Updated Request from Sno-King Watershed Council

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.

Yesterday afternoon, we learned secondhand from neighbors in the Picnic Point area that Snohomish County PDS staff had authorized the clearcutting, grading, and land disturbing activity to commence immediately at Frognal Estates.

Sno-King Watershed Council, the appellant in the early logging permit appeal pending in Superior Court received no notification of this clearcutting or any indication that clearcutting was imminent. We need your help now.

WHAT WE NEED YOU TO DO TODAY:

Write an e-mail today to Dave Somers, County Executive [email protected] with a copy to Barbara Mock, PDS Director [email protected]. Tell them:

The County needs to halt the Frognal Estates tree clearcutting, until SKWC has time to file a motion to stay and the Court rules on this matter.
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 with a call to Dave Somers at 425-388-3312 and leave a voicemail message on the above.

Thank you for your help protecting our local environment!

2023 Year in Review

Regatta Estates operated within the 2023 estimated budget and was able to roll over a small surplus of $3,400 into 2024.

Fence replacement requests and tree-related services, both of which have seen large price increases in their respective industries, continue to be the two costs that threaten over-runs of the yearly budget. With our very mild winter so far in 2023, Regatta Estates has seen no wind, rain, or snow related tree costs so far, which was the primary reason for the surplus this year vs the increase in just about every other category budgeted.

Regatta Estates is also fortunate to have a budget-conscious landscaping company (staffed by one person) who not only loves maintaining our area, but also offers a quite competitive pricing; our budget is much easier to manage because of this!

We are looking for volunteers for the board, primarily we need a board secretary. This position will entail managing incoming email (infrequent), managing mailings (like our yearly dues payments), and board meeting attendance and general input for running the HOA. Please email [email protected] (link above) if you are interested!

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