A bumpy Street of Dreams

Luxury houses for this year’s Street of Dreams have cleared a key hurdle, despite neighborhood concerns about potential water pollution.

Roads and model homes already are under construction at a project called Quinn’s Crossing, located on part of 115 acres southwest of Monroe.

The first 17 homes at the project, including those planned for the Street of Dreams, won approval in a 4-1 vote by the County Council last week. More homes are planned on the land.

Neighbors have fought the project because the homes will be built on land flanked by wetlands and atop the only drinking water aquifer for the Cross Valley Water District.

They fear the housing project will pollute the area’s drinking water.

A consultant’s studies show the project’s septic tank drain fields won’t harm the quality of drinking water, water district general manager Gary Hajek said.

The discharge will be naturally filtered and diluted. It will take five to 10 years before it will mix with aquifer drinking water, Hajek said.

Even so, members of the Echo Paradise Community who live in homes across the street and surrounding the planned homes continue to fight the project because of water quality concerns.

“It’s our drinking water and will be the drinking water of the future residents,” Echo Paradise Community president Laura Hartman said. She said developers’ water studies were flawed.

Neighbors have seen pollution foul drinking-water wells in the past and fear more development will compound the problem.

Developers say the consultant studies should dispel those concerns.

“There have been lots of fears raised by the opposition group, but they’re awfully hard (to believe) when we have specialists in the field identifying the true potential impact being zero,” said Colin Lund, director of development for Yarrow Bay Development Co. of Kirkland.

Nearly every year since 1984, the Seattle Street of Dreams has organized professional builders and luxury home tours to showcase the latest trends in high-end home construction.

Of the 20 exhibitions held since 1984, this will be the second in Snohomish County. The first was in 1993 at the Echo Falls Country Club.

The Street of Dreams plans to feature five homes under a “built green” moniker for a month of paid tours starting July 14.

Yarrow Bay has spent two years trying to gain approval for 48 homes. The homes will be clustered on the property, and 79 acres will be set aside as open space.

The builder plans four more homes in the near future. Then, a third construction phase is anticipated after two years of water quality monitoring, county officials said.

A well was dug on the land to monitor water quality over time, Hajek said.

That’s not good enough, said County Councilman Dave Somers, who cast the lone “no” vote on the project.

“The issue with monitoring is that it tells if you have a problem or not, and if you do have a problem, it’s a little late,” Somers said.

County planners allowed parts of environmentally protected areas to be designated as reserve septic tank drain fields for some of the homes, which drew criticism from Somers and Hartman.

Less than one-tenth of an acre of wetlands was filled during construction of roads in the development, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The agency ordered builders to stop and seek a permit for the work.

County Councilman Dave Gossett said he voted for the project because it met all the legal requirements. “There was no legal reason not to approve it,” Gossett said.

The “built green” theme of the project features smaller houses – about 4,000 to 4,750 square feet – compared with the 8,000- to 11,000-square-foot homes last year, Street of Dreams president and founder John Heller said.

“We are definitely seeing a trend of smaller yet nicer homes,” Heller said. “This is our way of working toward that market niche.”

Neighbors protective of the wetlands on the property chafe at the housing project’s being dubbed environmentally friendly.

Gossett has championed environmentally friendly housing and low-impact development standards to protect water quality in the county. That wasn’t his motivation for approving the project last week, he said.

“I think it’s always good to have built-green developments, and it’s good to have them in Snohomish County, but that’s separate from the plat itself,” Gossett said.

Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.