The Bellevue City Council moved forward on a project to extend Northeast Fourth Street, which will require the taking of more than 10,000 square feet of land from the adjacent Best Buy property.

The plan, which creates an extension of Northeast Fourth Street from 116th to 120th, received non-voted direction from the council to bring back an ordinance next week to take the project to final design.

Council and staff have spent the last few weeks examining the project, specifically examining alternative designs that would create less harm to Best Buy, but would require the rebuilding of numerous lost parking spaces. The original plan is more than 60 percent designed, while the new alternative is only 5 percent complete. Staff recommended moving forward with the original alternative, due to the time frame and funding. The council agreed to go with the original alternative, with little discussion and no speeches, a practice uncommon for such a large project.

Best Buy representatives have shown resistance to the project throughout its development. Jerry Lutz, attorney for Best Buy, has spoke at countless meetings, asking the council to change its mind. He said following the decision he was surprised the council would continue on its current course. He disagreed with the analysis of the parking loss, because Best Buy and neighboring Home Depot have a reciprocal parking agreement. Customers going to one store are allowed to park at another. Lutz said the city should let Best Buy and Home Depot work out those problems, and instead focus purely on building a good road.

He said this decision is an upsetting one to Best Buy, and could lead to a long legal battle.

“Best Buy is willing to challenge this project in every forum we have to save the store,” Lutz said. “There’s serious potential that they will be spending far more than they think, and it will be unnecessary expenses.”

At this point, the project is expected to cost $27.3 million, with an available budget of a little more than $31 million for the project. Some of the funding remains questionable however, as a $2.3 million grant would expire if not used by November, and more than $10 million of the project is to be paid for through the collection of impact fees – charges on property owners who benefit from the project – over the next few years.

“Those two together equal out approximately one-third of the funding to come in,” Claudia Balducci, who expressed concern about paying for the project.