Point Wells Arguments to be Presented at Hearing Today

The City of Shoreline, Woodway and Save Richmond Beach will face off against Snohomish County and developer Blue Square Real Estate over Point Wells before the Central Puget Sound Growth Management Hearings Board today in Everett.

Attorneys for both sides will present arguments as part of Shoreline’s appeal of the urban center zoning of Point Wells, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Public Hearing Room 1F03 in the Robert Drewel Building on the first floor of 3000 Rockefeller Ave.

The three-member hearings board includes Dave Earling, a former Edmonds City Councilman, and Margaret Pageler, a former Seattle City Councilwoman.

The public is invited to watch but public comment will not be taken. The panel will make its decision on or before April 25. 

How nearly 6,000 people will get in and out of a 3,100-unit condominium development at Point Wells has been hotly debated since there is only the two-lane Richmond Beach Drive leading in and out of the site, a point that Shoreline will make today.

Blue Square has proposed public transit options, but Shoreline has maintained there are no plans for that right now, despite Blue Square saying it will pay for it. 

Shoreline plans to point out in its arguments against the urban center zoning that the Sound Transit Sounder train stop planned for in the design is not funded.

“Sound Transit runs through the site, it’s on a transit corridor, but our counter argument is that the train does not stop,” Shoreline Planning Director Joe Tovar said. “That’s wishful thinking; that’s not planning or capital budgeting. Under the Growth Management Act  you have to be supported under capital budgets. No regional capital budget includes a Sound Transit stop.”

The traffic impact on Richmond Beach Drive and the surrounding neighborhoods will cause as many as 16 intersections with traffic lights from Aurora Avenue North to Richmond Beach to fail (see graphic), Tovar said. The city based its figures on 9,500 trips or 11,000 trips per day on Richmond Beach Drive. Blue Square estimates by completion in 2030 there will be 10,000 trips per day on the road.

Building heights will also be brought up, Tovar said. Thirteen of the 20 buildings proposed for the site are 13 stories or more, taller than any building between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. Providence Hospital, Everett’s tallest building, is 12 stories.

Gary Huff, the lawyer for Blue Square Real Estate, did not want to comment to Patch prior to the hearing, said Barry Bartlett, who is handling public relations for the developer.

On Friday, Blue Square intends to submit its final plans for the project to the Snohomish County Planning Department. Shoreline’s Planning Department intends to have senior planner Steve Cohn and associate planner David Levitan present during the intake of the documents.

By submitting the plans by Friday, Blue Square may be vested under the Urban Center guidelines for Snohomish County that allows up to 3,500 units on the 61-acre property at Point Wells.

Blue Square is also working on a scale model of the preliminary site design that may be ready for viewing by Friday.