Author: HOA board members

The first meeting in 2019 of the Board of Directors will now be held on Thursday, January 17th, 2019, in the Community Room at Mukilteo City Hall. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m. and all members of the Regatta Estates HOA are invited to attend.

At the beginning of the meeting, there will be a Member Forum at which time homeowners in the REHOA will be invited to discuss their concerns. The meeting will also have presentations from the board and various committees. The board is planning to review the expenses of the past year, establish a budget for 2019, and set the annual dues. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend.

Where: Mukilteo City Hall
Community Room
11930 Cyrus Way
Mukilteo, WA 98275

When: Thursday, January 17, 2019
Meeting: 7:00 P.M.

A proposed code change is going before the Snohomish County council on January 16th, 2019.  The change is being proposed by the project manager for Frognal (who also happens to be on the county planning commission) and the law is being proposed in direct response to an issue with the Frognal development plans that will benefit Frognal very much. Currently, code requires a 2′ property line set back for retaining walls. The Frognal development currently is proposing retaining walls built on property lines, for both existing neighbors and for the new lots within Frognal itself. Without this set back they can build right next to existing properties and it will allow them to put all 112 homes in Frognal. If the law remains and the council denies it, then they will not be able to put as many homes it and force some redesign. For existing neighbors, particularly along 136th, it will give your properties the 2′ buffers you should expect from retaining walls, protecting your propeties integrity as well as give some buffer to your plants and their root systems.

There is a public hearing @ 10:30 am, we need as many neighbors as possible there to comment against this law change. Please come! Wednesday, January 16, 2019, at the hour of 10:30 a.m. in the Henry M. Jackson Board Room, 8th Floor, Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller, Everett, Washington

Even though the Sno-King Watershed Council (SKWC) was unsuccessful in their fight to stop the logging and and were unable to save the trees above our homes, they will continue to monitor the project and are reviewing the Frognal design drawings.  The SKWC is working to assure that any final design approved by Snohomish County is in strict conformance with the county’s own stormwater requirements.

The SKWC needs your support.  They need to raise approximately $5,000 above what has already been donated to cover the legal expenses incurred during the emergency stay that the SKWC filed in King County court in early December to halt the Frognal clear-cutting..

Any amount that homeowners can contribute will be greatly appreciated and will allow the SKWC to continue the fight to protect the water quality and threatened species both here and in other parts of Snohomish County.

A membership form to the SKWC can be found in the Documents sections of this website, and donations can be sent to the address on the form.

As reported previously, the Frognal Estates developers obtained permission from Snohomish County to clear-cut the forest above Regatta Estates.  This is particularly upsetting since the early cutting of the forest was initiated to derail a court review of the project being brought by the Sno-King Watershed Council (SKWC).  The case is scheduled to be heard in February of 2019.  If the trees have already been removed, there may be nothing to be saved by going to court:  The damage will have already been done, and the clear-cutting cannot be reversed.  At least, not in our lifetime.

The SKWC obtained a brief stop work order on December 7.  However, King County Court Judge Barbara Linde ruled in favor of the developer, and logging resumed on December 12.

The SKWC feels that Snohomish County has not been enforcing its code requirements on the Frognal Estates project and  (the SKWC) has stated that they will continue to monitor the project, and will point out project failures and code violations as they become apparent.

Lider Engineering, PLLC, has been retained by the Sno-King Watershed Council (SKWC) to provide comments on the Frognal Estates Development.  On November 20, 2018, Bill Lider submitted their findings in a thirteen page document to Ryan Countryman (Permitting Supervisor) and Randy Sleight (Chief Engineering Officer) of the Snohomish County Planning and Development Services.

Mr. Lider also presented his findings at the December board meeting of the Regatta Estates HOA.  Below is a link to the PowerPoint presentation given at that meeting.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mz5ttvlz0eo0hxq/Frognal%20Estates%20PFN%2018-112370%20LDA%20Lider%20PP%20Comments.ppsx?dl=0

To download the file from Dropbox:

1.   Click on the link to access the Dropbox file.
2.   Scroll down to the bottom of the window and click on “No thanks, continue to view” to open the file.
3.   In the upper right hand corner of your screen, click on Download to save the PowerPoint file onto your computer.

If you would like to support the Sno-King Watershed Council in their fight to preserve the Picnic Point Watershed, you can find a membership form for the SKWC in the Documents section of this website.

Dear friends of the environment –

URGENT–CLEAR CUTTING NEAR PUGET SOUND ON MONDAY!!

Almost 20 acres of forest adjacent to neighborhoods in the Picnic Point area are about to get logged starting Monday. This is an emergency situation. We are asking for your help to stop this until the proper legal appeals have been heard.

Background:

The Sno-King Watershed Council (SKWC) has appealed the Frognal Estate’s (development’s) early logging forest practices act (FPA) permit and the Land Disturbing Activity (LDA) permit.  These permits will allow for logging large trees on 17.65-acres with an additional 0.69-acres for logging road and landing construction on its 22.24-acre site.  14,710 cubic yards of cut and 14,710 cubic yard of fill are proposed, or approximately 1,470 dump truck loads of cut and fill.

All of this work will be upslope of the Regatta Estates subdivision, which our engineer believes will concentrate and direct stormwater towards the Regatta Estates, increasing the potential for land movement and stormwater runoff, and endangering Picnic Point Creek, used by Chinook Salmon. The SKWC’s appeal of the early logging is scheduled to be heard in King County Superior Court, February 15, 2019.  Once logged, the Frognal site could remain in an unstable condition for years, or the main project could go forward, if approved by Snohomish County.

On Friday afternoon, November 30, 2018, representatives of the Sno-King Watershed Council were informed that the Snohomish County PDS has authorized the clearcutting, grading and land distribution activity to commence at Frognal Estates.

The Sno-King Watershed Council is currently an appellant in the early logging permit appeal pending in Superior Court, but they have received no notification of this clearcutting or any indication that clearcutting was imminent.  The Sno-King Watershed Council will file a motion in court on MOnday to halt the logging operation, but they need your help now.

 WHAT THEY NEED YOU TO DO TODAY:

Write an email today to Dave Somers, County Executive [email protected] with a copy (cc) to Barbara Mock, PDS Director [email protected]  Tell them:

1. The County needs to halt the Frognal Estates tree clearcutting, until The Sno-King Watershed Council has time to file a Motion to Stay, and the Court rules on this matter.
2. It is reckless and irresponsible to start Land-Disturbing Activities in December on steep slopes that the County has deemed an erosion hazard under  SCC 30.91E.160.

 Follow up your email with a call to Dave Somers at 425-388-3312 and leave a voicemail message with the same request.

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD TO YOUR NEIGHBORS! It is very important that residents of Regatta Estates, particularly those who live on 133rd Place SW, become members of the Sno-King Watershed Council as they are going to be the most impacted by the logging. The current Forest Practices permit approved by the County allows Frognal to construct a “daisy chain” of ponds linked with new pipes, from 60th Ave W down to just above the homes on 133rd Place SW. The piped water will be much more concentrated and flow much faster than in the current forested condition. The current design proposed is to infiltrate all of the stormwater, but provides NO METHOD to prevent sediment from clogging the ponds. There is NO emergency bypass flow for the ponds, so any overflow will run downslope through the Regatta Estates homes. In the event of a large storm or a collapse of the pond dike, people could forced out of their homes with a tsunami-like mudflow delivering massive pollution delivered to Picnic Point Creek. The Sno-King Watershed Council has petitioned Snohomish County to take a more comprehensive look at the plans for Frognal Estates, and at the very least require needed modifications to their stormwater management plan, as well as other known issues that require further modification.

The Membership form to the Sno-King Watershed Council can be found in the Documents section of this site.