Published October 2002

Aspen housing development to evoke rural feel
with acre lots, open space

By Katherine Schiffner
Herald Writer

This is not your typical subdivision.

Think 300 acres of open space instead of postage-stamp-size lawns. One-acre lots, with no curbs, no sidewalks. Four parks.

And, of course, a higher price tag.

Developers this summer broke ground on Aspen, a 188-home neighborhood near Marysville that its creators describe as a rare blend of homes and natural space.

“It’s a different way of thinking about large developments,” said Paul Leavitt, project manager for Leavitt Cos., which owns the property. “You’re going to have a very rural feel out here.”

More than 75 percent of the one-acre single-family lots will directly border commonly owned open space, he said. Restrictions mean half an acre of each cannot be cleared.

Each lot is expected to cost from $140,000 to $150,000, which is about $20,000 to $30,000 more than what buyers could pay for a quarter-acre lot in south Snohomish County, Leavitt said.

The added space is worth the price tag for some buyers, he said.

Despite a countywide drop in the number of homes and projects started in the first quarter of 2002, the company expects interest in the lots from buyers looking for more land and something different from a typical new development.

“We wanted to buck the trend of small lots and small houses,” Leavitt said. “To me, the real beauty of this is you’re going to own an acre.”

The development, which includes some view property, is less than two miles away from I-5. But it is surrounded by trees and is bordered by wetlands on two ends. The site extends from 114th Street NE on the south end to 140th Street NE on the north.

The property was developed under Snohomish County’s rural cluster subdivision code, which aims to preserve the rural character of an area and promote inclusion of open space in housing developments, said Faith Lumsden, director of the Snohomish County Department of Planning and Development Services.

“The idea is to avoid having one house every five acres on a long subdivision road that goes nowhere in the middle of a rural area,” she said.

Building within the code is a huge challenge, Lumsden said. It requires a minimum of 75 percent of lots bordering open space and individual on-site septic systems.

Those requirements and others — including one that forbids curbs, gutters or sidewalks along roads — are intended to give developments a rural feel.

“The Leavitt Companies have done a pretty good job in succeeding within the fairly restrictive confines of our code,” she said, adding, “I think (Aspen) could be an example for other developers.”

Lumsden said the property may be the largest site in the county developed under the code.

“We’re very pleased with the development,” she said. “The areas that they’re preserving are wonderfully wooded. ... It really preserves the rural character of the site.”

It also builds community, she said. Although residents “won’t be right on top of each other like they would in a city, they have neighborhoods.”

In addition to the 300 acres of open space, the development will also include four parks with basketball courts and other features.

The property was purchased by Leavitt Cos. in 2000 from Fisher Properties, which bought the land in the 1960s.

The area had been considered for different development projects, including a golf-course neighborhood named “Tulalip Estates,” which would have included more than 500 lots, said Leavitt spokesman Franz Weichers-Gregory.

The 440-acre site will be developed in four phases over four years, with the first phase to include 50 lots.

The first lots will be available in late fall, said B.J. Clusserath, Leavitt Cos.’ marketing and sales coordinator. Building in the development is expected to be finished by summer 2006.

“In Snohomish County, there’s a shortage of lots, and we hope that this will do well,” she said. “High-quality property like this I believe will be sought out.”

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