A full banquet room at Twin Lakes Golf and Country Club listened to Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell as he delivered his state of the city address on Wednesday.

“I am honored to be giving this address during our city’s 25th anniversary year,” Ferrell said. “Reaching our silver anniversary is a significant milestone for this young city of ours.”

King County Councilman Pete von Reichbauer attended the Greater Federal Way Chamber of Commerce luncheon, along with City Council members Susan Honda, Lydia Assefa-Dawson, Bob Celski, Dini Duclos, Kelly Maloney and Deputy Mayor Jeanne Burbidge. In the crowd were also several city and community officials, including newly hired Community Development Director Michael Morales, Performing Arts and Conference Center Executive Director Theresa Yvonne and Economic Development Director Tim Johnson.

“For years, alone on our back wall of our council chambers there was a very special letter,” Ferrell began his speech. “Unnoticed by many and passed by citizens at every meeting, hung a warm gesture to the people of our newly formed city.”

Ferrell said the letter writer — which he later unveiled as George H.W. Bush at the end of his speech — said the transformation of Federal Way 25 years ago from a community into an independent city will enhance the citizens’ welfare.

“Indeed we have ‘enhanced the welfare of our citizens,’” Ferrell quoted Bush, noting the police and parks departments, the infrastructure and the Federal Way Community Center that were established as the result of becoming a city.

City officials reached out to Bush and recently received another letter from the former president, which congratulated the city on its 25th anniversary and all it had accomplished in that time.

“Hard work, dedication to quality of life and love of neighbors have all contributed to the success that Federal Way has enjoyed since its incorporation,” Bush wrote. “The city leaders and citizens set high goals for this new city at the time of incorporation, and it’s clear that those goals have been exceeded.”

In just the last year, the mayor said the city has progressed significantly.

Claiming to keep a Business and Occupation sales tax out of the equation, Ferrell said the downtown so many Federal Wayans want is “finally” on the way to becoming a reality.

“The council approved the Performing Arts and Conference Center,” he said. “We opened Town Square Park and introduced the Town Center Project, 21 acres at the heart of the downtown, connecting the park, the [Performing Arts and Conference Center] with a hotel and the potential for private office space.”

With the possibility of a higher education facility, public space, retail and arts and entertainment venues, the mayor said the city hopes Town Center will be an urban village that all can enjoy.

Ferrell projects construction on the $32.7 million Performing Arts and Conference Center and an on-site hotel to take place this fall, and expects it to generate $60 million in construction-related spending with 29 new jobs.

“The [Performing Arts and Conference Center] used to be the poster child for stalemate,” he said. “It was all talk, no action in a debate that went on almost 20 years without resolution.”

But that all changed last May when the Blue Ribbon Panel delivered a 137-page report on the arts center, he said.

“It was the first and only time in my 26 years of experience in politics and public policy that I saw a standing ovation for a presentation regarding a public policy question,” Ferrell said. “It was an important victory for this community to bring objective and factual analysis to the Performing Arts and Conference Center.”

In July, the city’s first downtown park, Town Square Park, was constructed and will receive a giant redesign and remodel this summer as it expands to 4 acres. The new park will include restrooms, a spray park, a larger lawn and may be the site of a future veteran’s monument.

The mayor also spoke of the city’s $8.2 million purchase of the 7.5 acre former Target site, located just east of the future arts center.

“I led this effort because I truly believe that as a city we had to take this next step,” he said. “To leave this property in the same or similar condition for the foreseeable future, while we moved forward with the [arts center] and our park, was simply not an option.”

The city recently issued the request for qualification/request for proposal on the site, seeking a master developer to take control of development of a conference hotel and ballroom space, a bar and restaurant scene, office space, specialty retail, market rate housing, space for galleries, studios, museums and a childcare facility. The plan also calls for an educational facility, “specifically for a culinary arts institute, which will support the Performing Arts and Conference Center facility,” according to the request for qualification notice.

“I know there has been concern regarding the cost of this purchase,” Ferrell said. “I, more than anyone, have heard the concerns.”

Yet, the mayor said the purchase was in the best interest of the community for the long-term.

“It will literally transform our downtown,” he said.

In addition to the 60-foot flag added on South 320th Street last Veterans Day, the mayor said the entrance to that street will get a makeover when the city implements a welcome sign at the Interstate 5 exit.

“In approximately a week, we will be unveiling a new entrance sign at the 320th exit that will proudly welcome all to Federal Way,” he said. “The sign features a hi-definition screen with a welcome message and a reader board to tell people about upcoming community events in Federal Way.”

With a focus on keeping the Weyerhaeuser campus a hub for jobs, city officials developed the first economic development strategy and began Business Connection meetings. And to ensure 13,700 low-income women and children didn’t go without healthcare, the city added hundreds of thousands of dollars to the human services fund, which helped keep the King County Public Health clinic operating for the next two years.

After discussing the city’s recent improvements to public safety — five new officers and a new police substation — the mayor committed the city to community engagement.

“We’ve added new programs to Channel 21 in the form of ‘New Day Federal Way,’” Ferrell said, adding that Kathy Arndt hosts the show. “Now, for the first time in our city’s history, our residents can watch these major events from the comfort of their own home.”

Quoting William Jennings Bryan, the mayor concluded, “Destiny is no matter of choice. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.”

“Now is the time we choose our destiny,” Ferrell said. “Now it is the time for us to get to work.”

Photos by Raechel Dawson and courtesy of Bruce Honda.