An effort to create Steel Lake Crest, a subdivision of 28 single-family homes near Steel Lake Park, will move forward.
The city council approved the preliminary plat April 7 in a unanimous vote. The development is approved for 6.77 acres located south of 304th Street South, and east of 28th Avenue South. It will require extensive grading, tree removal and heavy use of retention walls. City staff told the property’s five co-owners their plan went against city code. When the code was not clarified, the owners took the issue before a hearing examiner — and won.
Gloria and Mike Trinidad, and neighbors Linda and Red Elder and Allan Woida, all currently live on the property planned to become Steel Lake Crest. The owners embarked upon their first attempt at becoming developers roughly two years ago. Federal Way staff and City Code Chapter 20-179 held up the process, the owners said Tuesday.
Grand ideas
“We all had big plans because when we started it was at the height of development,” Gloria Trinidad said.
The idea to combine their land, then subdivide it for later development, formed when someone came knocking on the property owners’ doors looking to turn the property into residential housing. They figured they would try it themselves instead. A new subdivision would widen roads, add landscaping and give the area a facelift, they said.
“We basically took that opportunity away from a real estate company and did it on our own,” Woida said.
Code hang-ups
An opportunity to make a little cash soon became a headache, the owners said.
City staff told the group that steep slopes requiring retention walls, along with proposed mass grading of the property, goes against the city’s subdivisions code. The rule requires developers to minimize grading and retention walls on plots with a slope of 15 percent or greater. It also calls for the retention of as much of the property’s natural vegetation as possible.
The average slope of the Steel Lake Crest preliminary plat is 9.3 percent; six of the lots experience a 40 percent slope, according to the hearing examiner’s Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Recommendation. As planned, 90 percent of the site would be graded for homes to be constructed. More than 200 trees, 87 of which are classified as significant, are located on the site, according to the document.
The co-owners asked city staff to clarify its regulations and give them specifics to follow so as to abide by regulations. They wondered: How many retention walls are too many? How much vegetation needs to remain and why is mass grading not allowed?
“We had gone around and around and they hadn’t given us any criteria,” Linda Elder said.
Code is too vague
The group took the decision to a hearing examiner. In March, Phil Olbrechts ruled that Federal Way’s code is too vague. The city failed to demonstrate the clearing and grading will cause adverse impacts, according to the ruling. The code makes it difficult to determine how much vegetation must remain and could limit development in the city, Olbrechts ruled.
“Since vegetation covers most all development sites in Federal Way, a literal application of FWCC 20-179(b) would severely restrict development and would prevent Federal Way from reaching its growth targets mandated by the Washington State Growth Management Act, Chapter 36.07A RCW,” according to Olbrechts’ decision. “The city is again left with a vague standard because it is difficult to come to an objective conclusion on what design preserves vegetation ‘to the maximum extent possible.'”
Steel Lake Crest
With the hearing examiner’s OK, the council gave Steel Lake Crest the go-ahead. Now, the Trinidads, Elders and Woida will wait until Steel Lake Crest catches the eye of a developer. They will remain on their land until it sells, they said.
“Developers are welcome,” Linda Elder said.
When the area is developed, vegetation on each lot must be maintained to the extent consistent with storm water control, according to the hearing examiner’s written decision. Clearing and grading, only to the extent necessary for storm water discharge and buildable lots, will be allowed, according to the document.
