Kenmore City Manager Frederick Stouder said nothing has been decided regarding the future of the 10-acre Kenmore Village development proposal.

And on March 22, City Councilmembers voted themselves — and developers Urban Partners, Inc. — a few more months to mull over the long-delayed plans.

In October of last year, the city and Urban Partners agreed to a roughly five-month forbearance period during which both sides could reconsider the development agreement signed way back in June 2006.

Though no movement appeared imminent in any case, both sides also agreed no action would be taken to launch the development forward during the forbearance period. That period was to end March 31.

On March 22, council extended the forbearance to June 21, again with the stipulation nothing will be done by either side regarding enforcing the development agreement. Stouder said that basically the March 22 resolution means — he predicted to no one’s surprise — that the project remains stalled.

As they have in the past, Stouder and other city officials put the blame on the economy.

“Everything is just at a standstill,” added Councilman Allan Van Ness, who echoed many of Stouder’s comments.

For now, the city’s long-range plans still call for a mixed-use retail/residential development replacing the existing Kenmore Village and covering roughly 10 acres from Northeast 181st Street and 68th Avenue Northeast to the Park-and-Ride lot near Northeast 185th Street.

But with no retail or residential tenants presently willing to sign on the dotted line, according to Stouder, the next step is for the city and Urban Partners to decide when the latter will be required to meet certain deadlines in the development agreement. The result should be a timetable for demolition of the existing Kenmore Village, permitting for new construction and so on.

Urban Partners did not return a phone call and Kenmore officials contacted did not speculate about the timing of any deadlines.

According to Van Ness, councilmembers want to look at issues such as possibly building the new Kenmore Village a little at a time. Van Ness also talked about what the city might want to do with the existing Kenmore Village buildings.

There are only a few tenants left in the current Kenmore Village, with the biggest, Grocery Outlet, set to move to a spot on Northeast Bothell Way in early April. Van Ness said the best move for the city might be turning management of the remaining tenants over to Urban Partners. He said there has been a lot of delayed maintenance of the existing structures.

“Probably some of it is best bulldozed right now,” Van Ness said.

With the project so long delayed, Van Ness said some members of the public — and local officials — might be thinking it is time to replace Urban Partners or start the development over from scratch. But Van Ness added that he for one is not leaning in that direction. Considering the state of the economy, he argued no one could have gotten the project rolling.

“I just don’t see any reason to drop them,” he said. “As for starting over, there’s nothing to start over with.”