By Matthew Nash
Olympic Peninsula News Group
PORT ANGELES — Those interested in the status of the proposed community of 73 manufactured homes in Carlsborg will have to wait until mid-July.
Hearing examiner Andrew Reeves opted to continue the June 1 hearing to 2 p.m. Thursday, July 13, at Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St., in Room 160, so developer Chris Anderson of CA Homes Inc. could do further site studies.
Reeves was critical of the lack of materials he had to review for the proposed binding site plan for the gated community for residents 55 and older at the corner of Hooker and Atterberry roads.
“With a traditional plat, I’d have so much more information,” he said. “What I have here is almost a blank slate.”
His criticism drew applause from an at-capacity Clallam County commissioners’ boardroom filled mostly with residents from the Concerned Atterberry Neighbors group.
However, Reeves asked the crowd to settle down several times through the hearing and said his intent with his comments wasn’t to “beat up” county senior planner Donella Clark.
“I grow very nervous if we just attach a thousand conditions and kick things down the road,” he said.
For the July hearing, Reeves asked Anderson to provide several reports including a critical areas report, a preliminary drainage report, landscape plan, revised site plan, lighting plan, fencing plan, pedestrian circulation plan for accessing green space and a traffic study.
He also asked Anderson for more information on phasing of the three phases.
Anderson has previously said that the site, called CA Homes Mobile Home Park, would be built over three phases in three years on 7 acres of the approximate 15.5-acre property.
The first phase would include up to 43 homes, he said, and range from 1,200 square feet to 1,700 square feet and sell for about $125,000-$150,000 with each home leasing the property.
“We don’t see it as a mobile home park. We see it as a community for seniors to live,” he said to Reeves.
Anderson kept his comments brief, also saying that he followed county staff’s protocol and he’s happy to accommodate any information that’s needed.
Reeves encouraged Anderson to be a good neighbor and “get these studies for [public] comment and you’ll alleviate a lot of concerns.”
Reeves took some testimony from Clark, Anderson and his staff and residents with the Concerned Atterberry Neighbors before continuing the hearing to July. Reeves gave the public the opportunity to speak if they couldn’t make the next hearing.
Residents’ concerns focused on an array of topics from obstructed views to water quality to impact on home prices to an increase in traffic.
Mike Spence, an attorney for the Atterberry Neighbors group, questioned Matriotti Creek’s classification when the county’s Critical Areas map lists it as a Type 2 requiring a 150-foot buffer from any infrastructure rather than the county staff recommended 100 feet and Type 3 classification.
Clark said the stream doesn’t meet the definition of a Type 2 stream because of the culverts and their impact.
Neighbors questioned this because this summer a new culvert for the stream more than double in size will go beneath U.S. Highway 101 to help fish habitat including steelhead, a threatened species.
They also contested the plan’s State Environmental Policy Act application. Anderson’s application references an environmental review for a 21-lot subdivision from a 1995 study that was updated in May 2007, and a proposed three-lot subdivision at more than 5 acres each from 2015. The Atterberry Neighbors group said the environmental reviews are outdated, inaccurate and need more investigation.
Neighbors said there might be flooding and runoff issues because they believe the studies are outdated.
Aside from the newly required studies, county staff requires Anderson to widen Atterberry Road on the north side by 17 feet and install hard surface roads inside the parcel under a notice of Mitigated Determination of Non-Significance.
Clark said Clallam County Fire District 3 staff asked the site plans switch the entrance to the homes to be closer to the intersection of Atterberry and Hooker roads rather than farther down Atterberry Road.
County staff also recommended that a buffer be installed between the homes to the west along the creek, along Atterberry Road and along Hooker Road to keep the visual appearance of the neighborhood.
In reviewing the materials, Reeves said the procedure and lack of materials was “highly unusual” and “a real challenge.”
After the hearing closes tentatively July 13, he’ll have 10 business days to make a decision on the property.
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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
Chris Anderson, left, owner of CA Homes, testifies at a hearing with his staff for his proposed 73-unit manufactured home project in Carlsborg on June 1 in the Clallam County Courthouse. Anderson said he would comply with the additional studies Hearing Examiner Andrew Reeves gave him including a critical areas report and lighting plan.
