A conditional use permit issued to Kemper Development Company in 2011 for a helicopter landing pad atop its Bank of America Building has passed a review by the city of Bellevue, requested last year by opponent Ina Tateuchi.

Tateuchi, who wants KDC’s permit revoked, requested a formal interpretation of the city’s land use code in December, contending the helistop’s lack of use constitutes abandonment and the development company obtained its CUP through a misrepresentation of facts.

Attorneys representing Tateuchi argued in a request for interpretation that Kemper Development misled a hearing examiner in its application and never planned on using the helistop for landing twin-engine helicopters, which are the only aircraft allowed under the CUP. Tateuchi argued the company always anticipated only using single-engine helicopters, which were prohibited when the CUP was issued.

Kemper Development requested an amendment to its permit to allow for the landing of single-engine helicopters on its pad in 2013, but the city made the KDC put its application on hold when such an aircraft crashed in Seattle during takeoff from the KOMO TV Heliport on March 18, 2014, killing the pilot and a passenger.

Once the National Transportation Safety Board completes its investigative report for that crash, Kemper Development has 60 days to submit it to city legal planner Catherine Drews. That report will be analyzed to determine whether having an additional engine may have prevented the accident, as was argued by Tateuchi and others during a 2011 appeal of the city council’s decision to issue KDC a conditional use permit.

In her decision, published June 25, Drews found that city land use code does not require the operator of a helistop to perform any takeoffs or landings to show it has not been abandoned, but rather must keep the facility maintained and file monthly reports.

KDC did log one use at its helistop by a twin-engine helicopter on Jan. 21, two days before its legal counsel issued a response to Tateuchi’s application for an interpretation of city land use code.

Kemper Development’s application to revise its CUP to allow single-engine helicopter landings was also considered further evidence the company did not and does not plan to abandon its helistop, according to Drews’ formal interpretation.

Drews found Kemper Development did not misrepresent its intent for the helistop when it first applied for a conditional use permit and that land use code gives the company the right to request changes to its CUP in response to changing conditions.