<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) The former home of the Country Charm Dairy will be part of Haller Village, a proposed development of Ronin Northwest, said principal Levon Yengoyan.

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Ronin Northwest

Address: 19009 61st Ave. NE, Suite 5, Arlington, WA 98223 Phone: 360-403-3242 Web site: www.roninnw.com About the name: In Japanese culture, a ronin is a masterless samurai, said Ronin Northwest principal Levon Yengoyan. “They’re out to do the right thing, acting mainly on their honor.” That philosophy echoes that of Ronin Northwest, whose tagline is “Creative & Responsible Development.”

CONTACT SCBJ John Wolcott, Editor jwolcott@scbj.com

Developer Ronin NW is invested in community

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

Ronin Northwest is out to prove that land development, healthy communities and environmental sensitivity can go hand-in-hand.

Since its formation a year ago, the Arlington-based company has undertaken rural cluster subdivision projects in north Snohomish County, using low-impact development techniques and community discussions as a matter of course, said Levon Yengoyan, a company principal.

“We firmly believe in the Growth Management Act — growth is going to happen,” said Yengoyan, but that growth has to be handled responsibly.

With a background in biology and environmental science, Yengoyan sold his company, TerraLogic GIS, at the end of 2006 and joined Ronan Northwest shortly thereafter, intrigued by the opportunity to be part of a development team personally invested in the community it serves.

Tasha Branch, a principal of the company, is a lifelong Arlington resident.

“We live here; we’re going to stay here. I’ve got kids here,” said Branch, whose father, Noel Higa, is a member of the board of directors and a project investor. A licensed professional civil engineer with nearly three decades of land-use planning and engineering experience in Washington state, he was a founder of Everett-based Higa Burkholder Associates LLC.

Another project investor and board member, Greg Blunt of Crown Development, is an active member in the community, serving on the board of the Everett Community College Foundation as well as the Snohomish County chapter of the American Red Cross.

The six-employee company has about a half dozen rural cluster development projects under way and has worked on everything from a three-lot small plat to a 64-unit development, said Branch.

Such rural developments — in which houses are clustered together at higher density while ensuring preservation of open space — have stirred up concern and contention countywide, Yengoyan said, but “we really believe in making the projects fit.”

“We hold meetings with the community,” Branch said. “We’ve held up a project for a year due to water concerns” and are working with the community and utility provider to address those concerns.

“Our Realtors hate us because we’re talking about community gardens” and other amenities instead of square footage, she said, smiling. “We’re not going on the trends of the past but setting the trends of the future. … People buy McMansions because there’s not any other option.”

The company also employs environmentally friendly practices, such as putting in pervious roads to negate the need for detention ponds and protecting critical areas beyond the requirements of county codes.

Along with rural developments, Ronin Northwest has its sights set on larger, urban projects, including redevelopment of 13 acres on the site of the former Country Charm Dairy in northeast Arlington.

“We’ve been working with (owner) Hank Graafstra and the city,” Yengoyan said. “The upper 13 acres of the site, Ronin Northwest is purchasing; the lower land, the city is looking to purchase for city parks.”

The company’s plans for the property are twofold, with two acres set aside for a retail area with local shops, cafes and other community-oriented businesses to be called Haller Village and a neighborhood with a mix of town homes, cottages and other compatible residential structures known as Haller Point.

“Hank had some great vision and phenomenal dreams for the site,” Branch said.

The company worked with Stanwood-based Designs Northwest as well as Jim Soules of The Cottage Co. to hold a design charrette that brought together stakeholders, neighbors and the city, Yengoyan said.

“One thing we heard was ‘keep the barn,’” he said.

“The barn” is the iconic red barn that was home to the Country Charm Dairy’s retail outlet, said Graafstra. Built in 1936, it has in the past been home to community barn dances and other gatherings.

Ronin Northwest does, indeed, plan to keep the barn as part of Haller Village. A private, nonprofit school, Stillwater School, will be located in a portion of the barn, said Branch, a founding organizer of the new school.

Development of Haller Village and Haller Point will begin once final boundary issues have been resolved, Yengoyan said.

“We would like to break ground late this year or early next year,” he said, noting that the land work likely will cost more than $5 million and as much as $10 million.

Another, larger project also is in the works for Ronin Northwest: the master planning of a 200-acre development northeast of Burn Road and south of Tveit Road in the eastern part of Arlington as part of Snohomish County’s transfer of development rights program to protect farmland.

The city has already annexed the area, Yengoyan said. Now, the hurdle is getting needed infrastructure to the area. He said the development will be a multiyear project, possibly a 10-year build-out.

“We believe in Snohomish County,” Yengoyan said. “Noel likes to say, ‘My grandchildren are going to grow up in this town.’”