The subject at the meeting in Black Diamond City Hall Sept. 29 was the draft environmental impact statement on two YarrowBay Group developments known as Lawson Hills and The Villages.

But it was one particular impact well off into the future that most of the 100-plus who showed up wanted to talk and even shout about – a possible connector road from The Villages to Green Valley Road east of Flaming Geyser State Park.

And on that subject, people had plenty to say, one man going so far as to call it “a cancer.”

Others including State Sen. Pam Roach, who lives on Green Valley Road, fretted the already high number of accidents on the road, the impact on valley wildlife, water runoff and other concerns.

Black Diamond Community Development Director Steve Pilcher noted that the Black Diamond City Council will make the final decision. He said the meeting was only “a mechanism for gathering information and providing it to the decision makers.” He said the connector would punch through unincorporated King County, so the county would have to approve the connection first.

Green Valley Road begins near the Neely Mansion on Auburn-Black Diamond Highway east of Auburn, winds past Flaming Geyser Park and finally connects to state Route 169 south of Black Diamond. Lawson Hills is located on the eastside of Black Diamond, and the Villages is located southwest of the city.

The second alternative in The Villages EIS, which is Yarrow Bay’s preferred alternative, describes “4,800 dwelling units on 535 acres” with 775,000 square feet of commercial and office space and 32 acres for elementary and middle schools. Lawson Hills calls for 1,250 homes on 156 acres with 390,000 square feet of commercial and office space.

Colin Lund, director of development for Kirkland-based YarrowBay, said careful analysis has showed that the projects would not have a significant adverse environmental impact, but he acknowledged concerns about the connector and agreed further analysis might be required. He added, however, that the connector earns only a small mention in the draft EIS at issue, though it is included in the master plan development or MPD.

“When you just purely look at it, Green Valley Road to us makes sense,” said Lund. “From a character issue, it might not make sense, from a traffic standpoint it might, but there’s other ways we can explore to solve that problem. Ultimately is Green Valley Road the best connection? Might be. Is 169 a better connection? Might be … It needs to be worked out, but it’s not an immediate issue. Likely, we don’t need that connection for years because it will be a while before the development makes its way down for traffic flow.”

Green Valley Road resident Chris Clyfford was having none of it.

“They say there is going to be no significant adverse impact to this community,” said an impassioned Clyfford. “Let’s talk about that. They’re talking about over 4,000 homes going in over there. That’s over 10,000 cars, not including the commercial, not including the schools. Oh yeah, we can take 10 percent of that, 1,000 cars and dump them on Green Valley Road every single day and you won’t feel it! I feel so reassured! How stupid of me! King County won’t let you build a baseball field down there because it adds too many cars, but these guys can put 1,000 cars down there at a minimum, and he (Lund)has the gall to stand in front of you and say well, there’s not going to an adverse significant impact.

“…What you are talking about doing with this MPD is destroying Black Diamond and destroying Green Valley Road, that’s what you are talking about doing … This is a cancer, it is a malignant cancer that will destroy the quality of life here,” Clyfford said.

Roach asked that the comment period on the Draft EIS be extended because she said, hardly anybody knew about the proposal until two weeks earlier.

“Our neighborhood is very special. It is the last country road in King County, unless you go way out in the mountains,” she said. “It’s an agricultural eco-system. You’ve got blueberries growing here, you’ve got horse farms here, you’ve got cattle over here, you’ve got people with Christmas trees, people growing pumpkins and corn.

“…If we have a significant amount of traffic going onto Green Valley Road, most of us will say we don’t want to die on this road,” Roach continued. “We would need to have it straightened and widened, and nobody wants that … We know that people die on this road, we know that because there are so many people on the road. But we are not asking that this road be straightened. We don’t want that. We want to have it kept as something that the county can cherish, that it can be a Sunday drive.”

Pilcher said the City will consider all comments before completing the final EIS. A Hearing Examiner will hold a public hearing on the Master Plan Development for both projects.