Secluded locale harbors plenty of potential for some

By REBEKAH DENN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

When Emory Cole was looking for a new restaurant site in the 1980s, he looked up and down the Bothell-Everett corridor, where demographics showed growth would surge in the next decade. He said there was no question the Silver Lake site had the greatest potential of any property he considered.

"Of course, in my business, waterfront is like magic," says Cole of the location of his Emory's Lake House.

He has watched with some satisfaction as the past few years have brought major businesses such as Costco, Fred Meyer and Home Base. "When I see the big boys moving in within a mile radius of us, I like to think my thinking was correct, that it is a good market."

Destinations like Emory's and Costco still aren't common in Silver Lake -- residents fiercely fought Costco, partly because they feared it would attract too much outside traffic.

The area largely remains off the beaten track, except for those who use the regional park, with few clear shortcuts from the lake to anywhere else.

"You almost have to be going there to enter the area," says Everett police spokesman Elliott Woodall, who said it's not considered a problem area for crime.

Newcomers Tammy and Jerry Punkiewicz, who moved into the new Eastlake Estates development in March, "just moved across the interstate" from their old Everett home, says Tammy.

The couple liked Silver Lake Elementary School, the easy access to Jerry's Boeing job and the idea of having the lake a short walk away for their 5-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.

About 40 percent of the Eastlake Estates residents are relocating from the same area, said agent David Duncan of Prudential Preferred Properties in Lynnwood. The others are lured from the Eastside or Seattle, exchanging a longer commute for less expensive housing.

Even with the new developments, "it's a very homey place," says Grace Pelkey, who moved in when her husband retired from Boeing in 1978. Most of her neighbors moved in 15 or more years ago.

"You could walk to any house in this area and ask for help and it would be right there, I know," says Pelkey.

Years ago, Pelkey and a few neighbors began an informal Christmas tree light competition that has since turned into an enormous fund-raiser for the Volunteers of America.

"For about 10 blocks, I'd say every house is lit up," says Pelkey, with volunteers handing out candy canes as they collect canned food and money.