'McMansions' charred, builders blame ELF

The debate over super-sized homes and sprawl flared up in the Pacific Northwest this week with the torching of several multi-million-dollar show homes. The National Association of Home Builders is blaming the Earth Liberation Front for a series of fires that destroyed four new homes in a Seattle suburb.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper reports that fires destroyed three homes in Woodinville, Wash., and a sign at the scene bore initials "ELF."

The homes that burned in Woodinville were a part of a controversial development -- the homes were built to demonstrate environmentally friendly or "green" building techniques and were the first homes built as part of a 100 acre cluster development. A group of neighbors had sued to block the project, which the Snohomish County Council approved in March 2007, according to the newspaper report.

The sign left at the fire site stated, "Built Green?! Nope BLACK!," and also referred to "McMansions" and cluster development as "not green."

Law enforcement officials quoted in the report said that the fires did bear some resemblance to past ELF-linked arson fires, though the investigation hasn't concluded. The state's Building Industry Association is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to convictions of the culprits.

The National Association of Home Builders issued a statement that blamed ELF for the blazes. "The FBI has previously identified ELF members as domestic terrorists and attributed many millions of dollars worth of damage to new homes and communities to this extremist group." NAHB charged that such attacks "destroy property and put human lives in danger."

Several similar home arsons have been reported in the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere in the past decade. In 2005, incendiary devices were recovered at a luxury home development site in the Sacramento, Calif., area (see Inman News), and several area newspapers published a letter that was allegedly penned by ELF members. A suspected ELF member is currently on trial for her alleged role in serving as lookout during the firebombing of a university building in 2001.

Radical environmental groups aren't the only opponents to big houses -- some cities have passed "anti-mansionization" restrictions to keep house sizes in check.

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