After discovering a small wetland in the footprint of the planned Mercer Island Center for the Arts (MICA) in Mercerdale Park, MICA released an updated building design on Jan. 14 that retains all existing programs while avoiding the critical area.

“There were so many regulatory hoops to consider [with wetland mitigation],” said John Gordon Hill, MICA’s president. “So we thought, what if we don’t build on it?”

The proposed lease between the non-profit organization and the city will provide MICA with a piece of the park, where the Recycling Center is currently located, at a rent of $1 per year.

Hill said the lease is a fair document, born out of a collaborative process. It protects the city while making it possible for MICA to build its 25,000-square foot facility, which will contain a main stage, recital studio, theater lab and classrooms.

As in the original design, the footprint does not intrude on the walking path that surrounds the Mercerdale lawn, according to a MICA press release.

MICA has worked over the past year with multiple expert consultants, city of Mercer Island staff and other governmental agencies to look at the multiple factors for use of the proposed site.

It began formulating the redesign process after a May 2015 report from The Watershed Company, a wetlands consulting firm. The city got a second opinion from the Marten Law Group, which contended that the site is not viable for building. The new design situates the facility footprint entirely outside of the wetland and 25-foot wetland buffer.

The Category III wetland on the MICA site became an issue in the community when the council discussed the lease in November. Watershed’s analysis found that the small finger connected with a larger, two-acre wetland to the south. Mercer Island’s existing wetlands regulations prohibit mitigating wetlands more than two acres in size.

“This is the normal process whenever you do a large development project,” said Bruce Lorig, a developer and chair of the MICA building committee. “The site must be examined for multiple factors in a methodical, organized, sequential fashion and plans developed to accommodate the site conditions.”

After considering all possible ways to address the wetland, including after consulting with independent legal counsel and several developers, MICA’s board in the fall of 2015 directed its design team to develop a new building footprint.

“We all care about our environment and want this exciting facility to enhance Mercerdale Park,” Hill said in a statement. “We are very pleased to have updated MICA’s design to leave this area untouched without measurably impacting the needs of MICA artists or the patron experience.”

A performing arts venue would be “transformative” for the Mercer Island community, Hill said, and MICA plans to be flexible throughout the fundraising and building process, finding ways to solve problems as they arise. The facility is still set for groundbreaking in 2017, he said.

MICA will be subsidized almost entirely by private donors. So far, it has raised $5.5 million of the $25 million needed for its capital campaign.

For more,visit MercerIslandArts.org/faq.

Update: The City Council reviewed the MICA lease at its Jan. 19 meeting, discussing sequencing of the project, a SEPA review and what will happen if MICA defaults. The city will acquire the building in that case. MICA must have raised 100 percent of its capital campaign goal before beginning construction.

Many MICA board members and community members testified before the council about the benefits of the project. During the public comment period, about 28 speakers expressed support for MICA and eight were opposed.

There were questions raised about signage and naming, as MICA asked for sole discretion in naming interior rooms and the city did not have authority to “withhold approval of the names ‘MICA,’ ‘Mercer Island Center for the Arts’ or the name or names of any donor, sponsor, volunteer or patron selected by MICA,” according to the lease.

Though questions remain regarding the center’s proposed location in the park, wetland mitigation, zoning and parking, the Council decided to move ahead with revising the lease language, but did not take a final vote to approve it.

“What I’ve been hearing consistently from MICA is that there’s a chicken-egg dilemma,” said City Attorney Kari Sand. “They can’t get the fundraising they need without a ground lease, but we’re reluctant to give them a ground lease without more fundraising and signs of viability for the center going forward.”

Sand said the lease will come before the council again soon, but probably not at its next meeting.

“Given the magnitude of this, I wouldn’t want to say that there has to be a vote,” said Deputy Mayor Debbie Bertlin.