The two-year-old debate over whether Kemper Development will be able to operate a helicopter landing strip on top of the Bank of America building in downtown Bellevue is near its end.

The Bellevue City Council took preliminary action Monday to deny an appeal of Kemper’s application by John Su of Su Development, and a group headed by Ina Tateuchi, the namesake of a planned concert hall near the building. The council will take up the matter one more time, likely next week, marking the final decision in the debate that has been punted back and forth since 2009 between the council and the city’s Hearing Examiner.

Another condition will likely be added to review and examine noise increases and “deviations” from the flight path that may result from a 270-degree arc that the pilot can use to swing around for landings. The proposed flight paths are restricted to the Northeast Eighth Street Corridor and freeways. Council members saw it crucial that flight path rules be enforced.

“You break the rules, you may suffer the consequences, including losing the conditional use permits,” said City Council Member Grant Degginger.

Staff and the Hearing Examiner have proposed numerous conditions on the application. Chief among those include the restricted flight paths, and a cap of five flights per week, four of which can happen on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m., with another one allowed on Saturdays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Opponents have pointed to noise and potential safety issues downtown as problems with the proposal. Several council members agreed with the concerns, but because of the circumstances they were forced to look at the manner in a quasi-judicial sense, ruling on the evidence rather than their personal beliefs on the issue.

Council members were dissatisfied with the process following Monday’s discussion.

“This proceeding, which went on way, way too long, is a great reason for this council to get out of the business of doing quasi-judicial review,” Council Member John Chelminiak said.

Council Member Claudia Balducci said she plans to propose a moratorium on future helistop development, following the close of Kemper’s application. Several council members agreed that the land use code on this matter needs to be examined in the future. But because they needed to look at the evidence related to the current code, the discussion ended in a unanimous vote to deny the appeal and bring forward documents for a final approval of the application.