The Black Diamond City Council has set the date to begin the closed record hearings for two master planned development projects, The Villages and Lawson Hills.
At the May 13 City Council meeting the members decided the time and first day for the closed record hearings will be 7 p.m. June 21 at Black Diamond Elementary School, 25314 Baker Street.
YarrowBay, a Kirkland-based developer, submitted applications for plans to build 4,800 residences for The Villages and 1,250 for Lawson Hills. Each master planned development or MPD would also have commercial and retail space.
According to the staff, the applications were submitted and accepted by the city in July 2009.
The closed record hearings follow more than two weeks and 50 hours of public hearings in March on the MPDs conducted by Phil Olbrechts, the city’s hearing examiner.
Olbrechts conducted hearings considering the adequacy of the final environmental impact statements or FEIS for the projects and whether to recommend approval of the MPD permits.
The MPD faced numerous appeals and considerable criticism from some residents.
Olbrechts ruled the FEIS documents were adequate and recommended approval of the MPD applications with a series of conditions.
Following the rulings from Olbrechts, the City Council scheduled closed record hearings. The hearing will include presentations from YarrowBay, the staff and public testimony. In a closed record hearing no new evidence or testimony can be introduced that was not presented during the FEIS and MPD public hearings.
The city has reserved the school gymnasium for seven days, June 21,22,23,24, 28, 29 and 30.
According to city staff, during the first evening of the hearings the council members will decide the rules on how the hearing will be conducted. The issues to be considered include how much time the applicant and staff presentations will be allowed and how much time citizens will be given to testify.
The council will then hear appearance of fairness challenges. According to city staff it is an opportunity for anyone to state a reason why a council member may not be able to fairly judge the projects or should recuse themselves from the process.
Once the hearings are completed, the council members will begin deliberations on the approval of the applications.
