We are excited to announce that all of our homes have been built and occupied! We welcome with open arms the lack of construction here in our village. Check here for news about any available units in the future.
Current population 49 humans, 4 dogs, 8 cats, 3 chickens, 1 guinea pig. (unless there are stealth pets I don’t know about)
-Bob Freeman
Fly around the commons! Find the garden, shop and, of course, our little piece of North Creek.
There is a sweet article about us in our local paper this morning. Hopefully we can keep building and make eco-friendly building the norm…
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20160504/NEWS01/160509567/1172/Green-living-is-growing
This year on the Green Home Tour we will be featuring our brand new standalone home Unit #12 as well as showing the soon-to-be occupied Unit #13. Units #6 & #7, a duplex with smaller footprint units, are next on the construction schedule. If you’ve ever contemplated relocating to a new highly efficient home in a close-in creekside community, now is your chance!
During the Green Home Tour, you can look at the creek restoration progress, see the fabulous Mini B (our 300 sq foot passive house) and check out our gardens, solar systems, and electric car charging station – where you can charge on us during your visit.
Unit 12 is our largest unit at 1832 sq ft and has 3 full bedroom and two bonus rooms and overlooks a large wetland area. It is under construction and is a great time to get involved and design your layout and green features. 5 Star Built Green means that it exceed the current energy code by 30% and has many green features – recycled products, LifeBreath Heat Recovery System, and Forest Stewardship Certified wood products.
Unit 6 and 7 overlook our creekside conservation easement and can be designed for a small one bedroom home up to 3 bedrooms. We are designing these now.
New Unit 12 Available for Purchase
The Clearwater Commons is equally 16 miles north of Seattle and Bellevue on North Creek in South Snohomish County. We are five minutes off of I-405 for easy commuting. We have a seven acre site with shared creekside trails, garden, workshop and storage shed.
So if you are looking for a rural oasis in an urban setting; if you want to live in an environmental restoration area with salmon spawning out your front door; and, you are wanting to share some garden, community, and generally friendly folks, Come and Visit!
Visit our Frequently Asked Questions Page or contact us.
There’s a lovely spot just west of the shop where we are building an orchard garden. It features fruit trees, a garden path and an arbor. Stay tuned for more posts and pictures. Here’s a little video with some of the action.
by Shawna Lee
After many hours of rain, North Creek was overflowing its banks again, although it was not as high as it was a few weeks ago. Bob and I walked down to the creek edge this morning to see it. The power of that much water always feels exciting, and it’s fun to see how the bigger volume of flowing water has changed and shifted the contours of the banks and stream bed, not to mention loose objects beside the creek like the logs of the fire pit.
A cute little American Dipper was bobbing up and down at the flooded edge of the creek. It is such a soft gray and blends so well into the background of gray water that I didn’t see it until I had gotten fairly close to it. I stayed still and with no alarm, it continued to bob and poke into the shallow water for aquatic insects, their larvae, and maybe even tiny fish.
by Bob Freeman
We recently heard that salmon were spotted in North Creek downstream from the Commons in Bothell. The water levels were a bit low and we were concerned that the fish would have a hard time swimming up to our neck of the woods. This last week, we finally saw some good rain and the stream levels rose.
Early in the week, Eric sent out word that he spotted one on the property. The next day, Tom reported seeing five in the quieter part of the stream on the west end of our part. Saturday, Shawna took me down during her regular Salmon watching time. (She is a volunteer “Salmon Watcher” for a multi-juristictional partnership of local cities and King County). Armed with a camera and some very silly cardboard salmon watching glasses — they are polarized and actually help cut glare on the water — we went down to the west end of the stream.
It was not long at all and we were rewarded by spotting 3 Coho salmon. I turned on the camera and even put one of the polarizing lens from my glasses in front of the camera lens. Take a look at the video below:
It is exciting to see them after all the restoration work that was done last year. The creek is now well suited for Salmon spawning. It is hopeful to see so many this year.
— Bob
By: Tom Campbell
October 2011
The author was one of the principal architects of the Growth Management Act (GMA) in 1990 and a member of the Governor’s Land Use Study Commission. He is a consultant on public engagement strategies, a judge for the Governor’s Smart Communities awards, the chair of the Charlotte Martin Foundation, and a member of Clearwater Commons.
This is the story of a growth management policy wonk turned developer. It is a high anxiety story of a successful effort to build one of the most comprehensive green low impact developments (LID) in the Puget Sound area – through some of the laws I helped to create. This arduous five year journey was made even more difficult by a housing recession; a complex web of new and complicated regulations; and, a reeling banking industry.
