Point Wells developer not stopping negotiations with Shoreline despite report in Everett Herald

Updated 9-16-2011 6:48pm

By Evan Smith

The developer of the proposed Point Wells condominium project says that it will continue to negotiate with the City of Shoreline over mitigation of traffic and other impacts of the project despite a report in the Everett Herald that it would no longer negotiate with Shoreline and Woodway.

The Herald reported Thursday that the developer would no longer negotiate with the cities after Woodway and the Save Richmond Beach organization sued the developer.

The Herald report said that the developer would work only with Snohomish County on plans for the development, but a news release from developer BSRE Point Wells called the Herald story incorrect.

The news release said that BSRE Point Wells was continuing discussions with the City of Shoreline “following the city’s August 24 publication of a Letter of Intent expressing a desire for a negotiated agreement.”

Shoreline’s intergovernmental-relations manager, Scott McColl, said Thursday that the City and BSRE were continuing to meet.

BSRE said that it still may seek project review under “the alternative application process established under Snohomish County’s Urban Centers Code.”

BSRE applied In March for a permit under Snohomish County’s zoning of the Point Wells area as an urban center. The County accepted the application shortly before the State Growth Management Hearings Board ruled that Snohomish County’s designation of the area as an urban center violated State growth laws.

The developer and county officials have said the project can move forward under the existing rules, though that's a point of contention in the lawsuit.

In the news release, BSRE said that even if it applies under the Snohomish County rules it intends to keep talking to the City of Shoreline.

The news release did not mention Woodway, I was unable to reach Woodway Town Administrator Eric Faison Thursday afternoon.

BSRE has proposed building a 3,081-unit condominium project on the former industrial site in unincorporated southwest Snohomish County.  The only access to the site is on a two-lane road through the Richmond Beach area of Shoreline.

The Town of Woodway and the Save Richmond Beach organization filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court early this week to stop the project from going ahead under the zoning rules that the State Growth Management Hearings Board later ruled to be in violation of State growth laws.

The Herald story had quoted an attorney for the developer as chastising the Town of Woodway for not participating in meaningful negotiations for several months.

The BSRE news release disputed the part of the Herald story that said the developer would now work only with Snohomish County,

The developer envisions a 20-year project to transform the old waterfront industrial site into a master-planned community with clusters of high rises reaching up to 17 stories.

Shoreline has proposed annexing the Point Wells area into the City, but Snohomish County has said that it opposes further cross-county annexations. Bothell is the only city that crosses the county line.

Point Wells is in Woodway’s urban growth area, but Woodway has been non-committal about annexing the area. An annexation would turn a town of 1,100 people into a city of nearly 6,000 people.