In a few weeks, the Metropolitan King County Council will consider a number of proposed changes to its comprehensive plan. Among them is a heavily reviewed request to change the zoning of property owned by Covington-based firm BranBar LLC.

BranBar, a family business with multiple projects in Covington, is owned and operated by Barry Anderson Sr. and his sons, Brandon and Barry Jr. Barry Anderson Jr. said BranBar purchased one parcel of land in 2002 and picked up the neighboring piece in 2003. The proposal was put on the docket last year for the four-year comprehensive plan update via County Councilman Reagan Dunn.

“We’ve been working on the project for about six years,” Anderson Jr. said. “We have come in and we’re trying to do the right thing.”

For nearly a year, the county has been taking public testimony via letters and at hearings around the region to get input on the wide variety of proposals for the comprehensive plan, which serves as the blueprint for the county’s development and growth.

The chunk of land — of which the Andersons own nearly 60 acres — covers 272 acres in unincorporated King County, according to a staff report provided by the county’s Department of Design and Environmental Services. The city of Covington surrounds the property on three sides, and it is bounded by State Route 18 and Southeast Wax Road to the south and north, with 180th Avenue Southeast along the western side.

In December 2007, the Andersons were looking at putting big-box businesses on the site – maybe a home improvement store or other large commercial ventures. Since then, Anderson Jr. said, his company has significantly changed the proposal and if the zoning is changed and the property is annexed into the city, residents will have opportunities to tell the city and BranBar exactly what they’d like to see there.

“We’ve scaled it back by about half,” Anderson Jr. said. “People think that because it’s urban, we’re going to develop up to the creek. But once it’s urban, that buffer will be set and that’s it.”

Tim Hatley, a public affairs consultant and former King County employee, is working with BranBar as it navigates the final steps in the county’s comprehensive plan update process.

“Originally, BranBar wanted to do the big-box sort of stuff, and obviously the city of Covington supports that kind of economic development,” Hatley said. “Through the course of the public review process, you had comments from citizens expressing their concerns. BranBar has been very responsive to those concerns and modified the project to address those concerns.”

Hatley explained that BranBar plans to develop about 36 acres of the property, and rather than straight commercial development, it will be a mix of multi-family and single-family housing, as well as some businesses.

A major issue that has been raised during the course of the past year, Hatley said, is the Jenkins Creek wetland. Typically, buffers for that type of wetland would be about 150 feet from development. But, Hatley said, BranBar has proposed pushing that to 300 feet in an effort to protect the creek.

If the zoning is changed as part of the comprehensive plan update, then Covington would have the opportunity to annex the property.

According to Covington planning manager Richard Hart, the city has placed the land, often referred to as “the notch,” on its Potential Annexation Area list, which means any time in the next 15 years or so it could be brought into the city limits. In order for the property to be annexed, BranBar would need to initiate the process.

If the county does change the zoning, that would allow for more intense development to occur, and a sub-area plan and proposed zoning designations and uses would eventually be developed.

Anderson Jr. explained that the county, the city and BranBar would need to negotiate what kind of zoning the property would have. “That will finally give the city the chance to start planning what they’d like to see there,” he said. “People are going to get the chance to comment on what the best idea would be for that area. There will be a chance to have this open discussion.”

A staff report put together by the county’s Department of Design and Environment Services and issued last year didn’t recommend the change.

“Make no adjustments to the King County Comprehensive Land Use Map designation for the Jenkins Creek Notch,” the report said. “Maintain the current zoning designation for the properties within the Jenkins Creek Notch study area at RA-5, one home per five acres.”

The report goes on to state that the state Department of Trade determined that Jenkins Creek is a salmon spawning stream and that keeping the rural designation was the best way to continue to support that stream and surrounding wetland. It also states that allowing commercial uses would bring pressure by other developers to build on the rest of the land, which could in turn have a negative effect on Covington’s burgeoning downtown core.

In addition, the report suggests that the city doesn’t need to annex the area any time soon because there is no evidence to suggest it needs the additional land to meet population growth targets.

Anderson Jr. said BranBar can develop its property, and landowners can make some money off property they would otherwise not be able to use while preserving that environmentally sensitive real estate.

“We can keep this as pristine as possible and do it in such a way that it conforms to the development standards,” Anderson Jr. said. “The only place for sustained growth is southeast King County. The question is how do you prepare for that?”

He said the development can fit in with both the environment and the city of Covington.

“Multi-family housing with a mix of single-family so it is a typical Covington neighborhood,” Anderson Jr. said. “I see something along those lines, fitting in with the environment, not being too ostentatious.”

In order to allow for the developers to put six or eight houses per acre, which is something under consideration, they would be need to obtain transfer development rights (TDRs). Those TDRs could be purchased from property owners who have environmentally sensitive land that they likely couldn’t develop. In turn, TDR credits could be put toward increasing densities on the notch site.

Hatley suggested that there could be substantial environmental benefit if the proposed zoning change is accepted and all the other dominoes fall into place that allow BranBar to develop the notch.

“The conservation benefit on this proposal could be pretty substantial if it’s crafted correctly,” he said.