Padden Heights Phase II: Another Parkhurst Affront to the Environment?

Brady Green (360) 738-1566 and Kevin R. Hoskins and their families are Padden Heights residents in the Lake Padden watershed in Whatcom County.

We wrote this article on behalf of the fourteen families who live in Phase I of the Padden Heights development located on Cedar Creek Lane just outside the City of Bellingham and above Lake Padden. Everyone in this neighborhood is very concerned about the potential negative impact of Phase II of this proposed “planned unit development” that is to be located due north of our street.

A planned unit development is the master plan dictated by the city or county planning office for a particular single family residential development. It can also mean “planned urban development” which is basically the master plan for a mini-city.

The planned unit development outlines housing density, setbacks, where roads will go, wetland preservation areas, etc. Padden Heights II is the second phase of the Padden Heights “planned unit development” of which our street (Cedar Creek Lane) was Phase I.

We fear that unless significant changes are made to Phase II by Sandvig Enterprises, LLC, the “planned development” will not only endanger our homes but will also degrade the water quality of Lake Padden, the 160 acre lake that was South Bellingham’s drinking water supply until 1968.

We can’t help but ask ourselves: will our homes be exposed to potential mudslide damage again? Because that is exactly what already happened in 1998 when a mudslide resulting from illegal clear-cutting in Parkhurst, a 103-home development located above and to the west of Padden Heights Phase I and II, came rushing down 48th Street. (Whatcom Watch, December 1998, page 1 and May 1999, page 1).

Whatcom County residents may recall The Bellingham Herald coverage of Bellingham City Council meetings about tree removal violations in the Parkhurst development during the fall of 1998 and the subsequent mudslide in November 1998 that originated from this development. This illegal clear-cutting was characterized at the time as a “disaster” by Mayor Mark Asmundson.

The mudslide occurred during the first fall rains after all the native forest was removed the previous summer. The effects of the mudslide were felt all the way down 48th Street to Samish Way. It washed out driveways, flooded basements of residents along 48th Street and Harrison Avenue, and plugged a stormwater pipe that flows into the Padden Heights “planned unit development” bioswale that drains into Lake Padden.

In the last six months, Phase II of the Parkhurst development has been cleared for building lots. Parkhurst Phase II, combined with Phase I and the recently cleared Samish Highlands, located immediately to the north, now form a large area newly cleared of natural forest vegetation.

This nearly two-square-mile cleared area, creates a new swath that runs between the summit of Samish Hill on the east and 40th Street on the west all the way to the Ridgemont area and Lakeway Drive.

The Padden Heights “planned unit development” is situated at the north end of 48th Street in the Samish Hill area. It is also about three-tenths of a mile north of Lake Padden, located just inside the Whatcom County line (48th Street), and east of the Samish Neighborhood, which is in the Bellingham city limits.

Phase I of the Padden Heights “planned unit development,” which is approximately five acres in size, consists of fourteen family homes built between 1997 and 2000 along Cedar Creek Lane. As proposed, Phase II of the Padden Heights “planned unit development,” which covers approximately eight acres, will be located immediately north of, and uphill from, Phase I. Phase II is located between the Parkhurst development on the west and the Wildflower development to the east.

The Wildflower development at the north end of Governor Road, consists of approximately 30-40 homes, and is located immediately east of Padden Heights Phase II. Next to the Wildflower development, just across Governor Road to the east, is the South Hills development.

The South Hills development, which consists of 60-100 homes, continues east all the way to Yew Street Road. We understand that Skeers Construction is responsible for the Wildflower and South Hills developments.

We, like all of the families that live on Cedar Creek Lane, are very concerned about the removal of the forest vegetation on the steep hillsides that would occur in Phase II of the Padden Heights “planned unit development.” Our major concern is that the existing water runoff and drainage problems, already being experienced by property owners, will be aggravated by the removal of forest vegetation from the steep slopes above us.

Three of the houses on the north side of Cedar Creek Lane have already experienced water problems. This winter, rising creek water has threatened the foundation of one house on the west end of our development. The water has, to varying degrees, flooded crawl spaces and almost seeped into homes.

As proposed, Phase II of the Padden Heights “planned unit development”:

•Will eliminate most of the native second growth forest (30-50-year-old cedar, Douglas-fir, big leaf maple and alder trees) which is an important corridor connecting Greenways forest lands at Lake Padden to the south with planned and potential Greenways to the north all the way to Lakeway.

•Will eliminate some of the last remaining intact forest in the northern portion of the Lake Padden watershed. Forests to the north of Lake Padden are dwindling very rapidly and the natural watershed protection values that these forests provide are diminishing proportionally.

•Could affect the water quality of Lake Padden which is a valuable secondary water supply for Bellingham and as such must be protected, especially in light of the recent uncertainties about the Lake Whatcom water quality and the Middle Fork Nooksack River water supply.

•Could affect Lake Padden recreational uses such as fishing and swimming as well as wildlife habitat.

•Will result in clearing of approximately eight acres of steep forest land located directly above seven of the houses built in Padden Heights Phase I.

•Will increase the risk of aggravating existing drainage and runoff problems that are affecting at least four of the houses on the north side of Cedar Creek Lane.

•Without adequate riparian buffers along the eastern portion of the “planned unit development” will result in increased water runoff and sedimentation to the stream, wetland and pond system that drains into Lake Padden.

According to information provided to us by the Whatcom County Public Works Department, “planned unit developments” are large plat developments that are planned and constructed as a unit. “Planned unit developments” are supposed to allow zoning and subdivision regulations to be varied to allow design innovations and special features that will benefit the community

The Whatcom County Code (Chp. 20.85) indicates that the purpose of “planned unit developments” is to provide mutual benefits to the general public, encourage conservation of natural elements and open space in a manner harmonious with the surrounding on-site land use activities, among other things.

Our Padden Heights neighborhood group, representing families in Phase I, met with the developer, Sandvig Enterprises, LLC a number of times as well as with representatives from the engineering, land use and planning divisions of the Whatcom County Public Works Department.

We have suggested changes (buffers, additions to the Greenways system along the stream to the east, etc.) to the Phase II plan consistent with the purpose of “planned unit developments” that would provide reasonable protection to the stream and wetland system, the Lake Padden watershed (a valuable public resource) and to our properties. Unfortunately, however, our efforts to date have not been successful in resolving this problem.

Therefore, if you are concerned about this development and its potential impact to the Lake Padden watershed and Lake Padden itself, please contact Kevin R. Hoskins (360) 734-2934 or your elected representatives.

Please help us keep Lake Padden as clean as Lake Whatcom should be.