining the porosity. We feel that our condo CC&R's

We are happy to announce that the road out front will remain narrow and landscaping will replace the existing asphalt walkway. We are exceeding the city standard call outs with our Low Impact Development plan and keeping the wetlands intact without disturbing habitat or hydrology is unprecedented, which is how the hearing examiner stated it. One example, 8,000 sq ft of open space is the minimum and we are providing 40,000 sq ft.

There were several speakers in our behalf, notably Craig Young whose passion for the environment came through quite eloquently. Thanks so much Craig. Craig hand delivered a letter from Carolyn Mayer, President of the Sustainable Development Task Force of Snohomish County to Allan Giffen, Director of Planning and Community Development which I introduced into the hearing record. The letter supported our desire to have Upper Ridge Cottages be used by the city as a model for LID (Low Impact Development).

Copies were mailed to Mayor Stephanson as well as all of the Everett City Council. Follow up letters or calls to Allan Giffen, the mayor and city council would be appreciated.

Valarie Steel from Greening Properties Inc was very supportive and welcomed our green community which will feed a demand for the type of homes we are building.

The next step will be submitting our plans for building permits, hopefully in mid-Jan 2008 which is just around the corner.Thanks again for you continuing support. Chuck & Judy Upper Ridge Cottages 425-353-8150

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