Snohomish County Accepts Point Wells Developer's Application

Representatives of the Point Wells developer Blue Square Real Estate, Point Wells LP submitted project plans to Snohomish County's Planning Department Friday, in an effort to vest the project under the county's Urban Center Code.

The application was accepted by Snohomish County planning officials and met the requirements as Shoreline and Woodway city officials observed the process. The meeting with county officials, Point Wells representatives and city officials lasted nearly three-and-a-half hours. 

"It was accepted as being complete," BSRE's attorney Gary Huff said after the closed-door meeting. 

 The City of Shoreline, Town of Woodway and Save Richmond Beach, a neighborhood group, have challenged the legality of the urban center designation in an appeal to the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board, which was heard on Wednesday.

The question now is will it be considered vested under the current Urban Center Code for Point Wells.

"That remains to be seen," Huff said. "In my own opinion, I believe we're vested."

The cities and Save Richmond Beach are opposed to the scope of the project, which when completed, would include 3,081 condominiums and at least 10,000 vehicle trips per day on Richmond Beach Drive. The cities would support a smaller project that would generate fewer vehicle trips and would need less public transportation infrastructure, for which there is no public money for now.

A House bill sponsored by Rep. Ruth Kagi (D-Lake Forest Park) and Rep. Cindy Ryu (D-Shoreline) that would require an interlocal agreement between Snohomish County, Shoreline and Woodway, to either limit the development to the density of surrounding neighborhoods or mitigate impacts, passed the House yesterday. The Legislative session is scheduled to end April 24 and the bill if passed by the Senate and Gov. Chris Gregoire, would go into effect a couple months after that. 

There has been talk that the bill and appeal to the state Growth Management Hearings Board could be moot if the project is vested, but amendments are being added to the House bill regarding the State Environmental Protection Act that would address the timing issue, a Kagi spokeswoman said. 

Point Wells is located in the southwest corner of unincorporated Snohomish County, on a 61-acre site that currently hosts the Richmond Beach Asphalt Plant and Marine Fuel Terminal operated by Paramount Petroleum Corporation, which is owned by Alon USA, a company operated by Shraga Biran, an Israeli lawyer and developer who bought the property to transform it into a mixed-use development.

Brought in on boxes using a hand truck, the project application contained a wide range of permit applications, conceptual drawings and studies as a precursor to a one to two-year Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) process. This would be followed by site remediation, construction permitting and phased development over 15-20 years, according to a BSRE press release.

Along with the 3,081 residential units in three villages, there would be a commercial center.  Buildings of various heights, with some up to
18 stories or 180-feet, would be located and scaled to minimize view corridor impacts for surrounding neighborhoods.

BSRE's proposed plans include inter-modal transportation options, ranging from van pool to a Sounder commuter rail station; site design elements to minimize trips to and from the new community, linkages to existing and future transit options on State Route 99 and I-5, and preliminary mitigation design considerations for the Richmond Beach Road corridor and Richmond Beach Drive.

Shoreline wants to do its own transportation study at BSRE's cost and decide the scope and assumptions since the only road leading into Point Wells is within its boundaries. That will be up for negotiation in the next 45 days as municipal agreement as required by law is worked on between Snohomish County, the cities and BSRE.

For more information on the proposed urban center project at Point Wells, visit www.pointwells.com.