The nice thing about the Hilltop Community is that the original founders thought ahead. When they developed the community they staked where each of the 40 homes would be positioned best to take advantage of the views. They then laid out the lot corners around those view positions. They also created a “view corridor map” which made very clear which views were to be protected for each homeowner. This means that the homeowner would be able to remove or trim trees on their neighbor’s property to protect those views. The map has the specific corridor and height limits for each home.
Lucky for us, our homesite is fairly straight forward and didn’t require trimming trees on our neighbor’s property. But it did require us to remove some on the community buffer between our lot and the outer edge of the community. We worked closely with the Hilltop Site Plan Committee and City of Bellevue to make sure that we were working within both the law and the desires of the community. I have to admit it was a bit nerve wracking to have two dozen neighbors show up to walk the property and talk about every tree that was going to have work done to it. They really do care about each and every one. And since many walk the path behind the house they do have a vested interest in how it comes out.
In total we had 45 trees cleaned up on the property and green belt, with almost two dozen of them thinned to not only open the view up but also make them safer. I hadn’t realized we basically bought a forest that happened to come with a house. To be fair, there were some big trees and the branches can be dangerous in the frequent southernly wind storms. Our neighbor has an anemometer on his roof and says it sometimes falls over when the winds reach around 100 miles an hour! That’s something to keep in mind as we think about the renovation. But wow – to blow such a big hole in the budget so early is going to hurt. I’m sure I can save a little money on paint later 🤔.
We really wanted to balance the desire to get the views back with retaining the park like atmosphere of the yard. We feel like we were able to achieve that outcome with the right mix of strategic sailing of the larger trees, clearing the smaller, dead trees, and removal of a couple of key Broadleaf Maples that were hanging over the walking paths. And though it cost a bit more than we had hoped it should pay back in the overall lightness it will bring to the house. Now, on to choosing the architect!
HilltopMidMod 