The Planned Developments in Black Diamond

The approvals for further construction of Planned Developments in Black Diamond last through 2026, and plats applied for prior to the 2026 expiration may extend another 5 years (state law RCW 58.17.140). The City is in the process of making important decisions for what happens after these approvals expire.

The city of Black Diamond has two large planned developments, which received Development Agreement approval in 2011. Those agreements are city ordinances 970 (for Ten Trails) and 971 (for Lawson Hills). Development Agreements are authorized by state law (RCW 36.70b.170), and last 15 years (City code 18.98.195VE).

These Developments proposed adding 6, 050 households to Black Diamond, taking the town from just 1,686 households in 2011 to over 7,700 if completed. The Developments would also add over 1.1 million square feet of commercial space. According to the May 2025 draft Comprehensive Plan update, for Ten Trails, "Roughly 1,269 units have been built as of April 1, 2024" (page 284). The Lawson Hills development does not yet have any housing or commercial development.

The developments are managed by OakPointe, formerly Yarrow Bay, and are owned by subsidiaries of Crown Community Development in Naperville, Illinois.

After the Development Agreements expire, incomplete portions of the original plan are no longer approved / permitted. To continue construction, the developer would need to re-apply for future subdivisions (preliminary plats) or Development Agreements.

Currently, there is a widespread understanding that public services have not kept up with the rate of growth. Below are some details about the issues involved. Geoff Bowie has the experience to recognize these issues, and the ability to put solutions in place.

Schools

The planned developments are in the Enumclaw School District. Black Diamond Elementary school is full, so students from newer parts of Ten Trails are bussed to elementary school in Enumclaw. There is land set aside to build an Elementary school in Ten Trails, but the district does not have enough money to build a school. The voters have rejected bond proposals to build schools. Many voters were concerned that developers should do more to fund schools and support students.

While the number of students has increased greatly with growth, the enrollment increase in the Enumclaw School District so far has been less than originally forecast. In 2021, the city and the School District updated the Tri-Party School Mitigation Agreement with developer OakPointe. This agreement reduced the number of schools that Enumclaw School District would likely need to serve growth from seven to five, and it set the developer's school mitigation contribution to approximately 50% of the allowed limit under state law.
City of Black Diamond 2021 School Mitigation Agreement
Enumclaw School District Capital Facilities Plan showing the expected cost of constructing a new school, and the 50% developer fee Reduction at the bottom of Appendix C.

School fees collected from the building permits issued in Ten Trails were used to purchase land from OakPointe for two future elementary schools (https://www.courierherald.com/news/enumclaw-school-district-buys-land-for-future-school-sites/). One of these school sites is in Ten Trails, and the other is on the east side of the city, north of Lawson Street. For each building permit, the developer pays a school fee, but the total amount collected is expected to be far less than half of what is needed to construct three schools.

During the city's planning for Development Agreements, the public gave testimony about the potential for school capacity to fall short of growth plans for the city. The Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) reviewed Schools, see EIS, Appendix K - Schools .

Police Department Building, Public Works Equipment, and City Hall (Government Facilities)

The Development Agreement called for a study to determine the cost to expand city capital facilities needed to serve new growth. The city would then adopt a developer fee to be paid with each building permit. The city would use the money to expand the police department building, public works, and city hall to serve new growth. However, the city council decided not to collect a government facilities fee from developers.

The city of Black Diamond's Government Facilities Study documented a need for expansions costing over $44,000,000 in 2014 dollars.

The city can revisit and adopt a Government Facilities fee in the future, but the current mayor and City Council have not considered it. The city is not collecting money for government facilities, and therefore as the city grows we face a shortfall. Staff has already outgrown our current police and court work spaces.

Parks

The city of Black Diamond municipal code does not require parks or park impact fees to be paid by developers when they construct houses. However, through the Development Agreement legal process, the city obligated the developer to build parks, pocket parks, and sports fields as the development adds homes. See Development Agreement section 9.5, especially pages 216 and 220.

The developer was required to construct active sports facilities once 800 units of housing had been occupied. That milestone was passed in 2022, but they have not built all of the required fields. They have applied for a change that would allow them to not meet the ball field requirement - Major Amendments to Recreational Facilities and Pipeline Road Timing. The city continues to extend the timeline for a decision and not enforce the requirement to build the fields.

Many residents have expressed alarm about OakPointe’s proposal to put ball fields on City owned park land near Lake Sawyer to meet its legal obligation under the Development Agreement. Concerns include loss of tree cover, water pollution, light and noise pollution. Many believe that the site is inappropriate for the intense development a softball or soccer field would bring.

Residents throughout the city are also concerned about the policy of letting the developer transfer its uses to public land. Many residents have expressed a desire to build the active sports facilities on Ten Trails property since this would serve Ten Trails residents and the fields are part of the Ten Trails developer's responsibility.

When the Development Agreement expires, the requirements for future parks and sports fields also expires.

Roads and Intersections

The development agreement included new roads so new traffic would be able to bypass existing residential neighborhoods. The construction of a new east-west "Pipeline Road" is required, but the developer is proposing a delay via an Amendement to change Pipeline Road from 1746 units to close to 3000 units of housing before this road is required. While this road is delayed, residents have noticed a significant increase in east-west traffic on Roberts Drive and on SE 288th Street. Many have commented that this hurts their quality of life.

The intersection at Ravensdale Road and State Route 169 experiences long backups at the stop sign. This intersection was "failing" when development started, and new development was conditioned on construction beginning by the 327th housing unit of Ten Trails development, according to the Phase 1A Regional Infrastructure Schedule. That deadline was not met, and construction finally started this year.

Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS)

The city of Black Diamond is served by MountainView Fire and Rescue via a contract for Fire and EMS service. They operate Black Diamond's fire station , station 98, on the Lake Sawyer Road on the west side of the city. The Development Agreement obligated the developer to construction another city fire station, which is now largely complete. However, there is no staff or equipment for the new station, so it is not operational.

While the city has grown by over 3,000 residents since 2019, the Fire and Rescue staff levels have not increased. The city entered a revised contract with MountainView in 2021, but that contract provided a set amount of money each year and did not provide for increased payment or service with population growth.

The Chief of Mountainview Fire and Rescue recently stated that the department was not backfilling for fire fighters who had left the department, due to a lack of funding. Therefore, the city's fire service, far from increasing staff as Black Diamond grows, has actually had a decrease.

The Development Agreement has a mechanism for the developer to pay for increased fire service staff with growth, however, the city and developer's management of this clause resulted in no funding from the developer. See Development Agreement 13.6 (especially pages 268 and 273). This includes the following requirements:

• "j. Each updated fiscal analysis shall confirm that revenue from The Villages MPD is sufficient to maintain levels of service for police and fire services as such levels of service are adopted in the Comprehensive Plan (Exhibit "E")."
  and

• The developer may be required to provide "interim funding of necessary service and maintenance costs (staff and equipment) between the time of individual project entitlements and off-setting tax revenues."

The developer's 2020 Fiscal Analysis projected more tax revenue from new development than the city actually received (see Table 2 on page 28). The developer forecast commercial sales tax from retail within Ten Trails by 2022, but as of today there is still no retail open in Ten Trails. The city reviewed and accepted this faulty fiscal analysis.

There is opportunity for the city to enforce these funding requirements, and to improve our city code so that developers pay their fair share, and residents receive improved services.