Enumclaw is experiencing a residential renaissance of sorts, with new homes springing up on the east side of town and plans being approved for additional development on the west. Requests on the active docket total a potential for nearly 400 new, single-family homes.
Most recently, members of the Enumclaw City Council approved the Bella’s Meadow proposal. The action came during the council’s June 8 meeting and passed with a 5-2 split decision.
The Bella’s Meadow applicants now have the green light to turn 28 acres of unused land into 91 single-family lots, accessed primarily by 244th Avenue Southeast on the west and Roosevelt Avenue on the south. Plans call for a new, primary access road bisecting the property in a north/south direction, connecting to Roosevelt; the primary east/west route will be an extension of the existing Elmont Avenue. Elmont is presently a dead-end jutting west from Farrelly Street.
The Bella’s Meadow project consists of two tax parcels, both rectangular in shape. The larger of the two fronts on 244th; the smaller parcel presently is not served by a paved road, sitting well off 244th.
Lot sizes will average a bit less than 9,000 square feet. Considering just the usable land, there will be nearly five homes per acre if the project is fully built out.
City documents indicate construction could begin this year but will most likely start in 2016.
Potential traffic impacts have been discussed, but results of a traffic study did not indicate any substantial road upgrades are needed. The city collects an impact fee of $2,937 per lot to mitigate future traffic difficulties; in this case, the total is a bit more than $267,000. Developers also will pay a mitigation fee to the Enumclaw School District due to the increased number of students.
Plenty more going on
While Bella’s Meadow represents the most recent City Council action, it certainly isn’t the only game in town. There are a handful of other housing projects in various stages of development.
• Meadow Park: a preliminary plat has been approved for this 26-home project that sits just a bit south of Bella’s Meadow. Meadow Park is north of the existing Rainier Trails neighborhood and will be accessed from 244th Avenue Southeast.
• Also on the west side of town is the Semanski Farms project, consisting of 37 lots for single-family homes. The preliminary plat has been OK’d for the project sitting along Semanski Street in the general vicinity of Christianson Avenue.
• Awaiting construction is the 48-home Liberty Meadows development immediately south of Semanski Farms.
• On the north side of town are two projects sharing a common border. Lily Estates consists of 17 single-family lots and Plateau Estates adds five more lots to the mix. While Lily Estates is approved and awaiting construction, the smaller project is needing review. The two are immediately north of McHugh Avenue, a couple of blocks east of state Route 169.
• Active, ongoing construction of new homes can be found on Enumclaw’s eastern edge in the form of the Suntop developments. Suntop Farms Division 2, a 48-home development, is under construction along Warner Avenue just a short distance east of Watson Street. A Planned Unit Development, which includes 116 home sites and commercial property, stretches between Warner and state Route 410.
Commercial developments
There are plenty of housing projects in the works, but Enumclaw also has a number of commercial developments on the table.
The most visible, due to its location at the confluence of SR 410 and Cole Street, is Auto Zone. The commercial building of 6,900 square feet has quickly come to life and now includes signage, paving and some landscaping.
Tractor Supply Co., the owner of Del’s, has submitted an application for construction of another 22,000 square feet of space at the store’s present location on Griffin Avenue.
Two industrial buildings are under construction: NBJ Investments was the applicant for construction of 6,020 square foot building just off Battersby and First Street; Big Mountain Enterprises is putting up a building of 7,200 square feet at First and Washington.
Radio Hill is the applicant for a large building of 17,550 square feet on the south side of Battersby Avenue; plans have been submitted for review.
The well-established Helac Corporation has submitted for review an application for a building of 16,700 square feet at its present site north of Battersby.
