Water Gardens at 10 Years

September 12, 2008
by Shirley Lindahl 

From about 1860 homesteaders appeared and in the 1870’s coal was discovered in this area and in Black Diamond, Ravensdale and Renton. Logging began also as there now was a way to transport the timber. Many of the abandoned railroad tracks around this area hauled coal and logs. Two major railroads went through Maple Valley. The Milwaukee Road came from Renton along the Cedar River and the Northern Pacific came up from Auburn and the tracks are still is use just down the road. Little settlements grew up along the railroad lines. Covington was a railroad stop and Maple Valley was populated with farmers, miners and loggers. Both areas remained rural King Co. until they each incorporated about 10 years ago.

After being purchased from Northern Pacific in1890 this piece of land changed hands over the years and there probably were some stump ranches but no real thoughts of development. There must have been a house along Kent-Kangley because there is evidence of a driveway just before the Pla Mor Tavern. When development permits were started the county determined there would be no entrance to Kent-Kangley from this property.

By 1994 it was under the ownership of two couples. Lorraine and George Hawkins and Ned and Fay Holley. They had the idea of building a mobile home park to be called Holleywood(with an e) Mobile Home Park. They cleared the land and began making crude roads. They even had a small trailer on the property to serve as a sales office. They had a sign out and took down the names of interested parties who inquired and one couple was Bob and Claudia McTee. 

The clubhouse was built by an outside contractor. The ponds were laid out. These are really retention basins. But rather than a chain link fence around them they were incorporated into the design and became a definite asset. The one closest to the garden is lined and is always full. It even has fish in it. The one next to the clubhouse drains as you can see at this time of the year. It goes through a culvert and under the road across to the keyhole. Once, early on after a heavy rain the culvert just wasn’t large enough and the road gave way so a larger culvert was installed. The keyhole has a foot deep bed of sand so the excess water drains quickly and it is usually empty and dry. However, in heavy rain it will fill up to the white steps on the far side , so for a few days some people have waterfront property. This proved to be the undoing of one duck family. Mother had her nest under bushes on the north side. When she decided it was time to take her youngsters to the water there wasn’t any. They all proceeded to fall into the dry sand and when she couldn’t find a way out a plank was put in to make a ramp. Roger put out traffic cones on the uphill road to stop traffic and eventually they made it out to the big water. Have you noticed the duck crossing sign?

Roger and Joe planned the waterfalls and give them the graceful drop. A landscaper was also involved.

In the summer of 1998 four houses were in place and ready for occupancy by fall. Three of the original residents are still here... First in were Mike and Jane Renner, no longer here. They were followed by Claudia and Bob McTee, then came Jeannette Mingo and the third who have been here 10 years are Arlene and Dick Birdsall. Houses were only put up as they were ordered. A salesman was in the office in the beginning as Roger was busy working on the layout in general.

Things moved rather slow for the next two years as many who looked wanted to own the land and not rent but that was not the concept at that time. Rent would vary between $4-500 a month depending on the size of the lot. At that time you paid a license fee to the Department of Motor Vehicles because it was considered a mobile unit. When it was determined to sell the lots in 2001 you had to get a legal paper to combine the lot and the house so it became real estate and you paid a real estates property tax instead of personal property tax. The renting residents were given a price to purchase their lot and from 2001 on it was all one purchase price.

Joe had a crew of 8 Mexicans who learned to do many new things, but learning English was not one of them. Jose Soto was his right hand man as he could speak English. He has now painted many of our houses the last two summers as his second job,as he no longer worked here. These workers, put up block walls, dug ditches, poured and learned to finish cement, built fences, planted the landscaping and moved materials with trucks and tractors. Two of them became the lawn boys and had a tractor and trailer to haul their equipment. They were sorely missed when we had to hire a lawn service company. I once asked Roger how he could converse so easily with the help and he replied that the first 15 years of his life he lived in Mexico City as it was his first language at that time. Joe had to use hand signals until he picked up a few key words. He put a lunch room in his shed for the boys or his guys as he called them.

It was truly a construction zone for a few years. Mutual Materials were here several times a week delivering thousands of blocks for the block walls. The walls were often raised as the site behind was to be higher. A row of blocks would be put in place then heavy black webbing was put on it and extended behind it. Dirt would be put on this webbing and that would stabilize the blocks. Some walls are now higher than the house but seeing how sturdy they were built should make us feel comfortable. Roof trusses were brought in as garages were added to each house and the garage lumber would be stacked around... In addition to the garage extra gables were added and in some cases porches. These were done by independent carpenters and roofers and I do mean independent as they worked off hours and changed rather frequently. Next came the painters who had to match the garage to the house color and trim. One picture shows Mike the painter with both wrists in casts as he had fallen off the roof.

Once the land was made part of the purchase price things really started to move and 30-35 houses would be put in in a year. All of Phase I needed to be filled before lots in Phase II were offered making a total of 171. People selected their lots for personal reasons. A view of Mt. Rainier or where the sun was at different times of day influenced selection as well as proximity to the clubhouse or way from fir trees... Signs were placed on nearby roads announcing a new retirement community. An advertisement in the real estate section of Seattle Times ran for several years. A T.V. spot commercial aired for a while. Word spread as friends and relatives came to visit, Realtors were not in the picture until resales began. As a rough estimate I would say ¾ of the residents moved less than 50 miles to get here. Many came because of family in the area.

Isn’t it a small world has been heard more than once as former neighbors discover each other. Many have found others from their high schools or churches. Two small towns in Montana are represented here and of course employment similarities as many have a Boeing connection.

About 10% of us go south or to warmer climates for the winter. But I was here in the winter of 2003 which was a real winter. First we had a wind storm that took down many trees and closed roads all around this area. This meant downed power lines and we were without power for 4 days. Then there was a snow storm followed by a freezing rain storm. The wind blown rain hit our east facing windows glazing them with a thick layer of ice so we couldn’t see out for several days.

Those of you who have come in the last few years may wonder how your house came together. After you chose your lot and made a $1000 deposit you picked out your house plan and made whatever modifications you needed you could expect to move in in 4-5 months.

The land had to be leveled and then excavated for the cement pads where the tires went on for each section. The houses came on trailers and were stored on vacant lots until ready for setting up. Sometimes the weather did not cooperate and mud was a real problem. Joe would hook up his powerful little tractor to the hitch on the unit and carefully back it into place lining it up on the pads (usually he had an audience since his precision was to be marveled at) Then he would put the second half in place leaving about a foot between so workers could get in to remove the plastic that was covering the exposed side. With some gentle persuasion and jacking the two pieces would be joined. A special crew of set-up men from the factory did this step. The tie-downs were installed and the stabilizing blocks put in place and it was leveled.

I remember one very wet spell where the workers wore knee high boots wading around trying to get it in place. Of course there was always mud on the streets or dust and the street sweeper came every Friday. But that didn’t mean the end of dirty streets because Joe still ran his dump truck up and down the streets .He dug his own gravel pit down by the first half dozen houses to the right of the gate. He would scoop it out with the front loader load it in the dump truck, then get in the truck and take it up the hill. The streets up on top were made with Water Gardens own gravel.

We also had our own lake from about Charlie Strassers house up to the tavern. When the top soil was removed it left a large depression and between the clay and gravel it didn’t allow the water to escape. We had lots of frogs in those days. Another small lake was behind Joe’s shed above the cul de sac.

Not to be outdone we also had our own mountain... Up on top the top soil had all been piled in a huge pile.The word top soil was used rather loosely since it really was just the soil on top and not real top soil quality. Roger rented a large screen tumbler to separate the rocks from the dirt. It would rumble and tumble day after day until they got through all 10,000 yds of it. Each yard got a few inches of this soil but not deep enough to plant a rose bush as you discovered when you tried to dig down. As the project was nearing completion and the pile wasn’t needed the excess was sold to the Chevron Station which was just being started on the corner.

The bare gravelly ground, when it was dry, made perfect nesting places for the killdeer. Since they lay their eggs right on the ground you could nearly stumble on a nest and then you would hear the mournful cry as the mother drooped one wing as if wounded to lead away from her nest. We also had a few coyotes pass through in the early days.

Back to the construction. When the house was completed, the patio was poured. After the garage was added the garge floor was put in. To complete the job the driveway and front entry were poured.

Each yard received a few large granite boulders for landscaping and an assortment of shrubs and trees including a sweet gum tree centered in front. The side and back yards were up to the individuals. Now it was time to lay the sod to finish the job.

After an open house was sold the furniture was moved to the next open house. When the truck arrived at the new location there would be Arlene Birdsall who was the furniture arranger and decorator. When the furnishings were no longer needed Linda priced all the pieces and we had a huge private sale.

In 2000 we officially became a condominium community since we owned our homes and shared a clubhouse and common grounds. When the development was 25% complete two residents Marilyn Pollard and Curt Bailey were added to the board which consisted of Roger, Linda and Joe. When the 75% occupancy number was reached a transition board of 5 was elected in Sept 2005 to prepare for the establishment of our homeowners association which would happen when the project was completed. This occurred in July 2006. A professional property management company, Polaris, with Bill Hanson was hired.

In addition to the board we have many volunteers doing work like weeding and pressure washing and window cleaning. An activity committee provides a variety of activities and events. The clubhouse is a busy place and is also rented for special occasion like birthdays and wedding anniversary celebrations.

Two weddings have been held here at Water Gardens, but not in the clubhouse, instead at the waterfalls. The east waterfall was the setting for the wedding of Roger and Linda White in l999. A few years later Joe and Julie’s daughter Jennifer was married in the same location. Guests sat on chairs in the grassy area but onlookers watched from their yards. Joe built the arched bridges for each waterfall.

Maple Valley was really out in the boondocks to many of us who grew up the general Kent and Renton area, except for Gaffney’s on Lake Wilderness. This was a full scale resort with cabins, boats, a roller rink and a dance hall. In the early 1950’s the Lodge was built and it had a first class restaurant, Lake Wilderness Terrace. It even had a short landing strip for small planes to fly in for dinner. The county owned it for a few years and then it was given to the city of Maple Valley just a few years ago when the county got out of the park business. It is a very nice facility to have just a mile away.

We have come along way from the muddy streets. puddles filled with croaking frogs and the constant sound of hammering. Water Gardens has now had residents for 10 years and has become a place we are proud to call our home.

WATER GARDENS AT TEN YEARS

Shirley Lindahl