Silver Firs’ battle over new Safeway store ends

  • Eric Fetters<br>For the Enterprise
  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:37am

Workers are clearing land at the southwest corner of 134th Place SE and Puget Park Drive where a new Safeway supermarket will go up in the coming months.

The construction work signals, beyond a doubt, the end of neighbors’ efforts to stop the retail development next to the Silver Firs neighborhood.

Last month, Snohomish County granted a building permit for the store, which will encompass almost 64,000 square feet.

Neighbors of the retail site gathered more than 150 signatures and picketed the location in 2002. But the property’s longtime zoning designation for commercial use — it had been zoned that way since 1968 — made for an uphill battle.

Since leading the opposition to the store four years ago, Raul Mendez has moved out of Silver Firs. But others are watching with a bit of wariness as they get a new neighbor.

“It’s right in my back yard,” said George Brewer, who has lived in his townhouse just over 1 1/2 years. He said a large noise abatement wall between his property and the new shopping center already is in place.

Brewer said he expects the store may increase traffic and noise in his neighborhood. On the plus side, he said, the project’s contractor seems willing to listen to residents’ concerns about disruption from the construction.

The new $4 million Safeway store should be ready to open by late summer in 2007, said Cherie Myers, the supermarket chain’s director of public and government affairs. It will be accompanied by a Safeway fuel station and smaller retail spaces on the property.

Myers said she didn’t have other details about the development.

Brewer said he’s not sure whether he’ll shop at the new Safeway. But he’s now fully resigned to the future as the undeveloped field beyond his yard is cleared away.

“I could throw a fit and complain and all that, but we probably wouldn’t win,” he said.

Eric Fetters is a reporter with The Herald in Everett.

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