Testimony Continues on Huge Developments in Black Diamond

Testimony continues tonight and Saturday on development agreement hearings for two Black Diamond Master Planned Developments (MPDs) at Sawyer Woods Elementary School.

The hearings are tonight at 6 and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school, 31135 228th Ave. S.E., Black Diamond.

The school is about 10 miles from Enumclaw. Go north on the Enumclaw-Black Diamond Road, take a left on Jones Lake Road, then a left on the Auburn-Black Diamond Road and then a right on Lake Sawyer Road Southeast. The school is on your left.

If you can’t make one of the meetings you can write or email until 5 p.m. Friday, July 15, to: spilcheratci.blackdiamond.wa.us or Steve Pilcher Community Development 24301 Roberts Drive P.O. Box 599 Black Diamond, WA 98010.

The Villages and Lawson Hills MPDs expect to add a little more than 6,000 residences to the area over up to a 20-year period. So far, objections to the MPDs include the large scope, the need for so many new schools and how to pay for schools.

Community activist Cindy Proctor has said Enumclaw residents would have to pay too much of the up to $300 million for seven schools in the Black Diamond area. She also is upset that Enumclaw schools already have spent $304,000 in legal fees related to negotiations with Kirkland developer YarrowBay regarding the MPDs, all without a public hearing.

Black Diamond already has signed a comprehensive school mitigation agreement between the city, the Enumclaw School District, and the developer. YarrowBay would provide land for schools in exchange for mitigation fee credits, but taxpayers still would have to approve bonds to pay for construction.

To address some of the concerns the developer’s web site says 50 traffic improvements will be made when the MPDs are done, and the commercial parts of the developments will provide jobs for residents.

The development agreement between Black Diamond and YarrowBay provides details about project construction. After the development hearings, Black Diamond Hearing Examiner Phil Olbrechts will provide a recommendation to the City Council.

The Villages calls for 4,800 residences with a mix of single-family and multifamily homes; 775,000 square feet of commercial, retail and light industrial; and 481 acres of open space, trails and recreation use. Lawson Hills proposes 1,250 homes; 390,000 square feet of commercial, retail, office and light industrial; and 144 acres of open space, trails and recreation use.

Details on the Development Agreement Hearings are posted at www.ci.blackdiamond.wa.us/Depts/CommDev/DA.html.