As the controversy around Bothell Mayor Joshua Freed and the purchase of the Wayne Golf Course intensifies, more information about other developments tied to Freed are coming to light – including two possible Bothell municipal code violations.

The Bothell Landmarks Preservation Board (BLPB) notified the City Council on March 24 that Element Residential, headed by Freed, violated Bothell Municipal Code (BMC) while constructing the Verde by tearing down a historically inventoried house without proper authorization.

The Harries House and Water Tower were built in 1928 and had been on the Bothell historic inventory since 1988. The water tower was the last water tower from Bothell’s early years.

In a letter from Jeffrey Smith, senior planner with the city of Bothell, to Bothell citizen Pat Pierce, it was indicated that, as of 2011, there had been no applications for permits and that the plat’s plans had included demolition of the historic structures. Then, in 2015, it was brought to the BLPB that the structures had indeed been destroyed.

“[I] was told that yes, the water tower and house had been demolished, that city staff was aware of it, and there was no demolition permit applied for nor given,” said Landmark Preservation Board Chair Davina Duerr. “Because of the value we saw in the water tower and had expressed when the original plat was applied for, we would have certainly enter into negotiations with the developer on saving that building.”

While the Landmarks Preservation Board could not have forced the owner to keep the historic site, they may have been able to either document the property pre-demolition or salvage some of it had the city been notified through the permit application process.

However, according to an email from Freed, the person within the Verde development responsible for permitting applied for, and received, three permits for all three structures, though there was a miscommunication at Verde between the permitter and the demolitions manager.

“Although not one of these structures was on the Bothell Historical Register, I tried to try to find a home for the water tower,” Freed said. “Unfortunately, the expense of moving and maintaining the structure prevented anyone from accepting my offer to give them the water tower for free so it could be preserved.”

Any building that is more than 50 years old is included on the historic inventory. According to BMC title 22, a demolition permit must be applied for if the property is on the historic register or inventory, however the city requires a report analyzing the alternative options for the historic site.

In the history of Bothell, Duerr hadn’t heard of a property owner destroying a historic site without applying for the permit.

“Bothell is unique, we really value our historic buildings, you can see that on Main Street and in Bothell Landing Park,” Duerr said. “That’s one of the things that makes our community really unique and I’ve been pleased that developers, in the large part, have been respectful of that.”

While the developers must submit a permit application to demolish certain buildings, they are under no obligation to preserve buildings on the historic inventory. According to Duerr, many property owners with historic sites have voluntarily contacted the preservation board to document, preserve or even move historic buildings.

According to Duerr, Verde LLC never submitted a demolition application, let alone received the permit for the houses destruction.

“I think part of the joy in this process, is we get to educate developers and citizens on the true value that these historic buildings have for the community,” Duerr said. “It’s a two way street, it’s not one way where we impose our will, it’s citizens coming to us and asking for our involvement.”

To make matters worse, somewhere between 2010 and 2014, the Harries house, though not the water tower, was taken off the Imagine Bothell Comprehensive Plan’s ‘historic properties’ listing for the Waynita area, though it was still part of the historic inventory.

The Verde plat also had a second violation of Bothell municipal code. The developer destroyed trees it had agreed to keep during the public permitting application for development.

“I planted the leland cypress trees when I was a sophomore at Inglemoor High School around the entire property because my dad knew they were the fastest growing evergreen trees,” Freed said in the same email. “We wanted to grow a hedge around the property and create a sense of place that our family and thousands around the community enjoyed for years.”

According to a letter sent from Bill Wiselogle, community development director of Bothell, to Element Residential’s Development Manager, Eric Clarke, on Nov. 24, the trees were included as part of the development permit application process. Since the developer had, in a public hearing, stated he would save the hedgerow of cypress trees, it was officially a condition to the development.

The destruction of trees was found by a neighboring HOA and was reported to the city. After the destruction, a permit was requested and an arborist gave a statement about the health and wellness of the trees.

According to Tony Shoffer, the arborist contracted by Element Residential, the objective of the tree removal was to open space behind the houses in order to offer more backyard space. While he noted that a secondary objective to removing the trees was to open space for some trees to grow larger, however, he also noted that shearing the southern branches would also open up space.

Shoffer recommended taking out approximately 80 trees to give Verde purchasers bigger back yards.

“The arborist for Verde deemed the trees on lot 1 and 2 as hazardous and, as allowed by city regulations, these dangerous tree were able to be removed,” said Freed. “Though not required by law to do so, I volunteered to keep the hedge under the condition I could trim the trees or completely remove them if they are considered hazardous to the homes being built.”

For both the trees and the Harries house, the city has a duty to investigate and to enforce all code violations under BMC code 11.20.003.

“It is unlawful for any person to use…any structure, land or property within the city of Bothell in any matter that is not permitted by the terms of any permit or authorization issued pursuant to the applicable provisions of this code,” states chapter 11.20.003.

However, in a Nov. 18 email from Element Residential to the city, Clarke states, “It is our contention that we had no obligation to obtain permission from the city to remove these trees because the plat restriction did not require the city approval for tree removal.”

The letter also states that it “may have been wise to obtain concurrence from the city prior to beginning the work, and for that we apologize.”

Wiselogle, in his reply dated Nov. 14, found the potential hazards to be “greatly overstated,” though he does offer Element Residential with information about applying to obtain a plat alteration permit.

The application for plat alteration may have brought the destruction of the Harries house and water tower, and the cypress trees, to the attention of the city prior to their destruction. Regardless of the discrepancies between Freed’s and the Landmark Preservation Board’s account of the process, it is clear that the board was not made aware of the issue in time to attempt recovery of the historic structures.

The Reporter has requested city documentation on violations occurring at the Verde complex but had not had the request fulfilled as of press time.

The violations at the Verde plat coincide with political turmoil surrounding the mayor’s potential conflict of interest involving the Wayne Golf Courses back-nine purchase. An investigation into that matter is currently ongoing and the results should be out between the middle and end of April.