Japanese Gulch land may stay open space

Published 10:57 pm Sunday, April 13, 2008

MUKILTEO — A California-based development company has scaled back its bid to build a light industrial park in Japanese Gulch.

Now, a group of Mukilteo residents who want to preserve the gulch as open space are scrambling to come up with money to buy some of the land, said Richard Emery, a member and former leader of the Save Japanese Gulch group.

“I think something could happen, but I don’t know what the odds are on how much can happen,” said Emery, who is also a member of the Mukilteo City Council.

California’s Birtcher Development &Investments was studying the possibility of building an industrial park on about 55 acres of a 160-acre site on the west side of the gulch, a swath of woods and wetlands in Mukilteo and Everett. The project would have been inside Everett city limits.

The company’s contracts to buy roughly 108 acres of land from two landowners have expired. The land is now for sale.

Jim Edwards, senior vice president for Birtcher’s Northwest region, said his company has not completely dropped its plans for a development at the gulch.

“We are continuing to communicate with the landowners and the city of Everett,” Edwards said in a statement. “Birtcher is simultaneously pursuing other industrial properties in the area that will have shorter entitlement time lines and fewer or less complex issues to be resolved.”

Other developers already have called Metropolitan Creditors Trust — which owns 99 acres of the proposed site of the industrial park — expressing interest in buying the property.

A few private conservation groups also have called to inquire about buying the land, said Maggie Lyons, trustee and plan administrator for the Metropolitan Creditors Trust.

A 9-acre piece of land owned by a Snohomish County family is also back up for sale, Emery said. Details were unavailable on the third piece of property in the proposed industrial park plan.

To build the industrial park likely would have cost millions of dollars in mitigation, Everett planning director Allan Giffen said.

The state Department of Transportation wanted Birtcher to build a roundabout on Highway 526, the Boeing Freeway, to accommodate traffic to and from the park. Developers also would have had to contend with building alongside housing, wetlands and steep slopes, Giffen said.

“I’ve been here 22 years, and in that time, this is probably the most challenging piece of property that we have had in the city for someone to put together a project that is allowed under the zoning,” he said.

The 9-acre section of land that is for sale again would be perfect for a park, Emery said.

“This is one of the easiest pieces to develop, because it’s been developed and has some paved areas already,” Emery said.

Members of the Save Japanese Gulch group couldn’t afford to buy the land on their own. The group plans to ask the city of Mukilteo and regional land conservancy agencies for assistance, Emery said.

Everett officials have said the city would be willing to de-annex the land so it could be annexed by Mukilteo.

Mukilteo City Council members have recently voiced support for preserving land in Japanese Gulch. The city has set aside $1 million in this year’s budget for acquiring park land.

City Councilman Kevin Stoltz, who is among many area residents who recreate in the gulch, said he hopes the city jumps at the chance to secure at least some of the land.

“We had talked about it before, and we let an opportunity slip by,” Stoltz said. “Now, we’ve got a chance for another opportunity. I’m hoping the council will step up and see how we can partner with the gulch group.”

Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.