Status of Point Wells still in limbo

WOODWAY — When locals first petitioned to incorporate a town here back in 1958, they included an oil-company’s property on Puget Sound within the boundaries.

Then-owner Standard Oil* objected. To Woodway’s dismay, the upscale residential community formed without the beachfront industrial property known as Point Wells.

It turned out to be a significant omission.

“Point Wells was viewed as being part of Woodway, even back then,” town administrator Eric Faison said. “Literally, they hand-drew these boundaries.”

Fast-forward 55 years, and a deep-pocketed developer is advancing plans to turn the old fuel facility into Snohomish County’s largest condo development, with some 3,000 luxury units, retail businesses and a public pier.

The coming transformation has set up a tug-of-war between local governments looking to annex the prime real estate.

Woodway is still eyeing the land as a future downtown. But Shoreline, south of the Snohomish County line, wants it, too. The King County city’s case rests largely on the fact that it will bear the brunt of the traffic, all of which is funneled down a two-land road through Shoreline.

Annexation is “really the only long-term funding source to take care of the impacts,” said Scott MacColl, Shoreline’s intergovernmental relations manager.

A flurry of changes to state annexation law while the Legislature was in session, after much back and forth, left the situation at Point Wells status quo — in limbo.

For now, the 61-acre parcel is likely to remain part of unincorporated Snohomish County. Until people start moving there, and would be able to petition for annexation, that leaves landowner Blue Square Real Estate at the controls.

“We won’t have residents for at least five years. It leaves us time to determine what will be the best option down the road,” said Gary Huff, a Seattle-based attorney representing Blue Square. “Future residents will have a say in whether the cities should be able to annex.”

Blue Square, operating locally as BSRE Point Wells, is part of Alon Group, a petroleum and real estate company with holdings in Israel, Europe and the United States.

The scale of the development is the subject of an ongoing lawsuit brought by Woodway and Save Richmond Beach, a nonprofit named for the neighborhood in the city of Shoreline, south of Point Wells. They sued Blue Square and the county in 2011, arguing that the project should adhere to stricter development rules that a state growth board had ordered the county to adopt. The county and the developer have said the project was submitted under the old development rules.

The state Supreme Court agreed to hear the case this fall. A decision is likely next year.

Blue Square and the county, meanwhile, are working through permits under denser zoning rules. Under those plans, the tallest of several high-rise buildings at Point Wells could reach 180 feet. The surrounding neighborhood is almost entirely single-family homes.

In a twist, many Shoreline residents say Woodway, and not the city they live in, is a better fit to absorb Point Wells.

Jerry Patterson, who lives along the road to Point Wells, said he would have preferred to support his city over a neighboring town in a different county.

“However, the track record has been that the city of Shoreline has used very little leverage to attempt to control the density or the scale of the project,” said Patterson, who was speaking on his own, not for the neighborhood board on which he serves. “Many of the residents have come to terms with the reality that the development will occur. So, therefore, the central concern to the residents is how large is it going to be, because of the cumulative impact on the quality of life of our neighborhood.”

Shoreline has sought to limit the project through the traffic impacts, rather than zoning, and is preparing to work with the developer on a traffic corridor study.

“Snohomish County is moving forward with the process and we can’t change the size of the permit. Woodway can’t either,” MacColl said. “What we’re trying to do is to mitigate the traffic impacts as they come into Shoreline, because that’s the biggest impact to our community.”

Blue Square plans to move ahead with an environmental review for Point Wells. It’s likely a year-long process that would begin with county notices inviting the public to comment on the scope of issues that should be reviewed.

Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465; nhaglund@heraldnet.com.

* Correction, July 16, 2013: This article originally incorrectly identified the former owner of the property.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

A speed camera facing west along 220th Street Southwest on Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023 in Edmonds, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Washington law will allow traffic cams on more city, county roads

The move, led by a Snohomish County Democrat, comes as roadway deaths in the state have hit historic highs.

Mrs. Hildenbrand runs through a spelling exercise with her first grade class on the classroom’s Boxlight interactive display board funded by a pervious tech levy on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 in Marysville, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Lakewood School District’s new levy pitch: This time, it won’t raise taxes

After two levies failed, the district went back to the drawing board, with one levy that would increase taxes and another that would not.

Alex Hanson looks over sections of the Herald and sets the ink on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Black Press, publisher of Everett’s Daily Herald, is sold

The new owners include two Canadian private investment firms and a media company based in the southern United States.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.