Buck Neighborhood

We are currently accepting applications for homebuyers in the Buck Neighborhood. Please visit the homebuyers section of this website for information about being a homebuyer in the new Buck Neighborhood.

The Friday Harbor Town Council’s vote on June 21, 2007 -- to include the Buck property in the Town’s Urban Growth Area (UGA) -- gave the Home Trust a green light to begin planning a site design for the property. The design team now in place will develop plans for the entire 45.5 acres - 30 acres to be retained by the Buck family and 15+ acres to be developed as permanently affordable housing. The Town is asking for a master plan for the whole property, to be submitted at the time of an annexation request.

From left to right, Tom Berger (landscape architect), Richard Hobbs (strategic advisor), Bob & Carolyn (Buck) Norman, Pete Kilpatrick, Chris Pope, John Hart, Pam Gross (in front), Vince Buck, Jed Clark (site architect), Larry Soll & Jai Boreen. The group is standing in front of Jai's garden on the upper protion of the Buck property.

The Design Team (pictured above) includes current and former members of the Home Trust Board of Directors, members of the Buck family, Richard Hobbs as our strategic advisor, Jed Clark as the architect, John Hart as engineer, and Tom Berger as landscape architect.

The group met July 3rd and reviewed the initial issues of road placement, density, wetlands and setbacks, and goals for both the Buck family and the Home Trust. The group also walked the site and enjoyed the views from the upper portions of the property, the 3 acres of garden currently under cultivation by Jai Boreen and his family (which will continue on his portion of the property), and the potential for a new “mixed income” neighborhood.

The Buck property borders the southeast corner of Friday Harbor. A portion of this parcel (outlined in blue above) is the site of the Buck Neighborhood.

The Home Trust is very excited about the incredible potential this property has to become a model neighborhood for permanently affordable housing, in a mixed-income neighborhood, using low impact development techniques and incorporating an element of open space and trails.

VISION

San Juan Island has an unprecedented opportunity to create a new neighborhood for people of all incomes, ages, and family sizes. The Buck family and the San Juan Community Home Trust are working together to design a new neighborhood on a 46.5 acre parcel located between Grover Street and Turn Point Road. Included in the plan are homes for

• Low income working families earning less than 80% of area median income ($49,000 for a family of four)
• Key infrastructure employees who earn 80-125% of AMI (school teachers, medical workers, local government workers)
• Seniors wishing to remain on the island but in homes requiring less maintenance and closer to their peers
• Long-time island residents of almost any income level wishing to live in a more interactive community close to shopping and cultural activities
• All other interested homebuyers!