ISSAQUAH | SAMMAMISH
Friday, January 27, 2012
www.issaquahreporter.com
A flush for the future Issaquah ZHomes wins water conservation award BY CELESTE GRACEY CGRACEY@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
From left to right, Sammamish neighbors Vali Eberhardt, Cynthia Dwyer, Debbie Frause and Marilyn Favre, stand in front of a group of trees that could be taken down if the city approves a 38-lot development off of Inglewood Hill Road Northeast. KEVIN ENDEJAN, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
DEVELOPING CONCERNS Proposed sub-division stirs up controversy in Sammamish neighborhood BY KEVIN ENDEJAN KENDEJAN@ISSAQUAHREPORTER.COM
Get off our lawn — or in this case, stay away from our woods. That’s what a group of Sammamish neighbors are saying to the proposed 38lot Benham Ridge development between 212 Avenue Northeast and 216 Avenue Northeast, just west of the traffic circle on Inglewood Hill Road. A group of about 40 residents have recently voiced their traffic and environmental concerns in a series of emails and letters to the city. “We’ve received a lot of public feedback on the issue,” Emily Arteche, senior planner for the city of Sammamish. Cynthia Dwyer, who lives on 212th Northeast, is one of those concerned with the potential 38-home sub-division. “We’re constantly moving forward by staying in check with city hall, letting them know we’re following every move and we’re putting the word to people out there,” she said. Benham Ridge, LLC, a subsidiary of Lynnwood-based Sunquist Homes, purchased the 8.25 acres this past fall. The
heavily-wooded property is bisected by Northeast Inglewood Hill Road, creating two sub-parcels — a larger 6.3 acre plot on the north side would have 34 homes and a smaller 1.9 acre plot on the south side would have four homes. According to the developer, the probable range of the single-family homes will be between 2,700- and 3,200-square feet. Area homeowners are worried about the potential impact on everything from wildlife, to traffic congestion, to water drainage. “There are numerous concerns about the wildlife that live back there,” said Marilyn Favre, who has lived in the neighborhood 36 years. She noted people frequently see deer, bears, woodpeckers and owls on the property. Dwyer is also concerned about increased traffic on one of Sammamish’s main arterials. “It’s bad now watching the kids waiting for the school buses out here,” she said. “I can’t imagine a back up on this curve, or people trying to come in and out on that curve, I don’t know how it would work.” Valie Eberhard, who lives farther down Inglewood Hill Road along George Davis Creek, is uneasy about possible water run-
The public notice sign between 212 Avenue Northeast and 216th Avenue Northeast. KEVIN ENDEJAN, Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter
off into her backyard. “Once they pave all of this, get rid of the trees and it’s all pavement, how much water is going to be going down and going into our creek,” she asked. Arteche wants to assure residents the city is in the very early stages of reviewing the applicant’s proposed development and nothing has been approved. She said city of Sammamish engineers are in the process SEE DEVELOPMENT, 6
National attention for the ZHome community’s energy efficiency shifted with a flush of a toilet Wednesday. “It’s .8 gallons,” said Brad Liljequist, project manager for the city, while the commode began to fill with runoff from the roof. Various representatives from the city and Environmental Protection Agency stood round the concretefloor bathroom looking impressed. Issaquah’s zero-energy homes have been pushing the envelope of sustainability since the project was first envisioned several years ago. As a result, the developer, Ichijo, has piled up national plaques and international recognition. The EPA added another framed award to the stack from its water conservation program, similar to EnergyStar, called WaterSense. It’s been awarding shower head manufacturers the title since 2010, but ZHome was the first community to receive the award. The new label requires developments to cut water use by 20 percent, but Issaquah’s project cut it by 70 percent. The townhomes’ specialized shower heads and water meters, which give homeowners a real-time projection of water use, are among the more gadgety conservation tools. However, most of the credit goes to water cisterns buried off the back patios, which store up to 1,700 gallons of water runoff from the roof. Before water conservation efforts like these, the Cascade Water Alliance expected to start running short of demand in a few decades. Now it doesn’t expect to have problems for another century, said Lloyd Warren, chair of CWA. There isn’t a future without conservation, said Paula vanHaagen, a local EPA manager, adding, “This development goes a lot further than just water conservation.”