By CLAYTON PARK

The next court date in the ongoing legal battle over the fate of Northgate Mall's south parking lot is set for Oct. 16 in King County Superior Court.

To date, the battle has pitted the mall's owners, Simon Property Group, against three citizens groups who have gone to court in an effort to block Simon's proposal to build a large mixed-use project on the mall's south parking lot. The project would include a movie theater, retail shops, hotel and multifamily housing.

The City has been caught in the crossfire of the dueling lawsuits between Simon and the citizens groups because of its support for the mall owner's plans.

Each of the citizens groups - Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund (TCLDF), Citizens for a Liveable Northgate (CFLN), and the Victory Heights chapter of PONDERS (Protect Our Neighborhoods' Design, Environment, Rural feeling and Streams) - have their own reasons for opposing Simon's plans.

TCLDF wants Simon to daylight Thornton Creek, which it says was misguidedly placed in culverted and paved over in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the mall's previous owners.

CFLN is a coalition of representatives of the several neighborhoods surrounding Northgate Mall that supports daylighting Thornton Creek, but also wants Simon's plans to be more pedestrian-oriented, in accordance to the guidelines described in the City's Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan, a document written by local citizens in the early 1990s.

PONDERS, likewise, supports daylighting the creek, but opposes new developments that would cause traffic increases in an area already suffering from chronic road congestion.

The citizens groups won the latest legal round when King County Superior Court Judge Steven Scott in May overturned a City Hearing Examiner's previous ruling, which favored Simon. Scott ruled that evidence clearly shows that the creek ran through the site and that it should still be considered a creek, even though it has been paved over. He also ruled that the City erred in approving Simon's plans without requiring the developer to conduct a new environmental impact study.

While the court battle is far from over - Simon has appealed Scott's ruling - TCLDF and CFLN have extended an olive branch, by suggesting their willingness to forge a "win-win" compromise allowing the developer to proceed with its project provided it agrees to daylight Thornton Creek.

If, as Simon claims, daylighting the creek would not provide sufficient remaining space to build a viable commercial project, TCLDF and CFLN have also suggested an alternative: selling the property to the City for use as the site of a new Northgate branch library and community center.

Several members of CFLN and TCLDF recently got together to create a scale model of what the site might look like with a daylighted creek, library, community center and housing complex. They hope seeing will be believing for skeptics of their plan, which include Mayor Paul Schell.

"The mayor has said publicly that he understood it is not possible to daylight the creek because it's buried too far below the parking lot," said Jan Brucker, chairperson for CFLN. "Our purpose for making the model is to show it is possible to have considerable land not only for drainage, but for housing, plus ... a library and community center."

Brucker said the scale model has been shown to the City Council, as well as to the Mayor. "He was very impressed," she said of Schell's reaction. "We expect to have more dialogue (with the City) in the very near future."

Members of PONDERS want the City to take things a step further. They are urging the City to buy the south parking lot and convert it into a community park and have even come up with a way to pay for it.

Dorothy Douglas, co-chair of PONDERS, said her group has been collecting signatures from Northgate area residents on a petition indicating support for a Local Improvement District Fee of $5 a month for 30 years. The money would be used by the City to acquire the site and restore it to a more natural condition, she said.

In an Aug. 16 letter addressed to City Council President Margaret Pageler, Douglas wrote that her group's petition "has been signed by a substantial number of people residing in Licton Springs, Maple Leaf, Pinehurst, Victory Heights and Haller Lake. This petition asks for the entire south parking lot to become a park with a daylighted stream, natural plantings, the Northgate Library, the Northgate Community Center and other amenities. Please note that support for a park to replace the Park and Ride lot and a path under I-5 for Thornton Creek, bicycles and pedestrians are included. We also support the planned 450-unit multifamily project even though it is not listed on our petition."

Douglas added that PONDERS has decided to withdraw from the court case so it can concentrate on promoting their park proposal.

All three citizens groups are seeking continued support from the public in the form of donations and volunteers.

For more information, contact Bob Vreeland of the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund at 206-522-5919,

Jan Brucker of Citizens for a Liveable Northgate at 206-526-5342 ,

Dorothy Douglas (206-523-4251) or Molly Burke (206-365-5895) of PONDERS.