The developer of Point Wells may have a massive project of 3,500 condos in the works, but the city of Shoreline sent a strong message Thursday night that it still controls the only way in and out of that piece of unincorporated Snohomish County.

A policy change to reduce the allowable number of car trips per day on Richmond Beach Drive has Richmond Beach residents cheering and the Point Wells developer calling foul.

After Richmond Beach residents and Woodway councilman Tom Whitson spoke out for the limit, the Shoreline Planning Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to adopt language in the city’s Point Wells Subarea Plan to redesignate Richmond Beach Drive between N.W. 199^th St. and N.W. 205^th St. a local street instead of a collector arterial.

If the change is approved by the City Council that means the number of allowable trips per day on the street will be limited to 4,000 trips as opposed to the 8,250 that was previously allowed. On a 2009 traffic flow map, the city determined 513 trips per day are taken on the stretch of Richmond Beach Drive. Most of those trips are from Richmond Beach and Woodway residents as well as trucks and vehicles headed  to the asphalt plant and marine fuel facility at Point Wells.

 Caycee Holt of Save Richmond Beach said she was proud of the Planning Commission for taking a stand and changing the policy.

“This is sending the message to Snohomish County that you can’t not collaborate with surrounding jurisdictions,” she said. 

During the public hearing, one woman, a resident of Richmond Beach said, “It’s ludicrous to invite more traffic and more accidents."

The limitations placed on the road would mean a 3,500 condo development would create too much traffic. A smaller 1,000 condo development, could meet the threshold, Shoreline Planning Director Joe Tovar said.  But a development less than a third of the proposed size may not be economically viable for the developer. 

Gary Huff, the Seattle-based attorney, for Paramount of Washington LLC, the developer—also known as Blue Square Real Estate—wrote a letter to the Planning Commission stating several objections.

Huff argued that the proposed amendment to the Point Wells Subarea Plan violated the Growth Management Act and city ordinances, and that the amendment failed to be part of a deliberative process and analysis, as well as being inconsistent with the city’s Comprehensive Plan.

He also objected to the city of Shoreline's request that the developer pay for a traffic study—with a scope determined by the city of Shoreline.

“BSRE has consistently stated that it willingly accepts its responsibility to mitigate the project’s adverse impacts,” Huff wrote. “Traffic is the obvious and most critical example. The Point Wells Subarea Plan, however, attempts to shift full responsibility for the study and correction of current and future deficiencies from the city to our client, whether or not such deficiencies are in any way connected to the redevelopment of Point Wells.”

City staff and the commissioners reviewed and discussed the letter but were dismissive of much of its objections.

“You create the impact, you address the impact,” Tovar said. “You break it, you fix it.”

A crowd of about 60 filled the Council chambers, most of them Richmond Beach residents there to support the policy change. The Commission received more than 120 comments regarding the change.

Representatives for Blue Square attended as well, but did not speak during the public hearing.

Steve Ohlenkamp, the developer’s public affairs consultant, referred to Huff’s letter as their statement for the night.

The developer’s big event is next week. Blue Square will unveil its plans for the project in a video and multimedia presentation at Shoreline Center’s Auditorium, next Thursday, Jan. 27. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event starts at 6:30 p.m. Architects for the project will make presentation and a video from the projects deep pockets, billionaire attorney and magnate Shraga Biran of Tel Aviv, Israel will be shown. Biran will be in Seattle in February to promote a new book on changing the world through opportunism.

While Richmond Beach residents and city of Shoreline gave themselves a small victory, another even larger fight still looms.

The city of Shoreline, town of Woodway, and the neighborhood group Save Richmond Beach, led by Richmond Beach resident Caycee Holt, are appealing a 2009 decision by the Snohomish County Council to rezone Point Wells as an urban center from industrial. The matter will go before the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board on March 2 with a decision expected in late April.

The amendment to the Point Wells subarea plan as approved by the Shoreline Planning Commission reads as follows:

“In view of the fact that Richmond Beach Drive between NW 199^th St. and NW 205^th St. is a local road with no opportunities for alternative access to dozens of homes in Shoreline and Woodway, the City designates this as a local street with a maximum capacity of 4,000 vehicle trips per day.  Unless and until 1)  Snohomish County and/or the owner of the Point Wells Urban Center can provide to the City the Transportation Corridor Study and Mitigation Plan called for in Policy PW-9, and 2) sources of financing for necessary mitigation are committed, the City should not consider reclassifying this road segment.”