Council denies mixed-use proposal

Owners now plan to develop five buildings on Ancich Property

Paige Richmond

of the Gateway

After three years of proposals and two hours of debate on Monday night, the Gig Harbor City Council voted to deny a developer’s plan to build two three-story buildings at the corner of Grandview Street and Pioneer Way.

The buildings, proposed by MP8 LLC and Pioneer & Stinson LLC, would have been allowed through a comprehensive plan amendment that rezoned the 4.27-acre plot of land, known commonly as the “Ancich Property,” to allow mixed-use commercial and residential buildings.

The developers are now saying they’ll move forward with currently allowable uses and will develop the land to the highest density possible: Five office buildings at 5,000 square feet each, with none of the restrictions previously proposed and favored by a development agreement with the city council.

There was nearly an hour of public comment at Monday night’s meeting, when citizens told the city council the rezone would be a policy decision to allow increased density and large-scale buildings in the city’s view basin.

“Once you go open that door to the comprehensive plan amendment, you open that door to a lot of uncertainty,” said Chuck Johnson, a Gig Harbor resident.

But most of the council didn’t address the potential rezoning as a policy issue. Instead, they focused on flaws in the comp plan amendment procedure and said they would support the developer’s proposal were it reviewed again by the city planning commission.

One of the stumbling blocks was a development agreement that would have maintained most of the natural trees on the now-wooded site and maintained a thick vegetative buffer around development. It would have also prevented any surface asphalt parking between the two buildings, which would have footprints of 12,000 square feet and 15,000, respectively.

The development agreement — a contract that would put restrictions on what could be built on the property, based on council’s requests — had gone through several iterations over the past few months and was only finalized last week.

Initially, the agreement was supposed to last for the life of the property, a factor that led council members Tim Payne, Paul Kadzik and Paul Conan to state their support for the rezone earlier this month.

By Monday, though, that agreement had been given a five-year expiration date by City Attorney Carol Morris, a change that alarmed council member Derek Young. While Young said he had previously leaned toward approving the proposal, he feared that, given the economic situation and the city’s current sewer moratorium, the agreement would expire before the buildings were constructed.

That expiration date also upset former Gig Harbor City Administrator Mark Hoppen, who spoke publicly Monday night. He suspected that the developer would simply wait for the agreement to expire, then build a more obtrusive, unrestricted commercial structure on the site.

William Lynn, who spoke on behalf of property owners Mike and Marty Paul, assured the council and community that the developers would uphold their end of the bargain.

“The five-year term came from the city,” Lynn said. “If you want to make this 10 years or 20 years, that’s fine with us. If you’re concerned an owner would wrangle out of his agreement, I can assure you the applicant is willing to work with you on that, just as they’ve worked with you on everything else.”

The developers spent countless hours in the past six months working with the city’s planning department on the proposal — far more time than is usually expected of a comprehensive plan amendment.

The development agreement and the amendment had gone through about 15 iterations before Monday’s council meeting, partially because the planning commission had denied the proposal in its original form.

But those are hoops Marty Paul was willing to jump through, if it would create the best development in the long run. Paul, who spoke publicly before the council Monday for the first time in this process, said he has “purposely been patient with this” because his Finholm family has a long history in the harbor.

Paul said the current zoning on the property would allow his company to construct five office buildings with surface parking and little tree retention — something he sees as less favorable to Gig Harbor and limits economic growth.

He added that the city’s restrictive zoning limits building size, which means businesses within the city tend to be the same retail-type industries and don’t allow broader, employee-based businesses.

Larger buildings with residential space on top, office space at the ground level and below-ground parking could attract more white-collar companies, like technology and science-based industries, Paul said.

“What hasn’t happened in the 35 years I lived here or in the three generations before me is any attempt to place residential and commercial units together in one development,” he said.

That argument didn’t sit well with Mayor Chuck Hunter, who said the many iterations of the amendment make it a “horseback proposal.”

Hunter became frustrated when Paul attempted to interject and explain his position, saying, “Wait a minute, Marty, I’m talking now.”

Hunter said the proposal should be returned to the planning commission in next year’s amendment cycle.

Ultimately, Kadzik and Payne agreed with the mayor’s suggestion, saying they would support the development if the planning commission approved it this time around.

Only Conan voted in favor of the amendment.

Council members Jim Franich, Steve Ekberg and Ken Malich all opposed the development since the beginning of the process, saying no large buildings should be built on that property because of its location in the view basin.

But the developers said Monday night that they aren’t willing to return to the planning commission next year and restart the amendment process. Instead, they’ll move forward with constructing five office buildings as soon as possible.

Reach reporter and columnist Paige Richmond at 253-853-9243 or by e-mail at paige.richmond@gateline.com.