`Mystery Man' Land Deal Imperiled -- Sammamish Plateau Suit Threatened

Only days before the King County Council decides whether to approve a unique land deal with a mystery buyer, another public agency has raised the possibility of a lawsuit if the county goes along with the buyer's demands.

The mystery man has offered to put up $8 million for the county to buy 633 acres on the Sammamish Plateau known as Section 36, much of it wetlands. The state Department of Natural Resources owns the property and is prohibited from selling directly to a private party.

After acquiring the land, the county would then transfer it to the mystery buyer, retaining an option to buy back half in the next five years and turn it into a park.

The latest problem involves the buyer's condition that the county agree to fight and win any condemnation he considers a threat to conservation of the land. But one condemnation is already pending and the agency that filed it doesn't want a deal with an anonymous party to squelch its own plans.

The Sammamish Plateau Water and Sewer District recently filed for condemnation of five acres of Section 36. When a government entity decides the public good would best be served by a new airport, road, etc., it can condemn private property. In this instance, the district wants to put in a 10-million-gallon water tower and a road leading up to it on the southwest portion of the property.

Water District Commissioner Jack Merritt called the negotiations between the county and the unknown buyer shady.

"How can you trust a mystery man?" said Merritt. "If Joe Blow owned the property, we could condemn it without any of this nonsense."

Should condemnation become problematic, he said, "the county is buying itself a big lawsuit."

The mystery buyer doesn't object to a tower per se, according to county staff, but would like the district to amend its request.

What would happen if the county refused to fight, or lost a fight, on a disputed condemnation? The contract would be kaput, according to County Councilman Larry Phillips. The potential owner, who plans to build a secluded home on the property for himself and his wife, could sell the land and look for another parcel to save from developers, and the county would lose its option for 316 acres of untainted land.

The council is loath to make that kind of agreement. After all, as Phillips puts it, the county would automatically fight any condemnation it thought posed a threat to conservation. And, if the county lost a fight, well, at least it tried.

"We want to protect the land, too," Phillips said. "That's what's been so frustrating; no matter what we do, it's not good enough for the (potential) buyer."

DNR has given the county until Tuesday to decide, although it could still allow an extension.

As if this weren't complicated enough, no one is quite sure if, and under what circumstances, trust property can be condemned in any case - and the mystery buyer in this deal is doing business as Greentree Trust. The attorney general's office is looking into the matter, said Rich Scrivner, Seattle planning manager for the DNR's real-estate division.

"It's a huge sticky wicket," Scrivner said.