Shoreline City Staff Meets With Snohomish County Planning Dept. Over Point Wells

Shoreline city manager Julie Underwood and Shoreline staff met March 1, with Clay White, Snohomish County Planning Director and David Killingstad, Principal Planner, to discuss the County’s response for complying with the Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board (GMHB) order regarding Point Wells.

The following is Underwood’s statement to the City Council following that meeting:

"Snohomish County intends to comply with the current April 30 deadline imposed by the Hearings Board to revise their environmental review related to the original ‘Urban Center’ land use designation and potentially revise their Comprehensive Plan to be consistent. 

What does all of this mean?  While this effort may address compliance with the Board’s order it does not mean that the project’s scope and size will be reduced.  Blue Square Real Estate, the property owner and developer, continues to have a permit under the current codes.  These changes may play a part if the permit is considered not vested, which is being legally challenged by the Town of Woodway and Save Richmond Beach.  We may not know the outcome from this legal challenge until later this year.

The City of Shoreline will be tracking the County’s progress to comply with the Board’s order and will provide comment throughout the process.” 

King County Superior Court Judge Dean Lum ruled in November that the Blue Square Real Estate development application to build and urban center at Point Wells is not vested and Snohomish County is enjoined from processing the application, according to Save Richmond Beach, who filed suit with the City of Woodway.

 Snohomish County and the developer BSRE are appealing that ruling.

 Shoreline is not part of that suit and has decided to continue to negotiate.

 “We still believe the best way is negotiate and address traffic concerns,” Underwood said. “We want the project to be in alignment with our Point Wells subarea plan with 8,250 trips per day (on Richmond Beach Drive). It’s possible with mitigation there could be some allowances there.”

On Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Richmond Beach Community Association meeting at Richmond Beach Congregational Church the city of Shoreline, Woodway and Save Richmond Beach and Richmond Beach neighbors will discuss the potential of creating a metropolitan park district at Point Wells. That idea has been mentioned at Point Wells meetings and City Councilman Chris Eggen has expressed interest in it.

“We’re there mainly to talk about financial and legal considerations,” Underwood said of the city.