PACIFIC HEIGHTS PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT
LUA06-037
Status as of October 5, 2007:
The City has re-issued the Notice of Land Use Application and will be taking public comments from October 5, 2007 until October 20, 2007. However, this will not be the public’s last opportunity to comment on the proposed project. Below is a list of other public involvement opportunities:
15 Day Comment Period and 10 Day Appeal Period. The City has not completed the SEPA review; therefore, the public comment and appeal dates have not been established as of the date of this letter. Once the City makes a determination, notices will be mailed to all property owners within 600 feet of the proposed project.
The City has not determined the date that the project will be presented to the Planning Agency. The Planning Agency Meetings are held the first Monday of every month.
The proposed project requires a Public Hearing with the City Council, which is typically 2 to 4 weeks after the Planning Agency Meeting. A 15 day additional public comment period is tied to the Notice of Public Hearing. Once the City establishes the Public Hearing date, notices will be mailed to all property owners within 600 feet of the proposed project a minimum of 15 days prior to the hearing.
The City of Des Moines has also hired an independent Traffic Consultant to evaluate the traffic impacts of the proposed project on the Redondo Rivera Neighborhood. This work should be completed by the end of October 2007.
Project Background:
On August 13, 1998, the Boundary Review Board issued a decision approving the annexation of property known as the Redondo Riviera Annexation Area in to the City of Des Moines. This included the property owned by Granville Southern. At the time of the BRB decision, Granville Southern had under review a project known as Pacific Place (King County Permit Application 807C0270). This project was to be transferred to the City of Des Moines since the proposed project would be mainly located in Des Moines and only partially in Federal Way. Subsequently, Granville Southern filed an appeal of the BRB’s annexation decision with the King County Superior Court under Cause Number 98-2-19694-KNT. In order to settle the litigation, The Cities of Des Moines and Federal Way, along with Granville Southern entered into a binding legal agreement which established guidelines for the future review of the development. This agreement is available upon request by filling a Public Disclosure Request Form with the City of Des Moines.
The application has remained dormant since that decision, until last year. In the early part of 2006, the City of Des Moines was contacted by the new owners of the property and project, Pacific West LLC, to discuss the steps needed to complete the Pacific Place project which is now named Pacific Heights.
In December of 2006, the City of Des Moines determined the application materials for a preliminary Planned Unit Development entitled “Pacific Heights” met the City’s submittal requirements. The application specifically requested to divide the 4 existing tax parcels into 65 attached single family lots (townhouses) and 12 detached single family lots.
On August 6, 2007, the City of Des Moines issued the required Notice of Land Use Application which included a 15 day Public Comment Period; however, the required Land Use Actions were not installed by the 6th of August. Since the signs were not installed correctly, the City informed the applicant that the Notice of Land Use and associated comment period would have to be redone in order to meet the City’s noticing requirements.
On August 16, 2007, the Cities of Des Moines and Federal Way held a public meeting with residents in the surrounding areas to discuss the project and to listen to the concerns of the surrounding residents. During that meeting the local residents indicated that the primary concerns were the increase in the amount traffic associated with the project, the dates of the studies, realignment of Pacific Highway and South 297th Street, and potential impacts to the Environmentally Critical Areas (wetlands) located on the proposed development site.
Additional Information:
08-17-2007 Traffic Calming Meeting
Public Disclosure Request Form
07-29-1997 Wetlands Delineation
10-17-1997 Wetlands Delineation
288th-SR99 Intersection Analysis
CCI Cert for Earth Consultants
Original Traffic Impact Analysis
2007 Pacific Heights Traffic Impact Assessment