By JACINDA HOWARD

The Mirror

The City of Federal Way, at the request of Christian Faith Center, has been working with the church over the past several months to amend the church’s development agreement, senior planner Margaret Clark said.

The original agreement included the construction of a large sanctuary and a separate educational building, city manager Neal Beets said.

With the amendment, the megachurch now has until 2014 — an additional five years — to build the school. In the meantime, the church plans to use its sanctuary, once completed, to temporarily house educational classes, Clark said.

The original development agreement was approved in July 2004 and allowed the church five years (until 2009) to complete the entire project, Clark said. This time allotment has not changed for the church’s sanctuary, she said.

The church originally planned to open its doors much sooner than 2009, but has pushed back its completion date several times.

Christian Faith Center is still working to finish road and traffic mitigations, which the city requires to be completed by the time the church opens, Beets said.

The church must provide ample parking spaces; construct interior and perimeter landscaping; install a system to capture and treat storm water from the parking lots; expand 336th Street where the church is located; contribute to the relief of off-site traffic congestion near the site; and build driveways connecting the church to the street, Beets said.

The city did not find a problem with the church using the sanctuary as a temporary education facility or extending the development agreement because the church is not delaying the road and traffic mitigations, Beets said.

The church will not get a certificate of occupation until it has completed the road and traffic relief requirements, Beets said.

“If they wanted to phase in public mitigation, we would have said no,” he said.

Contact Jacinda Howard: jhoward@fedwaymirror.com or (253) 925-5565.

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