A huge Barclays North sign at the recent Sultan Centennial picnic was a reminder that Sultan is undergoing the biggest building boom of its 100-year history.

This city of about 4,000 people at the confluence of the Sultan and Skykomish rivers is growing fast, and longtime Snohomish County developer Barclays North is poised to profit. The "900-pound gorilla," as some municipal officials call it, swept into Sultan about three years ago and started developing rural land on the edges of the city.

Now, with three large developments in the works, Barclays representatives attend nearly every city meeting.

"They basically came in like a whirlwind," said Loretta Storm, a Sultan community activist who runs a local government-watchdog Web site, www.ittakes grit.org. "Every time I turned around within the last 18 months, Barclays' name just seems to be falling from the sky everywhere you go."

Barclays North's vice president for government affairs, David Toyer, wouldn't say whether his company's presence in Sultan and nearby Monroe is part of a larger strategy to expand in East Snohomish County.

"We've got several developments going on in any given community in Snohomish County," he said.

But he said none of his company's other developments has been as controversial as those in Sultan and Monroe.

No one has accused the company of doing anything illegal, but some of its practices have stirred controversy in Sultan, which has about 1,500 houses now. In the next 20 years, planners expect 1,200 more new homes as more commuters discover Sultan's below-average home prices.

Barclays is helping reshape the landscape in the area, and some public officials and local residents question whether its approach is ethical.

The company caused a stir last year during construction of its 63-home Sky Harbor project off Sultan Basin Road by hosting workshops about how its plans for denser development in Sultan would boost the city's waning revenue stream. When Barclays proposed a bus tour for public officials of developments around Snohomish County, some officials balked. Mayor Ben Tolson decided not to go.

City leaders soon found themselves buried under Barclays paperwork. The company offered sample ordinances, analyzed city policies and attached copies of state laws and legal opinions to its letters. It dickered over fees and the number of available sewer hookups, and over building design, required open space and the thickness of roads under construction.

Sultan has a planning director who also acts as the city administrator. Besides a project manager and Toyer, Barclays hired Blair Anderson to focus on lobbying in the "emerging markets" of Sultan and Monroe.

"That's probably where they got that nickname, 'the 900-pound gorilla' — they throw their weight around," said Jim Flower, a Sultan councilman and Barclays supporter. "I think what scares people is that they're big, and they have the ability to do this, and sometimes it seems to happen really abruptly."

Charm campaign

The developer, based near Lake Stevens, is seeking permission to develop 300 more homes off Sultan Basin Road.

In the process of developing the land, the company has suggested changes to the city's building codes, even submitting prepared legislation for the city's consideration.

In one case, Barclays paid the city a $500 fee to consider amending its code to allow model homes in developments. Although the fee has been specified in Sultan's code for several years, no one but Barclays has ever paid it, said Rick Cisar, Sultan's city administrator and planning director.

The fee is for staff time and other costs of preparing the change, Cisar said. The ultimate decision on the amendment belonged to the City Council, which made a few changes and approved it.

Simultaneously, the company has worked to win over the locals with "neighborhood meetings" about their developments. At a meeting this month at a local diner, Barclays picked up the tab for drinks and desserts for about 20 residents while a company rep made a pitch for a 107-home subdivision.

Toyer said the company's approach was legal, and he said accusations by Storm that Barclays had tried to unfairly influence public officials were "ludicrous."

The Sultan City Council last Wednesday turned down the company's request to annex its Van Wyngarden property for a residential development. During the meeting, Storm and some council members expressed suspicion about the timing of a county property reassessment, which allowed the company to request the annexation without consensus from nearby property owners.

Even though the project is in limbo after the council's decision, Barclays researched the property assessment by calling the county Assessor's Office and responded in a letter.

"Our company is very serious about our reputation and our integrity," Toyer said, adding that although the company attends a lot of meetings and reads up on local regulations, "we don't do it to be intimidating. We do it because we care about what we're doing."

The company astounded the Sultan Centennial Committee with a $5,000 donation, so the committee put up the big Barclays North sign that loomed over the city picnic.

"Working the politics"

Barclays founder Pat McCourt has been involved in controversial land deals before. In 1998, The Seattle Times found through documents and interviews that he had used his influence as chairman of the Snohomish County Planning Commission and vice president of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties to make $650,000 on a quick property sale to the county.

McCourt referred questions for this story to Toyer.

Barclays' aggressive approach in Sultan and Monroe, where several commercial developments and one large residential development are under way, has many public officials in those cities cautiously avoiding any appearance of conflicts of interest. But Barclays has formed business ties with some.

The company has entered a contract to buy property off Sultan Basin Road from Tom Green, a Sultan planning commissioner and local real-estate agent, for the proposed 107-home development.

Green, who shut down his blueberry farm last year in order to sell the land to Barclays, said he doesn't think the sale has caused a conflict of interest for him on the Planning Commission.

"What difference does that make?" he asked.

In Monroe, the Coalition for Quality Communities, a political-action committee that is funded by Barclays and four other development companies, paid $10,000 to Monroe Councilman Chad Minnick's printing company. According to paperwork filed with the state Public Disclosure Commission, the payment was a "retainer fee."

Minnick excused himself from a vote this month on an annexation for a planned Barclays project. Toyer said the political-action-committee money wasn't related to the vote.

"We're hiring a local business," he said. "We're hiring Chad Minnick, the owner of JC Printing. We're not hiring Chad Minnick the council member. Those two issues have nothing to do with each other at all."

Public officials in Monroe and Sultan described Barclays practices as "political," "overbearing" and "litigious." When the company pays a fee, it routinely stamps the check "paid in protest," in case it decides to challenge the fee later, Toyer said. It's standard procedure for his company, he added.

The company recently sued Sultan over the number of sewer hookups the city will provide to a new development.

"There have been times when Barclays has initiated legal proceedings, and sometimes they do it just because they can," Sultan Councilman Flower said.

"They're prodigious in their activities," said Ken Berger, a Monroe councilman. "They're just incredibly determined. They're working not just their developments but also the rules and the politics."

Community activist Storm thinks there is more going on.

"They facilitate their developments by working behind the scenes beforehand," she said.

Toyer said insinuations by people like Storm are unfair and based in a philosophical debate about growth and change in the small towns along Highway 2.

"We're an aboveboard company," he said. "We do things in a public process and a public manner. Yeah, we may be involved, but that's how do our business because we think it's important to be involved in our community."

Emily Heffter: 206-464-8246 or eheffter@seattletimes.com