The result of many years of effort
by an extraordinary team is what
we now know as Madrona Cove.
Madrona Family
This unique nature inspired community came into existence through the inspiration, vision and hard work of many talented, experienced people committed to the dream of creating a new paradigm for responsible rural design.
To them all we give our heartfelt thanks and wonder at the awesome collection of stellar talent that came together and helped this dream become a reality.
When we began this project we recognized several salient facts:
And the team began to come together
Pacific Advocates
Patricia Shifferle - recognizing our dream of creating a "sanctuary," she inspired the vision of a community designed with nature, preserving the forests and protecting the watershed and Puget Sound.
Dave Warren was involved from the beginning, encouraging and guiding the design of the project to protect the natural environment. Dave is also the director and mentor of the Vashon Youth Corps, a group of teens and young adults learning about hard work in the woods. They were early visionaries of the beach trail, spearheaded the invasive plant removal and later worked long and hard building the trails.
Derek Churchill who wrote our 100 year forest stewardship plan also conducted the assestment of the forest and woodlands of Madrona, as well as guided our understanding of how to presrve a functioning forest.
Michael Laurie helped us to understand how best to manage and decrease the surface water runoff of the property, controlling it to be infiltrated back into the aquifer, stopping the previously unimpeded flow into Puget Sound. Michael was an early participant in the project, advocating from the beginning for protection of the natural watershed. He also is helping design the landscaping to be used in the rain gardens and bio-swales.
Michael is one of our preferred consultants, available to assist new homeowners with watershed issues, water conservation, energy conservation and is a LEED accredited professional who also holds Built Green certifications.
Jones and Jones Architects and Landscape Architects, Ltd.
a Seattle based, internationally renowned design firm that has been practicing ecological design and the integration of nature, landscape and architecture since it's founding in 1969. The firm is known for its commitment to excellence in the integration of architecture and landscape architecture and its profound respect for the natural and cultural heritage of places.
We are so very fortunate to have had them as our design partners... a group of professional and creative people who, as a team, kept everyone's focus solidly targeted on the driving principals we were all working to achieve with the Madrona Cove community.
There's no other way to state this than - they are an incredible, talented and energetic group totally committed to the principles upon which they have built their stellar reputation.
Karen Davis Smith, LEED/ AP - with a passion for sustainable and innovative designs AND as a Vashonite herself, Karen was our tireless task master and project manager, driving us on, inexorably towards an environmentally and aesthetically honest conclusion.
Mario Campos, AIA/ ASLA, a senior principal of Jones and Jones, brought his incredible management and planning skills to the team, as well as his ability to communicate effectively with our diverse group to bring about a heightened sensitivity to the various cultural and environmental issues we were grappling with as we moved forward.
Charlotte Essex brought her skills and sensitivity to what makes a place a home to the project, and was the driver in the development of our concept homes and the architectural palette to be used at Madrona Cove.
Charlie Scott, ASLA helped guide the vision forward providing invaluable insight into the design of our trails and the integration of homes in the natural environment.
Corey Parker, ASLA / LEED AP helped us to develop a plan to restore our forests after our ecological thinning, from the fragile and vulnerable single species forest which grew after the land was clear cut 90 years ago, to a new beginning for a forested woodland offering enhanced opportunities for multi-species enhancement, resulting in increased diversity of bird and wildlife.
David Sorey, ASlA, the master of scenic roadways helped in the development of a plan to reduce the impermeable surface of our main road, establish better controls for managing surface water runoff, and in the end, a really aesthetically pleasing country lane as our access road.
Per Johnson and Brooke O'Neill - biologists who completed the very extensive (and intensive) wetlands delineation and stream assessment of the property.
Martin Paige - geotechnical engineer who did slopes and soils evaluation.
Bruce Reynolds - geologist, completed a number of deep soil explorations.
Lisa Klein - the diligent, professional and really smart project coordinator.
John Becker's crew of hearty young surveyors braved the heat and sun of the Pacific Northwest August scrambling up and down the steep slopes and through the dense undergrowth to create an accurate survey of slopes and wetlands, and created an accurate topographic map of the entire property.
Matt Weber - civil engineer and sage who kept everyone focused on the big picture and guided us through the design and permitting process.
Dave Matz - civil engineer and designer of our small municipal water system, designed to provide delicious, healthy and abundant water - reliably - to all homes at Madrona Cove.
Peter Houghton inspired us to think of this as a "community."
Mark Warren Media worked their fingers and creative minds to exhaustion helping us with communications and media projects.
D&D Logging, Inc.
Davey Donohoe and his crew of zen loggers from Idaho who allowed themselves to learn a new way to look at trees... and did an exceptional job completing our initial ecological thinning of the property.
Al Grove... the Tree Whisperer - magically has the talent to fall trees exactly where we wanted them, without injuring or scarring the trees we wanted to preserve. Al also has the extrodinary equipment to mulch the slash from our ecological thinning, allowing the nutrients to be returned to the soil. Al was also responsible for designing and building the numerous "habitat humps" built throughout the property, providing habitat and shelter opportunities for wildlife.
Richard and Craig Whalen took on the monumental task of testing and evaluating the soil and designing individual drain fields for each of the new homes.
Greentree Excavating
Phil and Rick Middling were the "go to" guys for anything that needed big equipment. They helped reduce the amount of impermeable surface on the property by significantly reducing the width of Madrona Road and built the rain gardens and bio-swales used to manage the remaining surface water runoff by allowing it time to infiltrate back into the aquifer.
Christopher Brodeur - onsite project coordinator and trail artisan extraordinaire led, sweated and bled alongside the young guys from the Vashon Youth Corps in the construction of our trail system. Christopher also built, along with River Watts, the different structures around the property, including the picnic/bird watching structures and the kayak storage shelter. Christopher managed the milling of timber from the property by Vashon Forest Stewards and used the finished lumber for the structures he built. And, Christopher designed and single handedly built the first phase of the Madrona Cove community gardens.
Christian Addicott, Esq. provided humorous and wise counsel, guiding us through the project and developing all of our community association legal documents.
Provided guidance through the circuitous world of water rights.
Such a short description for such a huge part of the project...
Joe Mentor, Esq. specializes in all things water law, is a visionary engaged in changing the regulations of the state to allow for use of water conservation technologies, and is another of the many REALLY smart people we have been fortunate to have on our team.
Jessica Kuchen, Esp. however, is the real brains at Mentor Law Group. She developed the book of the history of the Madrona Water system submitted to the Department of Ecology. This was a book of comparable size to "War and Peace." She knows more about our water rights and the 50 year history of this property than anyone.
Dick and Linda Bianchi who thought this was a perfect project for us and have been a shoulder to lean on throughout also, along with Connie Cunningham, have been instrumental in seeing Madrona Cove through to completion.
Patrick, Joe and Tyson helped out with all issues financial, developed the project forecast, as well as the community association budget.
Lambert Design
Jerry Lambert - bringing the entire concept of Madrona Cove to a visual reality by providing his expertise in creative direction and graphic design for our website and overall brand.
the BA group
The BA Team combined their various skills to help us successfully create, manage and execute the Madrona Cove brand/project through the mediums of a website and media/PR.
Financial Partners
Thanks as well to all of our financial partners... brilliant visionaries and gracious collaborators all... who gave Bob and Don their trust and confidence to see this unique project through to completion.
