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Lily Point extension nixed

by Meg Olson

Whatcom County Council dealt a lethal blow to the Resort at Lily Point, denying partners in the development a second one-year extension to the permit for a proposed residential development, golf course and resort.

At their September 9 meeting only two county council members voted to give the project another chance, while five voted to let it die. While a staff report had recommended approving the additional extension based on the enormous amount of time and money the project had already cost, neither the majority of planning and development committee, nor the majority of council members, felt proponents had been doing enough to keep the project moving forward.

“The criteria for granting extensions is not met,” said Dan McShane according to minutes of the September 9 planning and development committee. “The people did a lot of hard work but they didn’t have the money to go through with it. The extenuating circumstances are not different from circumstances that anyone else with a proposal would have.”

In a July 22 letter asking for the extension Tom Bradbury, one of the Resort at Lily Point partners, said that when the project was finally through a series of appeals and ready to move forward in 1997, a key financial partner, Syd Welch, had died. “That left a gap in the financing for this project that we have been diligently trying to fill ever since,” Bradbury wrote. Last year two additional partners, Ron Nielson and Peter Butler, also died, further jeopardizing financing for the project.

Bradbury also cited the economic impact of the events of September 11, 2001 as a stumbling block to attracting investors for the project. McShane didn’t buy it. “Citing the events of September 11, 2001 five times in one paragraph as the reason they couldn’t get funding seems far-fetched, given the low interest rates of the past year,” he said according to minutes of the September 9 full council meeting.

Barbara Brenner and Sam Crawford were the only council members to support the proposed extension. “It could help the economy of Point Roberts,” Brenner said, according to the planning and development committee meeting minutes. “No one loses by giving the proponents an extra year.”

Had it been approved this would have been the second one-year extension granted to the planned unit development permit for the Resort at Lily Point. The project was first applied for in 1991. It included over 200 housing units, including 47 single family homes, 94 condominium units and a 72-room resort. After extensive environmental reviews and drainage reports it was approved in 1994 and revised two years later to exclude a 20-acre chunk of land.

The Resource Management Group, a local organization opposed to the development, appealed the permit on several grounds, alleging the project would damage groundwater resources, did not comply with shoreline development requirements, and that proponents were vague about how they would proceed. The case was heard in Superior Court in Skagit County and in August 1997 Judge Susan Cook dismissed those claims, allowing the project to proceed.

The planned unit development permit gave proponents five years from that time to substantially complete the project. In August, 2002 they applied to the county hearing examiner for a one-year extension, which was granted. This time they were turned down, effectively killing the project, as it could not be permitted as planned under current zoning.

According to Marilyn Bentley of the county land use division, planned unit developments were allowed in all areas of the county when the project was first permitted, but are now limited to areas zoned as urban growth and short term planning areas, under which the Point does not qualify.

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