Foes of Point Wells development keep pressure on

Despite community opposition, an Israeli development company is moving forward with plans to turn an aging asphalt facility and petroleum-tank farm at Point Wells in Snohomish County into an urban village with offices, shops and condominium towers.

On March 4, Blue Square Real Estate filed the project application with Snohomish County, which accepted the conceptual drawings and plans as a precursor to completing an environmental-impact statement. The filing makes it possible for the project to go ahead.

Two days before, attorneys from Blue Square, Shoreline and Woodway appeared before the state Growth Management Hearings Board, asking it to determine whether Snohomish County properly designated Point Wells as an urban center.

The board has until April 25 to reach a decision. It can rule that Snohomish County acted properly; properly with a few flaws; or improperly, requiring the urban-center designation to be overturned.

The opponents argued that the county made the urban-center decision without adequately discussing the impact on the citizens of Shoreline. They say that the city will experience traffic congestion on roads too small for such a development.

But because Snohomish County has already accepted Blue Square's project application, no matter what the board decides, it's not likely to derail the development, say attorneys.

Even so, Zach Hiatt, attorney for the citizens group Save Richmond Beach, said the developers will have "to face the ... court of public opinion."

And as Caycee Holt of the neighborhood group Save Richmond Beach sees it, "There should be no urbanization without representation."

Toward that end, a bill pending in the state Legislature also would require developers in unincorporated areas to either keep density at the same level as surrounding cities or come to agreements with those adjacent cities.

Shoreline estimates the development will bring 10,000 car trips a day on a road that now handles about 500.

And Shoreline officials point out that the project, which could have some buildings as tall as 180 feet, will have the 13 tallest buildings between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com