Snoqualmie City Council OKs new retail development agreement for Ridge lots

Published 11:11 am Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Snoqualmie residents could be getting a new 55,000 square foot full-service grocery store, gas station, and drive-through businesses if the city’s new agreement with EDG development is signed by the end of this month.

The Snoqualmie city council approved a development agreement for a new grocery store and retail spaces at the Dec. 14 City Council meeting. The proposed development would be on lots 11 and 12 on the corner of Snoqualmie Parkway and S.E. Douglas Street.

The development agreement must be signed by Dec. 30 by EDG Development, the company planning to buy and develop the site, once they complete their purchase of the property from Puget Western Incorporated.

Mark Hofman, community development director for the city of Snoqualmie, said that once the agreement is signed, amendments concerning development standards and layouts would become active.

“Tom Erlandson (of EDG Development) would become the owner, sign the development agreement and return it to the city,” Hofman said. “Then all of the amendments to documents would go into effect. The mixed-use final plan, essentially the master plan design for the Ridge, the development standards that apply to those two lots for lighting, landscaping, access and signage, and the binding site improvement plan which shows layouts of lots and access.”

According to Hofman, the purchase of the lots should take place within the next week or two and planning of site designs and landscaping will come after that. The primary purpose of this development is to provide services beyond what Snoqualmie already has in order to combat retail leakage, residents shopping in other towns, and to provide more options for shoppers, he explained.

“We have the IGA but the major component is a 30,000 to 55,000 square-foot grocery store. Mid-range, the existing IGA is about 20,000 so this is that next step above it,” he said. “The development agreement said other uses are allowed such as a drive-through and other small retail uses. Two of those are for food and beverage, and the other two are reserved for potential fuel sales. If a pharmacy locates there, they (want to) have a drive-through window for that.”

Talk of a grocery store in that area has been happening since 2007, Hofman said, but when Tom Erlandson of EDG development came to the city and showed interest in the project, it began to take shape.

Snoqualmie has stayed away from accepting drive-through businesses in the city for years, but the agreement will allow those businesses on the specified lots. While drive-throughs offer more convenience to city residents, the decision has caused some controversy with some residents, who worry that bringing in drive-throughs will harm the city’s small-town characteristics and could possibly hurt other local businesses. Hofman said the city and EDG Development are taking care to make sure the right businesses are chosen in order to maintain Snoqualmie’s small-town feel.

“The city doesn’t want to be Anywhere, USA, and look like every other city in every other state,” he said. “They want to maintain the characteristics of the city. That freeway collection of fast-food restaurants are not what the city is interested in.

“It’s a balance. If you are trying to attract this kind of use and business then some give is needed. Identifying two beverages and food drive-throughs, a gas station and a pharmacy was that balance that they found.”

Now Hofman and the city are looking forward to see how the project develops in the spring.

“The hope is that this project is successful and good for the community. That it will address retail leakage the needs of the Snoqualmie community,” Hofman said. “Our intention is not to be a regional retail center.”