Largest gated community to get another one?

By Meg Olson

If current proposals for Lily Point are realized, the area will be half public park and half gated community.

“A gated community is not what we meant by a better development,” Point Roberts Taxpayers’ Association chairman Michael Rosser commented at the association’s June 16 annual general meeting.

Ironically, residents already refer to Point Roberts as the world’s largest gated community due to the need to be interrogated by border guards before entering the Point.

The focus of the meeting was the future of Lily Point, and while Rosser presented progress on a proposal to preserve the land east of Claire Lane for public access, guest Randy Forsyth of Stanton Northwest presented his company’s plan to build 106 luxury homes: the Point Roberts Beach Club.

“The vision we have is a very low impact development,” Forsyth said, and would feature narrower streets and bio-swales to treat stormwater. “The county isn’t always on side with that,” he added, and was still asking for 50-foot roads and storm drains.

Tree retention would be a focus of the new development, leaving most stands of forest on the north side of the property undisturbed as open space. The property’s transitional zoning allows the developer to increase density by setting aside 50 percent of land as open space, a figure that can be adjusted down with the addition of public amenities. Open space will also be set aside along the bluff. “We’re really pulled down into the meadows,” Forsyth said. “We’ve designed the project so it has no impacts along the first 200 feet of the bluff other than putting in a trail.” Preserve areas would be protected by a permanent easement and managed by an independent conservancy group.

Individual homes will also be clustered together with shared driveways. “Our desire is to sell finished homes so we can control everything and maintain our vision,” Forsyth said. Individual sewage treatment systems would feed into a community system that would discharge irrigation quality water, he added.

Association members seemed supportive of the project’s goals to preserve trees and lessen environmental impacts, but most of their questions involved public access, especially to the beach. “The beach is open to the public and there will possibly be access to the top of the bluff. We are trying to keep it open from Claire Lane to Paul’s Road,” Forsyth said.

What they will not be keeping open are the streets into the development, which will be accessible only to those with a key to the gate.

“We know public access is key to the community and we are trying to find an appropriate level to attract buyers and meet the needs of the public,” Forsyth said. Public access to some trails and the beach is being proposed, but road access would “have everyone driving on your roads and parking to go to the beach,” and that was not an attractive possibility for buyers of homes expected to cost millions closest to the bluff.

Association member and local parks board candidate Mark Robbins wondered how much Stanton would contribute to turning the Lily Point properties on the other side of Claire Lane into a public park. “We have set aside some dollars based on parks fees in other parts of the state to assist the community with this,” Forsyth said, adding they did so voluntarily since the county did not have mandatory park fees.

Rosser suggested that the developer could turn over a portion of their property abutting Claire Lane to become a more developed part of a future park, perhaps incorporating a picnic area and much-needed parking. “It would be a center for active recreation and it would keep the public out of the hair of the high-priced homeowner,” he said.

Rosser said the eastern portion of Lily Point was poised to become a public park that would be managed by the county parks system but used more for “passive recreation” and left in its current natural state.
“Everything seems to be kind of coming together,” said Rosser. “We’ve got a willing seller and potential for grants and government funding. It all looks positive.”

Preserving Lily Point has been an association priority for decades and at the last association annual meeting members established it as their highest priority.

Rosser said a board subcommittee was now working with the Whatcom Land Trust and the property owner on an agreement to purchase approximately 50 acres for $3.5 million. Rosser would like the park to include a further 30 acres to the north, “I really feel strongly we have to preserve the entire portion,” Rosser said. He added the land trust had applied for a $2 million shoreline protection grant to fund the acquisition.

The project has county support, with executive Pete Kremen tentatively setting aside $500,000 for the project and accepting operation of the new park under the county umbrella. County parks director Michael McFarlane agreed.

“The vision for this facility would be some walking paths and overlooks, basically preserving it as open space,” McFarlane said.

Rosser added: “The $50,000 in community donations to buy the Lily Point park have already come in, but they are actively looking for more donors.”

“It is really critical for us to get private donations,” McFarlane said. “It’s not even so much the dollar amount as the show of support.”

To make donations to the Lily Point park contact Rosser at 604/813-7515.