We are sad to announce that the City left us no choice but to appeal several approvals that they recently granted for the controversial Costco warehouse and gas station proposed at the corner of Hwy. 9 & 20th Street SE.

We are disappointed that the City decided to move forward and approve many aspects of this controversial project at a time when our entire community is undergoing a public health crisis and adhering to strict shelter in place orders.

It is also disappointing that the City continues to ignore our concerns about the many long-term and negative impacts that this massive development will have on our community, environment and quality of life. We will keep you posted on future developments and how you can help.

As laid out in our Notice of Appeal to the City, there are State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) issues, Critical Area Ordinance compliance issues, inadequate Mitigation issues, and excessive Traffic issues that remain unresolved and which must be addressed before this development should move forward.

We also remain frustrated by the lack of a fair and transparent public process for this proposed development. Since becoming aware of this project, we have had to fight for what has been a very limited opportunity for residents to learn about and share their concerns with the City on this major development. At the few public meetings on this project that have occurred, City officials stated or implied that this project was far from done before Costco could break ground. As sadly expected, the City appears to be reversing course and is instead trying to rush this project through while we all are distracted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

We are hopeful that in appealing this action to a Hearings Examiner, to be assigned by the City, that the City will be charged with doing what they should have done all along, which is to ensure that this development undergoes the requisite scrutiny and comprehensive SEPA process that all projects of this scope and scale should incur naturally and without resident pushback.

We also hope that the City will do the right thing and ensure a sincere public process moving forward, and full mitigation, at the developer’s, and not taxpayers’, expense, of all major impacts the proposed development will have on the property and surrounding neighborhoods and businesses.