University Place candidates differ on Town Center tenants

None of University Place’s six City Council candidates are pushing for sweeping changes to the controversial Town Center project, despite hearing residents’ concerns about its slow progress and the tens of millions spent to develop it.

Differences emerge, however, when candidates discuss what tenants they’d support at the mixed-used development and their strategies to drum up business interest in building there.

The City Council has the authority to alter every facet of Town Center: its purpose, its look and how it’s developed. But that freedom runs up against two realities: At least four council members must approve changes, and the community has already invested 13 years and more than $40 million to get the project to this point.

In the Nov. 8 election, three seats are open on the seven-member council. All positions are at-large and pay $1,408 in monthly salary. (The mayor and mayor pro tem earn more.) The election will leave Councilman Ken Grassi as the only member to have served on the elected body since the city’s incorporation in 1995.

All the candidates support the vision of Town Center as a central gathering place and tax revenue generator for the bedroom community of 31,000. For the most part, they favor the regulations that dictate its look and features. They agree interested developers must identify a specific use and construction timeline to purchase a lot instead of the city selling the land for speculative investment.

The zoning allows for a broad range of retailers. The City Council must decide whether a development proposal matches the community vision. Permitted uses include restaurants, including fast-food, beauty salons, grocery and video stores and hotels. Industrial uses, car lots, tattoo parlors and minicasinos are prohibited. Recently the council upheld the ban on drive-thru businesses at the property along Bridgeport Way.

City leaders had initially touted Town Center as a high-end retail center, but project delays and the waning economy have diminished those hopes. Applebee’s, a casual dining chain, had signed as a Town Center tenant before the deal collapsed.

Recently, the city signed an agreement to develop an apartment-retail complex and lease space in the civic and library building to a coffee shop with a children’s play area.

Position 2, Kent Keel vs. Steve Smith

Keel said the city should talk more with the business community to identify barriers to building throughout University Place, including Town Center.

“I don’t think there’s been enough conversation,” he said.

Keel was the only candidate to broach allowing limited industrial use at Town Center. He said he would be open to discussing the merits of a “clean” industrial use, such as an electronics manufacturer, that brings jobs to UP but not nuisances such as noise and pollution.

Smith wants to know if the city is tracking which stores are coming to other shopping centers or identifying retailers that draw shoppers from outside the area. He supports a mix of uses that serve the entire community.

“This is our city’s town center and that’s important to me,” he said.

Both candidates said they’d be open to considering fast-food restaurants. Keel said he’d want to protect the look and feel of Town Center when considering such a proposal. Smith said he’d be more interested in a food court that draws pedestrians.

Smith said he would support drive-thru businesses with restrictions on location and use. Keel said he would first need to see a specific development proposal.

Position 6, Ken Campbell vs. Chris Nye

Campbell raised concerns about the debt incurred on Town Center at the expense of other city services. He said he’d closely question interested developers “recognizing we’re not going to get what we paid for in the near term.”

Nye said the city should periodically evaluate its strategy and plans to ensure Town Center is competitive in the market.

“I don’t want to take the eye off the ball because we have a win here,” he said, referring to the recent deal for the apartment-retail building.

Campbell supports relaxing the design regulations to reduce the costs for interested developers.

Nye supports the ban on drive-thrus but would listen to a proposal featuring one. Campbell would support a limited number of them in certain locations.

Campbell was more open to fast-food restaurants in Town Center than Nye, who said he would allow them only if there’s a demand and they fit the project’s vision.

Position 7, Caroline Belleci vs. Howard Lee

Belleci, who was appointed to the council last year and is the only incumbent running, supports a range of tenants at Town Center, from lower- to high-end. But she’s most interested in retailers not found elsewhere in the community.

Lee said the market rather than the city should dictate what is brought to Town Center so long as the city permits the use.

“They (city officials) have tried to be the developer, and they’re not experienced in that part of the business,” he said.

Lee would support fast-food restaurants and drive-thrus at Town Center. Belleci said a fast-food establishment wouldn’t build in Town Center without a drive-thru, and she’s opposed to lifting the ban on them. “Pedestrians and vehicles do not mix,” she said.

Lee was more keen on relaxing design regulations than Belleci, who said she would only do so if there was a good reason to avoid inviting uncertainty.

Christian Hill: 253-274-7390 christian.hill@thenewstribune.com Twitter: @TNTchill