By CLAYTON PARK

On Thursday, March 15, King County Superior Court Judge Steven Scott is scheduled to hear final oral arguments in the court case involving Northgate Mall owner Simon Property Groupıs plans to build a large mixed-use project on the mallıs south parking lot.

What Scott is being asked to rule on is whether the City acted properly when it approved Simonıs revised Northgate General Development Plan (GDP2) for the south lot without requiring the mall owner to conduct its own environmental impact study.

Two community activists groups, Citizens for a Liveable Northgate (CFLN) and the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund, have filed legal appeals urging Judge Scott to reject Simonıs Northgate GDP2 because the mall owner used the findings of an EIS that was conducted in the early 1990s on behalf of citizens who were working to write the Northgate Area Comprehensive Plan.

The Comp Plan is a document that was approved by the City in the mid-1990s which lays out a vision for turning the area surrounding the mall into a pedestrian-friendly ³urban village.²

The problem with using the Comp Planıs EIS, according to CFLN chair Jan Brucker, is that the EIS was not conducted with Simonıs specific development plans in mind.

³What weıre asking for is a new EIS, and, at a minimum, we want the EIS to address not only the creek and drainage issues, but traffic, parking and the height, bulk and scale of the proposed (Northgate South Lot) development,² said Brucker. Of particular concern to CFLN members, she added, is Simonıs plans to build a massive multi-screen movie theater complex on the site.

In addition, both CFLN and the Thornton Creek Legal Defense Fund have been urging the City to daylight the portion of Thornton Creek that currently runs beneath the Northgate South Lot in an underground culvert. The south lot is located on a 12.5-acre site bordered by NE 103rd to the north, 5th Avenue NE to the east, NE 100th to the south and 1st Avenue NE to the west.

Brucker said the public is welcome to attend the March 15 hearing, which will be held at the King County Courthouse in downtown Seattle, located at 516 3rd Ave., court room West 813), beginning at 1:30 p.m.

In related news, the Cityıs Department of Neighborhoods has scheduled a public meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 7 p.m. at A.S. #1/Pinehurst Elementary School, 11530 12th Ave. NE, to discuss ³what happens next at Northgate,² said Brucker. The meeting is a followup to the two-day workshop that the City held in early December to seek public input on developments in the Northgate area that would include siting for a new community center and branch library and the possible creation of a park at the Northgate North Park and Ride lot located along 5th Avenue NE, just north of Target.

For more information, contact CLFN at 206-526-5342 or Bob Vreeland of TCLDF at 206-522-5919.