ARLINGTON — Almost 20 years after relocating from Seattle and starting over in the rural foothills east of Arlington, the Love Israel community faces another wrenching move.
A federal bankruptcy judge will decide Friday whether the Israels can seal a land sale that would force their up to 50 residents to leave the property, home to the well-known summer Garlic Festival.
For many of the younger Israels, the 300-acre property has been the only home they’ve ever known.
"They’re probably the ones who are experiencing the greatest emotional impact," Serious Israel, a longtime member, said Tuesday.
The Israels filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization Feb. 27 to stave off foreclosure on their property, he said.
Now, to help pay creditors that include Asia Europe Americas Bank and Frontier Bank, the Israels are proposing to sell the land to the Union for Reform Judaism, a national organization representing about 900 Jewish congregations. Despite its name, the Israel family is not affiliated with any Jewish group.
The organization would like to build a summer camp on the property, said Rabbi David Fine, the group’s regional director in Seattle.
"Currently, the closest camp is in Northern California, north of the Bay Area," Fine said. "This will make it much closer" for Pacific Northwest congregations.
The camp would be the group’s 13th such facility, Fine said.
"It will have all the activities you typically associate with summer camps: boating, swimming, hiking, with an emphasis on Judaism as well as the environment, teaching kids to be good stewards of the land," Fine said.
The Union for Reform Judaism has agreed to pay the Israels $3.3 million, according to documents filed with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Seattle. Love Israel and the family company, Golden Triangle Development Inc., have total listed assets of about $6 million, including a few properties, buildings and timber in the Arlington area.
The Israels first came together around the vision of a Christian village and culture espoused by Paul Erdman in 1968. Erdman changed his name to Love Israel, and others chose first names associated with virtues and last names of Israel.
The group once had hundreds of active members, and still has dozens of relatives living elsewhere in Snohomish County who still maintain varying degrees of contact, Serious Israel said.
In 1984, the Israel community regrouped from the Queen Anne Hill neighborhood in Seattle after a deep internal rift. Since then, the Israels have maintained a soft-spoken but noticeable profile in Arlington.
They have opened and closed a few restaurants in town, including an upscale, fine-dining establishment called The Bistro (now with different owners). The annual Garlic Festival has grown from modest beginnings, drawing hundreds of visitors each summer.
Since the late 1980s, the Israels have been trying to get Snohomish County to recognize their village concept of living. But modern zoning and state land-use laws for rural areas discourage living in proximity closer than one home per 5 acres.
Complicating matters further, the Israels would like to have small businesses, cafes, artistic venues and other commercial endeavors in their village.
Making that vision fit into the county’s land-use code has proved impossible, despite numerous meetings between the Israels, county planners and elected officials.
Serious Israel cited a variety of reasons for the many false starts to getting their "eco-village" properly permitted.
"At times, it has seemed political, like people were unwilling to accommodate us — sometimes even punitive," he said. "At times, it’s just been the unyielding nature of the bureaucracy."
County planners could not be reached for comment Tuesday. In the late 1990s, the county included the Israel property in a special housing demonstration project to try to accommodate alternative approaches to rural developments.
But the county finally quit extending that project last year when the Israels did not complete a traffic study. Serious Israel said the family could not do the study until the county told them what type of development would be allowed.
"That was just the final nail in our coffin with the financiers," Serious Israel said. "Everything we were doing was tied to the economic development to improve the property."
If the sale is approved, the Israels do not know where they will go. They are trying to negotiate a deal that would allow them to stay until the end of the school year. Beyond that, everything is up in the air, Serious Israel said.
The place has a lot of history for them, but the group should survive any moves, he said.
"Our goal was never to get attached to the land per se. Our goal was to get attached to each other. And that’s what we’ll take with us."
Reporter Scott Morris: 425-339-3292 or smorris@heraldnet.com.
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