Appeal to State Growth Board re Point Wells zoning, Thursday, December 9

From the City Manager's Office, City of Shoreline

City of Shoreline, Town of Woodway and Save Richmond Beach ask State Growth Board to rule on appeals of Snohomish County’s Point Wells Urban Center Zoning

On November 18, 2010, the City of Shoreline, the Town of Woodway and the citizens group Save Richmond Beach (SRB), jointly asked the State Growth Management Hearings Board to move forward with consideration of their legal challenges to Snohomish County’s designation of Point Wells as an “Urban Center.” The City, Town and SRB allege that the County’s actions are inconsistent with the County’s own Comprehensive Plan and fail to comply with the goals and requirements of the Washington State Growth Management Act and the State Environmental Policy Act.

The City, Town and SRB worked for over six months on ways to settle the litigation, seeking ways to identify, quantify and adequately mitigate the likely impacts of a future project enabled by the County’s Point Wells Urban Center Zone. The City and Town had prepared a proposed Interlocal Agreement (ILA) for consideration by Snohomish County, one component of which was a scope of work for a Transportation Corridor Study and Implementation Plan. The County rejected the ILA approach due to its legal interpretation that an ILA cannot contain provisions more restrictive than the County’s Point Wells Urban Centers Zone as to substantive issues such as building heights and traffic impacts.

Given Snohomish County’s position on the ILA, Shoreline, Woodway and SRB believe further negotiation with the County will likely not resolve the issues presented for the Board’s review. Therefore, the petitioners have asked the State Growth Board to come to a speedy resolution of the legal issues presented in their appeals.

The Growth Board will conduct its Prehearing Conference in the matter on December 9, 2010 beginning at 2 p.m. in conference room 301 of Shoreline City Hall, 17500 Midvale Avenue N., Shoreline, WA. The public may attend the prehearing conference, however, the only participants in the Prehearing Conference will be representatives of the parties to these cases.