DWT LLP | Print Pages

Thomas A. Goeltz
Partner - Seattle, Washington Office

tomgoeltz@dwt.com
(206) 622-3150

Issaquah Highlands Master Plan, Plats and Permits (Issaquah & King County). Represent master developer of the 2,200-acre Issaquah Highland’s project: 3,250 homes; 30% of units as affordable housing; 3.75 mill. sq. ft. commercial/residential; 1,500 acres of parks, trails and open space in Issaquah and King County. Negotiated, drafted and administered 3-party development agreement between King County, Issaquah and the master developer. Negotiated, drafted and administered 2-party annexation and development agreement for developer with City of Issaquah. These development agreements allow extra project vesting (i.e., 20-year vesting), set forth specific development standards tailored to the site, and implement public-private partnerships for infrastructure construction and delivery. Advised on Master Plan EIS and supplements, and defended SEPA administrative challenges and LUPA actions. SEPA/NEPA advice regarding joint state/federal EIS for I-90 Sunset Interchange modification. Advised and conducted hearings on numerous plats, short plats, boundary line adjustments and tax segregations. Negotiated transportation concurrency and procedures for traffic envelope.

Cascadia Employment Based Master Plan Community. Real estate counsel for master developer of 5,000-acre employment-based planned community. 6,500 residences; 626 acres planned for high tech business and industrial park, of which 500 acres will have foreign trade zone designation; estimated 10,000 jobs over the 20 year buildout; resort quality hotel, with conference facilities; 18 hole championship golf course; pedestrian-oriented town center with retail stores and restaurants; 183 acres with seven school; 1,280 acres for parks and open space; state of the art integrated telecommunications network using clean power; performance areas to showcase music, dance, theaters and other arts and cultural activities as well as sculpture gardens and art installations. Negotiated, drafted, and advised on master plan documents, including Declaration of CC&Rs, homeowner associations, master purchase and sale agreements, declaration of retained rights, subordination agreements and related documentation.

Seattle Housing Authority – High Point (Seattle). Represent Seattle Housing Authority as master developer of 120 acre site in West Seattle for a mixed income community creating housing, parks and open space, along with community services and new infrastructure. The project is projected to have approximately 1,600 housing units with apartments, condominiums, ground-related residential units and carriage houses.

Seattle Housing Authority – Rainier Vista (Seattle). Represent Seattle Housing Authority as master developer in the redevelopment of a housing area in southeast Seattle projected for a mixed income community of approximately 1,010 housing units.

Seattle Housing Authority – New Holly (Seattle). Represent Seattle Housing Authority as master developer for redevelopment of a South Beacon Hill neighborhood projected to have a mix of housing types and income levels for approximately 1,400 housing units.

Bremerton Mixed Use Project. Represent landowner and master developer of 450 acre mixed use community authorized for 2.25 million square feet of light industrial, commercial and related economic development and up to 1,200 mixed use residential structures. Negotiated, drafted and administered public-private annexation and development agreements. Advised on comprehensive plan amendments and subarea plan approvals, infrastructure agreements, and annexation.

Woodside/McGarvey Park Plat(unincorporated King County). King County “4:1” project on 493 acres: 560 residential units and 394 acres of open space in unincorporated King County. Advised on draft and final EIS preparation. Obtained preliminary and final plat approvals through contested case hearings. Advised on high-quality wetland and bog mitigations. Obtained transportation concurrency approvals from County and WSDOT for off-site roads. Negotiated road mitigation agreements.

Seattle Art Museum - Olympic Sculpture Park (Seattle waterfront). Land use counsel for the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park on Elliott Bay, a three block site just south of Myrtle Edwards Park. Development of the OSP requires master use permits, shoreline permits, beach and salmon habitat enhancement, street vacations, aerial street vacations and the coordination with the City and WSDOT for Transportation improvements. In addition to land use permitting, counsel on strategy decisions, selection of additional consultants and Permitting & Development Agreements are part of the overall project team.

Seattle Times Mixed Use Project (South Lake Union). Represented Seattle Times in real estate assemblage and City of Seattle permitting for a 4.5 block mixed use development in the South Lake Union area. The project included twin-tower offices, retail and daycare, a printing plant and parking garage. The City approvals spanned 3 years and included SEPA compliance and environmental mitigation, rezoning, PUDA, 3 Master Use Permits, two street vacations, a skybridge approval, and landmark building designations and certificates of approval. The approvals required coordination with multiple City departments and proceedings including the City Council, DCLU, Seattle Engineering Department, hearing examiner, Design Commission and Landmarks Preservation Board. The approvals were ultimately linked with a 10-year vesting period by a Development Agreement (the City’s first use of the Development Agreement statute adopted as part of the state’s 1995 regulatory reform package) and a Street Vacation Agreement (which included land swaps and coordinated parking and street use agreements between the Seattle Times and the City).

Lincoln Square permitting and environmental work for mixed use project in Bellevue, Washington central business district. Successfully completed environmental impact statement and site development permitting for the 4.5 acre site that authorized 1.6 million gross square feet of mixed uses, including a 6-story below grade parking garage, 4-story retail and entertainment podium, a 31-story office tower, and a 400-foot residential tower.

Carillon Point, Kirkland. Represented owners and developers of Carillon Point, Kirkland, a mixed use project on Lake Washington. The project included 460,000 square feet of office space, two restaurants, a 225-slip marina, 200 condominium units, hotel, and retail uses and galleria. Legal work included land use, zoning, project financing and tenant leasing.

Washington State Convention Center Expansion (8 th & Pike). Special counsel to the State Attorney General’s office in connection with the expansion of the Convention Center. Reviewed the zoning and permit requirements and development potential for a downtown Seattle block which was being condemned and now occupied by the expanded by the Convention Center. Work involved reviewing the zoning and permitting envelope and requirements, working with appraisers and assessing development potential for the full block area.

Cougar Mountain Master Plans/Lakemont and Montreux Projects (King County, Bellevue and Issaquah). Represented Glacier Ridge Partnership in the joint master plan known as Cougar Mountain. Advised regarding preparation and defense of environmental impact statement; drafted development agreements; obtained rezones, plats and site plan approvals. Defended developer in contested case hearings before hearing examiner.

Blakely Ridge Master Plan and Plat (unincorporated King County). Permitting and entitlements for 1,080-acre project: 2,250 homes; 30% affordable housing units; 100,000 square feet commercial/retail; 550 acres of recreation and open space. Successfully completed all permitting and entitlement work and drafted development agreement for the Blakely Ridge project from 1988 until its sale to Quadrant in 1998. Advised on preparation of the full project EIS and supplements. Defended multiple SEPA appeals to the hearing examiner and County Council; superior court actions, appellate court. Defended the County approvals before the Growth Management Hearings Board. Conceived and implemented a new King County ordinance establishing Bear Creek MPDs as a “demonstration project” for affordable housing by establishing expedited processing, special reviews and dispute resolution procedures.

Microsoft Option Agreement - Second Campus (Issaquah). Negotiated complex option and development agreement with Microsoft Corporation for 150 acres and 2.95 million square feet at Issaquah Highlands for second Microsoft campus. Agreement includes complex provisions for base price, computations, phasing and transportation and infrastructure cost sharing.

Fairmont Olympic Hotel (Seattle downtown). Local counsel for Fairmont Hotel/Legacy Real Estate Investments as buyer of the ground lease interest of the Four Seasons Olympic Hotel in performing zoning and permitting due diligence review. Historic landmark structure on long term leases from University of Washington.

Master Plan Resorts; Rural Historic Towns. Drafted and lobbied for amendments to state Growth Management Act to allow special processing for master plan resorts (Port Ludlow) and historic rural towns (Port Gamble).

Transferable Development Rights (King County and Issaquah). Represent Port Blakely in successful purchase of $3 million of TDRs under King County’s Transfer of Development Rights program. The purchase transferred 500,000 of building sq. ft. of office and retail for use in the Issaquah Highlands mixed use urban center from the Mitchell Hill area in rural King County. Represented Port Blakely in its sale to King County of a $2.8 million conservation easement and Transferable Development Rights upon a 443 acre property located near Ames Lake.

Purchase and Sale Agreements with Builders and Subdevelopers. Drafted numerous purchase and sale agreements for the master developer for large undeveloped tracts, finished “pads” and finished lots. These agreements allocate construction responsibility between the master developer and commercial builders. These include single-family lots, multi-family and condominium parcels. The purchase agreements set forth extensive construction maintenance requirements, damage deposits, insurance requirements and design review and quality control.

Negotiated Purchase Agreements on behalf of master developers with the following builders: Burnstead Construction Company, Atlin Investments, Bennett Homes, Stafford Homes, John F. Buckin Homes, Lozier Homes, Security Properties, Northward Homes, Murray Franklin, Cambridge Homes, Rainier Homes.

Master Financing Subordination Agreements. Negotiated and drafted numerous intercreditor agreements to establish deed of trust/lien priorities through master developer subordination agreements. These agreements balance the need for financing priority among lenders (often several) with the master developer’s need to retain control over particular builders, design review and the homeowner community documents.

Declaration of CC&Rs and Homeowner Documents. Drafted Declarations of CC&Rs for multi-family, single-family and mixed use components of mixed use project. CC&Rs deal with design review, use restrictions and rules, architectural committees, board and association matters, dues and assessments, and compliance with federal and state requirements.

Construction Agreements. Negotiated numerous construction agreements and consultant agreements for grading, drainage, landscaping, transportation analysis.

Declaration of Retained Rights by Master Developer. Drafted documents for master developer to retain overall rights to control the development. These ensure proper allocation of development rights such as impervious surface, as well as allocate who can seek amendments to development agreements, rezones and to provide four successor organizations.

Print Page

INFRASTRUCTURE AGREEMENTS

I-90 Sunset Interchange Master Transportation Agreement. Principal author and negotiator of the a major public/private agreement signed in June of 1996 for a new I-90 interchange and major connecting access roads from the East Sammamish Plateau near Issaquah, Washington. King County, the City of Issaquah, and the Grand Ridge and Glacier Ridge Partnerships entered into a Master Transportation Financing Agreement (MTFA) for interchange, arterial and bypass improvements costing $77.8 million (1996 dollars). The MTFA deals with relevant subjects such as cost sharing among the entities, right-of-way acquisition and dedication, compliance with procurement, affirmative action and bidding requirements, preparation of environmental and engineering documents, permitting and land use cooperation, insurance and indemnifications.

Issaquah 63-20 Infrastructure Bonds. Represented the master developer in connection with issuance of $74 million of “63-20” bonds for construction of infrastructure consisting of transportation improvements, sewer, water, stormwater and public spaces. A nonprofit entity was created to issue the bonds, backed by a letter of credit from Bank of America that in turn was secured by credit and security agreements from the master developer to Bank of America.

Utility Agreements. Negotiated and drafted major infrastructure agreements: Bellevue-Issaquah regional water line extension (24” diameter pipeline from Bellevue to Issaquah - $20 million); Substation agreements with Puget Sound Energy and Northwest Gas Pipeline.

Port of Seattle/City of SeaTac Interlocal Agreement. Mediated and negotiated an interlocal agreement (ILA) between the Port of Seattle and the City of SeaTac for the Port’s third runway and other master plan projects. The seven month mediation resulted in an extensive ILA covering a wide variety of issues between the Port and City, including cooperation and cost sharing measures for transportation improvements and the joint study and development of facilities such as a new City Center, new access to the airport and HOV/transportation demand management. The ILA also addressed pedestrian linkage and vehicle circulation between City facilities and the airport, parking, transit location and coordination. Other municipal topics included environmental compliance, land use and planning, construction mitigation and surface water management.

Governor’s Task Force. Tom Goeltz was appointed by the Governor to the Washington State Regulatory Reform Task Force in 1994. He served as co-chair of the Environmental, Permitting and Land Use committee. As one of only two attorneys on the Task Force, Tom oversaw the revising of the State Environmental Policy Act, streamlining permit processing (e.g., planned actions, timelines, use of existing regulations) and the integration of SEPA and the State’s Growth Management Act. As part of that work, he authored the State’s Development Agreement statute. He testified extensively before both houses of the legislature prior to adoption of the regulatory reform bill. He was a primary author of the 100-page regulatory reform bill that was adopted unanimously by the State Legislature in 1995.

Return to Thomas A. Goeltz's bio