Congratulations to Bertan Aygun, our volunteer of the month for March! Bertan volunteers as a member of the IHCA Architectural Review Committee (ARC), helping to maintain the aesthetic standards of our community, as detailed in the Issaquah Highlands Architectural Guidelines.
My wife, Sevgi, and I moved to Seattle area back in 2005 after both of us graduated from University of Pennsylvania where we first met. Before then, while we didn’t know each other, we both lived in Istanbul, Turkey.
We moved to Issaquah Highlands in 2013 from Klahanie. We loved the Klahanie area and its surroundings. However, we were looking for a place that was a mix of both suburban and urban living. Issaquah Highlands was one of the few areas providing that mix, so we bought our current home near Ashland Park. We love having multiple dining and shopping options within walking distance, while still being able to enjoy a quiet neighborhood.
In 2017, we welcomed our son Deniz to our family and rediscovered the neighborhood from another perspective. He is nearly three years old now and really enjoys having many parks, trails and an ice cream place he can easily walk to.
I always enjoy contributing to communities I am part of. When we lived in Klahanie, I used to volunteer at our condo homeowner’s association and I also had board positions in a Turkish non-profit organization in the area. So, after spending a year in Issaquah Highlands, I looked for opportunities to volunteer for IHCA. The Architectural Review Committee (ARC) had an open position that I applied for in 2014. I love being part of the ARC and IHCA. They truly care about the neighborhood and always try to strike a good balance between having aesthetically good-looking neighborhoods while keeping different design requests in mind.
In my opinion, volunteering at any part of IHCA makes one realize the scale and large diversity of our community and difficulties that come with it. I am hoping, as part of ARC we can continue to keep our neighborhood’s aesthetics while making it easier for homeowners to do changes.
Interested in getting involved in our community? Click here to discover all of the different ways you can get involved in our Issaquah Highlands community or contact lindsey.p@ihcouncil.org.
