We’re coming up on one year since the original iteration of the Orchard Hills planned development proposal landed at Twisp Town Hall, where it is, with typical deliberation, making its way through the town’s planning process.
It may well take at least as much time to resolve the application’s outcome, one way or another. It will either emerge in some altered form after a lot more discussion and revision, or possibly disappear altogether.
Those seem to be the only options amenable to the dozens of Twisp residents who are closely following the process, many of them potential neighbors of Orchard Hills in what’s generally known as the “schoolhouse hill” area — where established homes and newer developments share the bluff above downtown. They have questions and concerns, and have appropriately expressed them.
The proposal for 52 living units is being made by Orchard Hills LLC, owned by longtime local contractor Jerry Palm and his wife, Julie. Their good intentions are clear from the details in the application and the investment they’ve already made in the property and the process. They are well respected, deeply involved community members who donate time, equipment and materials to a lot of causes in the valley.
Many people testifying at the two Twisp Planning Commission public hearings so far (there will be at least one more) have said they have nothing against the site being developed with single-family housing, for which it is currently zoned. They just don’t like the planned development details. In some cases, they are disappointed in what the proposal doesn’t contain, such as any workable plan for improving access to the neighborhood, now served by only one street and essentially functioning as a giant cul de sac.
In other settings, opposition to the Orchard Hills proposal might be characterized as a classic “not in my back yard” (NIMBY) reaction: people who already live in an area don’t want more development that they consider objectionable for any number of reasons (not all of them charitable). But most of the dozens of people commenting orally or in written form are not saying the Orchard Hills property should remain undeveloped. They just have concerns about what is proposed.
The Milltown planned development proposed by Hank and Judy Konrad, which also requires an annexation, would add more housing units in higher density than the Orchard Hills development, but hasn’t drawn nearly as much scrutiny. One reason: there are few existing neighbors to be concerned about what’s happening next door.
Public comments about Orchard Hills have been generally polite, articulate and on point, often well researched and offered in the right spirit of civic concern. There have been some expressions of frustration, to be sure, but for the most part it has been a civil process. That is encouraging to see, and we hope it continues, because there is more procedure ahead and it’s not going to be expedited.
For those who are involved in it or will be, we offer some gentle advice: Give people the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make it personal. Listen, don’t just talk. Stay on topic — airing past grievances or wandering into unrelated issues is a waste of everyone’s time. Do your homework, know what you are talking about. Be factual — don’t speculate, conjecture or spread rumors.
Those guidelines will serve you well. Reviewing and approving land use applications is a time-consuming, complex process, dictated by legal requirements, the town’s codes and other considerations such as whether it complies with the State Environmental Protection Act (SEPA). Appeals of the town’s mitigated determination of compliance are what are currently slowing the process down. That’s OK — it’s a smart strategy to embrace, not fight, the regulations and make them work as they are intended. That requires patience, persistence and knowledge.
Leo Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina” opens with the sentence: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Much of the time, Twisp is a pretty happy family. Right now it may seem a bit unhappy, but time and the good will of everyone involved should take of that.
