The term "urban village" is a very sad one to me anymore. I live next to a project of building 30 three-story near-mansions, as I call them, supposedly townhouses to be sold for over $300,000 apiece. They're on Southwest Holden Street near the intersection with Delridge Way Southwest.

Before this project started, there were woods there, with plenty of diverse wildlife, including a screech owl I'd seen. A short time after it began, the wildlife and woods were gone, as well as much of the sloping land. I'd walked through that dense woods one summer, and the ground was unstable. After the greenery and trees were removed, including many large roots, there was a large pond of muddy water created from water seepage. It existed for a few months, a good breeding place for mosquitoes. I took photos of it, as well as the rest of the project as it got underway, and would be glad to show them to anyone.

A low concrete block fence was built within a few feet of some of the new buildings and the multi-family housing just down the slope from them. Both sets of housing have three stories. From my apartment I can see that the patio door of one of the multi-family housing units is within a few feet of that fence. A new building is only a few feet from the fence on the other side. A row of large trees on the edge of the property of the older housing was removed by that property owner as the new project began. All that must have been a shock to the people living in the older housing, who used to go outdoors and enjoy the woods, a little more space, and some privacy.

The project has now gone on for over 14 months. Some of the new buildings are very close to the property lines, likely within the 30-foot legal limit. The apartment complex I live in has buildings fairly close to the property line also, and has lost a lot of "greenbelt" greenery as well as the woods. The large windows and patio doors of the new buildings closest to my apartment building face my row of buildings. Some of the windows are in line with my third-floor balcony, so with the workers now working inside those floors, I've lost my privacy on my balcony. Once people move into those buildings, I'll have lost even more.

Most of the greenbelt between that project and our buildings was destroyed by the workers of this project. I telephoned the corporate folks who own my apartment complex, as one of the property stakes had been removed, and I was sure the greenery in a several-foot wide area was being removed. Nobody came here to try to stop it. Another low concrete fence was then built by the project workers on that property line, but the greenery beyond it, and soon I saw debris from the project lying on the dirt on our side of that fence. After months of wet or dry dirt, the land on both sides of that fence was finally covered with hay. Building supplies are strewn about, and a fairly high temporary fence was partly removed, with the rest now remaining in near-tatters. It's an unsightly mess.

Before the new buildings were started, I was concerned about a massive mudslide from the winter rains, which would especially affect the multi-family housing down the slope from this project. A huge "mountain" of dirt was left uncovered for sometime. Police were called a few times as some kids were seen playing in that area, with lots of building supplies they could have been hurt on. Thefts of building supplies were also reported by residents of my apartment building, and me, as we could see these in progress.

The noise of the large equipment, especially bulldozers and buzz-saws, goes on from 7 a.m. through the end of the working hours weekdays, with some machinery noise in the evenings and on weekends. My nearby neighbors and I get little rest from that noise, even with our thermal pane windows closed.

I look at those buildings and wonder why anybody would buy, let alone rent them. They're very close together, and many are very close to existing housing. Residents of the new buildings wouldn't have much privacy, unless their large windows are closed and covered. Most people want to open windows sometimes, so those residents would hear sounds from people living very close to them.

I've grieved for the wildlife that was surely killed, even harmed, and displaced by this project. I want to warn other neighborhoods about what can happen, and when people see a sign for an upcoming project on undeveloped land, urge them to find out what they can about it and address it. These kinds of projects are destroying the quality of our lives, as well as killing wildlife and greenery. The land being built on is often unstable. The developers and county and city authorities responsible for these deals apparently don't care.

I hope that eventually we'll change the zoning in King County and especially Seattle, to prevent these kinds of projects from starting.

Tracy Karon Wright

Webster Street