After negotiating for months with the developer who wants to turn the aging oil-tank farm at Point Wells into a dream village, Shoreline is offering a compromise: annexation.

Shoreline City Planning Director Joe Tovar said the offer was extended to the developer because the City Council believes sooner or later the 61-acre site at the end of Richmond Beach Drive will be developed and inevitably require police, fire, park and library services from Shoreline.

It just made sense for those who would use those services to help pay for them as any resident would, Tovar said.

Should the developer, Blue Square Real Estate, agree, then Shoreline would not challenge the validity of Blue Square's project application, filed and approved by Snohomish County, Tovar said.

Blue Square would also have to agree to scale down the project to whatever size would be designated as acceptable by a city-sponsored study on traffic.

Point Wells is in unincorporated Snohomish County, surrounded by high bluffs, with the Town of Woodway at the top, east and southeast, Puget Sound on the west, and the only way in or out being to the south, through Shoreline's two-lane Richmond Beach Drive. The traffic impact on what is now a quiet beachside neighborhood, from a development that could have three high-rise towers, is residents' main concern.

The Point Wells proposal includes a public pier, paths, shops and restaurants. The developer also agreed to pay for a train station if the commuter train, which stops at Edmonds, would also stop at Point Wells, which the rail line already runs through. No stop is planned at the present.

The offer of annexation "is good news in that Shoreline is interested in having us join their city," said Gary Huff, the attorney for Blue Square. "But we haven't reached any agreement."

In March, Blue Square filed the project application shortly before Shoreline, the citizens group Save Richmond Beach, Woodway and the developer met with the state Growth Management Hearings Board. The issue was whether or not Snohomish County had properly designated the site as an urban center, compatible with its own Comprehensive Plan guidelines. The board in key areas ruled against the county, including giving the county a year to produce a new environmental-impact statement and finding the county had improperly designated Point Wells as an urban center.

Even if Shoreline and Blue Square reach an agreement, it doesn't mean the others will. Snohomish County has supported Point Wells' development because it would bring in a significant amount of taxes. Woodway and Save Richmond Beach both say they are opposed to annexation.

"We've met with Shoreline," said Zach Hiatt, attorney for Save Richmond Beach. "We're supportive of their efforts to limit traffic, but we still have concerns about the ability to mitigate such a huge development."

Nancy Bartley: 206-464-8522 or nbartley@seattletimes.com