On Monday, April 1, the Area Council held its regular monthly meeting. Our special guest was John Taylor, Director of the new King County Department of Local Services (DLS). Other DLS employees who participated were: Ruth Harvey, Assistant Director of the Roads Services Division; Jim Chan, Director of the Permitting Division; Ty Peterson off the Permitting Division; Marissa Alegria off the Community Service Area (CSA) Program; and Jerry Pionk, Communications Manager.
Public Comment
Maple Valley Mayor, Sean Kelly, spoke of the city’s transportation plans for widening SR-169 between SE 240th St and Witte Rd (see city’s web site for more information: https://www.maple- valleywa.gov).
Department of Local Services (DLS)
DLS Director John Taylor discussed the purpose and makeup of the new department, meant to serve all unincorporated area citizens of King County. It is comprised of Permitting (formerly the Department of Permitting and Environmental Review – DPER) and Road Services (formerly part of the Department of Transportation). For more information on the new DLS see: https://www.king-county.gov/depts/local-services.aspx.
DLS also uses Interdepartmental Service Partnership Agreements (SPAs) to provide services from: (1) Department of Natural Resources and Parks – Parks Division; (2) Department of Natural Resources and Parks – Surface Water Management Program and Stormwater Services; (2) Regional Animal Services; (3) Public Health – Seattle & King County – Environmental Health Services Division, On-site Sewage Systems Permitting, On-site Sewage Operations and Maintenance, and Plumbing and Gas Piping Inspection.
John stated there are ~250,000 people who live in the unincorporated areas of King County – collectively they would be the County’s second largest city. For 2019-2020 DLS priorities are: Develop new SPAs, Launch of an economic development program, Improve permit processing, Create a more robust CSA program, and Seek enhanced funding for King County roads.
Questions/comments from members of the Area Council:
Permitting should provide responses to Public comments.
Does Permitting allow Public comments to be submitted beyond due dates? – Jim stated yes, as long as the permit applications are still under review prior to any decision.
Regional Transportation Concurrency is broken, as practiced, with little to no cooperation between government jurisdictions (i.e., cities and counties), so do you contemplate working this critical issue, which will require changes at the State level? – John emphasized the money problem King County Roads has.
Unincorporated area residents have many rules imposed upon them.
Permitting code enforcement problems? – Jim stated they now have five Code Enforcement officers. However, John stated the system doesn’t work and they are trying to develop changes to King County Code Title 23 to recommend to the King County Council.
Permit data online appears incomplete for some of the projects we care about. -Ty stated the proposed Marijuana Manufacturing industrial site (south of the SE 240th St/200th Ave SE intersection) was granted its Commercial Site Development Permit, but the owners are trying to market the site, as they do not intend to build anything themselves. Ty also stated the new owners of the Maple Valley Market site submitted a permit application that has many problems including the space for parking, etc.
How do you handle squatters in the Rural Area? – John stated to contact the Sheriff’s Office. Questions/comments from members of the Public in attendance:
Will the permit application for the proposed move of an Asphalt Facility from the City of Covington to Rural Area be subject to an Environmental Impact Study (EIS)? – Ty stated they still are reviewing everything, but Permitting expects to issue a Determination on Non-Significance under the State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) that will not require an EIS.
Why are Temporary-Use Permits (TUPs) not “temporary” and what can we do about the inordinate noise generated from some related facilities? – Jim stated TUPs allow up to 60 events per year and can be renewed. Ty stated King County greatly improved its noise ordinances two years ago.
Is the Ravensdale Erickson trench filling permit application still in review? – Ty stated Permitting disagrees with some of the environmental assumptions made by the applicant.
Permitting fees are high for the little guy. – Jim stated fees have not gone up for several years, except for cost of living escalation.
Why did John take this job? – John stated he likes the unincorporated areas and the people he works with.
Committee Reports
Urban Area Asphalt Facility Relocation to Rural Area – The Area Council has followed this proposed project for many years, starting with the OakPointe’s proposed Master-Planned Development on and following its purchase of the site of Lakeside Industries’ “existing” Asphalt Facility in the City of Covington from Jimmy & John Hawk.
The Area Council has conducted research on the proposed site of Lakeside Industries’ move of its Asphalt facility from the City of Covington, inside the Urban Growth Area, to the Rural Area along the Cedar River. The Area Council also has reviewed all related Lakeside Industries’ permit applications for nearly two years. The Area Council has held meetings, reviewed many documents, and prepared and submitted detailed comments and written testimony to King County officials. On December 4, 2017, the Area Council held its Monthly Meeting with invited guests from both the Applicant, Lakeside Industries – President, Mike Lee, and Environmental and Land-Use Director, Karen Deal – and the King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review (DPER) – Product Line Manager – Commercial, Ty Peterson – who spoke to and answered questions of the Area Council and a standing-room-only crowd of attendees from the Public.
The Area Council has submitted the following detailed written comments and written testimony to King County officials. All are in the Public Record and available on the Area Council’s web site: www.gmvuac.org.
- Review of the Grading Permit Application and SEPA Checklist for Proposed Asphalt Facility; File No. GRDE17-0069 – Lakeside Industries Project Site – 18825 SE Renton- Maple Valley Rd; submitted to the King County Department of Permitting and Environ- mental Review; December 5, 2017 (24 pp).
- Written Testimony for Public Hearing on King County Council Ordinance 18611; submitted to the King County Council; January 8, 2018 (4 pp).
- Review of the Cedar River Sites Industrial Moratorium Study (conducted in response to King County Council Ordinance 18611); submitted to the King County Council; February 28, 2018 (6 pp).
- On December 28, 2018, King County DPER released a Notice of Application (NOA) for both Building and Shoreline Development Permits for the proposed Asphalt Facility move. Area Council committees (Environment, Growth Management, and Transportation) reviewed documents provided by the Applicant’s Technical Consultants on Noise, Traffic, Critical Areas, Stormwater, etc. and prepared a set of detailed comments to submit to DPER. The full Area Council approved those comments and they were submitted to Permitting (formerly DPER and now under the new DLS) on January 31, 2019. They can be found on the Area Council web site’s Asphalt Facility page: http://gmvuac.org/asphalt-facility/.
- Members of the Public can access all of the Applicant’s submitted technical documents for both permits (COMM18-0014 and SHOR18-0032) at:
- https://www.kingcounty.gov/depts/local-services/permits/public-notices/special-interest-project-s.aspx
- Please note a Public Hearing is not required for these applications prior to the DLS Permitting decision on each permit. The Shoreline decision may be appealed to the Shoreline Hearings Board, who would conduct an appeal hearing prior to making a decision on the appeal. DPER will include the details of the appeal process in the notice of decision for the shoreline permit.
- Special Area Council Meeting
- The Area Council will hold a Special Meeting on Tuesday, April 23, from 7 – 9:30 PM at the Maple Valley Fire Station located at the SE corner of SE 231st St & SR-169 intersection across from the Police Precinct. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss and vote on a final set of Joint Unincorporated Area Council / Unincorporated Area Association (UAC/UAA) comments to submit to the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC) on the draft VISION 2050 Supplemental Environ- mental Impact Statement (SEIS) by April 29. As will all Area Council Regular Meetings, all members of the Public are welcome to attend. Please see our PSRC web page: http://gmvuac.org/puget-sound-regional-council/.
- Area Council Regular Meetings take place on the first Monday of each month – if a Holiday, then the second Monday – from 7 – 9:30 PM, at the Maple Valley Fire Station located at the SE corner of SE 231st St & SR-169 intersection across from the Police Precinct. All members of the Public are welcome to attend. Each meeting begins with an open Public Comment period.
- Your Area Council serves as an all-volunteer, locally elected advisory body to King County on behalf of all rural unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District. For more information, please visit: www.gmvuac.org.
- The 16-seat Area Council currently has two open seats. If you would like to be considered for Area Council membership, please send such a request to: info@gmvuac.org.
