Kent city officials might try to sell another piece of property to a housing developer rather than going through with the controversial sale of Pine Tree Park.
After a city staff presentation about three potential options, the City Council on Tuesday night at a workshop decided to pursue possibly selling what’s known as the East Hill maintenance shop site for a housing development by Kirkland-based Oakpointe Communities rather than the 10-acre neighborhood park near 114th Avenue Southeast, south of Southeast 274th Street.
The 20-acre city-owned parcel is south of Southeast 248th Street, south of Clark Lake and east of 120th Avenue Southeast. The city bought the property as an alternate maintenance shop site. The Parks Department uses a small part of the parcel for employees and vehicle storage, but the council abandoned plans to build a new maintenance shop, making the land available to surplus for development.
“Oakpointe would not seek lost profits because they’d be getting something of value in the form of another development site,” said Derek Matheson, city chief administrative officer, in a report to the council. “But they would want to recoup what they’ve actually invested the development of Pine Tree Park so far. That opening number is $850,000 but that is a negotiation. So if we sold them the East Hill shop site, we would have to discount the purchase price by that negotiated amount.”
The shop site property was appraised for $5 million in 2013, but city officials expect to have a new appraisal soon.
City leaders decided to reconsider the $2 million Pine Tree Park sale to Oakpointe after opposition from neighbors around the park. Council members have come under fire from residents not only for selling the park, but because the city didn’t notify anyone about the deal until it posted a sign at the park in January about the proposed housing development of 64 homes, also to be built on 4 acres the developer bought from the Kent School District next to Pine Tree Elementary School.
The other options presented by Matheson included going ahead with the park sale that is expected to close in June or to try to terminate the sale.
A few council members said they voted for the sale last September because they were told by city staff through King County officials that the money could be used to upgrade other parks. But the council later learned any proceeds must be used to buy land of equal or greater park, recreational or open space value because King County voters approved a Forward Thrust measure in the 1960s to allow the purchase of the land for a park. The city later annexed the park from the county.
Matheson said the city could use the $2 million in proceeds from a sale to potentially buy parcels near Clark Lake Park, an acre next to Morrill Meadows Park or land near the WinCo store for a possible mountain bike park.
A termination of the sale could cost the city anywhere from $2.4 million to $3.4 million to compensate Oakpointe for its potential loss of profit as well as costs incurred already to develop the park.
The council said they want more information about selling the shop site before making a decision. Council members want to know how much money they could get for the land, how much it would cost to move parks staff into an interim site and how much it’s going to cost to replace the maintenance shop on Russell Road that would eventually house those employees and equipment.
The council also asked for costs to improve vehicle access at Pine Tree Park so it could serve more residents if the city decides to keep that park. The council voted to sell the park because of its poor access and the need to bring more money into a struggling city budget.
Matheson said he will bring back more data to the council – possibly in April – about selling the city shop site.
“That doesn’t mean we will go with option three,” Council President Bill Boyce said about selling the shop site to Oakpointe. “We need to see what that cost will be.”
Kristy Herrick, who has led the drive to stop the Pine Tree Park sale and lives across the street from the park, wanted to see council action on Tuesday.
“I was hoping that something would happen,” she said. “We were hoping for a definitive answer but I have a feeling we’re not going to get it for a long time.”
Herrick said if the council doesn’t make a decision soon, the costs to settle with the developer will continue to go up.
“It will cost a lot more to stop it if the sale closes,” she said.
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