On Monday, March 4, the Area Council held its monthly meeting at the Maple Valley Fire Station and via Zoom. Major topics discussed were: (1) 2024 King County Comprehensive Plan Update; (2) Letter to King County Executive; (3) Reserve Silica; and (4) Proposed Segale Mine and Asphalt Plant.
2024 King County Comprehensive Plan Update
The Area Council continues to coordinate a Joint Team of ten Unincorporated Rural Area Councils in participating in the Update—a 3-yr effort from January 2022 thru December 2024. On February 6 Detailed Comments on the King County (KC) Executive’s “Recommended Plan” (ERP) were submitted to the KC Council’s Local Services & Land-Use (LS & L-U) Committee. Please see: http://gmvuac.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/KC-Execs-Recomd-Plan-Detailed-Comments-2-6-24.pdf.
Joint Team members continue to provide Oral Testimonies at LS&L-U Committee Public Briefings on the ERP. There are nine daytime briefings (9:30 AM and hybrid) and five evening meetings at various sites throughout the County. Each Briefing is devoted to different parts of the Update (see: https://cdn.kingcounty.gov/-/media/king-county/depts/council/comprehensive-plan/2024/schedule_updated_1-29-24.pdf?rev=e7cdace32d9b4ed88a808a4c2f207023&hash=599374BF8AF99AA37B6FE398319497E7). The Joint Team provided Oral Testimonies at the February 7, 8, and 21 Briefings; this month plan to do so at the March 6, 7, and 20 Briefings; and also will do so at remaining Briefings into June.
All information on the Update can be found at: https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/council/governance-leadership/county-council/topics-of-interest/comprehensive-plan/2024.
Letter to King County Executive
On February 26 the Joint team sent a letter to the KC Executive titled: “Time for Fundamental Changes at Department of Local Services (DLS)” (see: http://gmvuac.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Joint-Team-Ltr-to-KC-Exec-DLS.pdf).With the recent promotion of former DLS Director, John Taylor, to Director of Depot. of Natural Resources & Parks (DNRP), the Executive has to make a choice for a new DLS Director. The Joint Team stated that a new DLS Director must understand key issues facing DLS and be prepared to lead with bold imagination, if Rural King County is to survive additional regional growth and serve the goals enumerated in the Executive’s Climate Action Plan.
The letter specifically described major issues with both DLS Divisions—Permitting (which includes Code Enforcement) and Road Services. Rural residents are feeling the brunt of the negative impacts from DLS dysfunction and are already extremely frustrated. DLS is essentially our local government, and it should serve us as well as the Executive. Urban and Rural residents alike are becoming increasingly concerned about climate change impacts on our region. King County citizens recognize the need to preserve Rural resource lands and open spaces from sprawl and to reduce carbon emissions by creating dense cities with housing and jobs, with effective public transit between those cities.
The Executive was reminded that without an effectively functioning DLS, it will be extremely difficult to meet citizens’ expectations and reach his Climate Action Plan goals. The Joint Team stated that it believes the Executive, as he assigns new leadership at DLS, has a perfect opportunity to task it with wholesale and necessary change. and that time is of the essence.
Reserve Silica
For many years the Area Council has followed reclamation activities at the Reserve Silica mining site south of Ravensdale. In early 2023, following intensive activities that appeared to be un-permitted, the Area Council directly engaged with the King County DLS-Permitting Division (DLS-P). These included illegal dumping of Arsenic-contaminated soils on an un-permitted 40-ac clearcut on site.
With the State Department of Ecology’s (DOE’s) February 16, “No Further Action Required Decision,” regarding that illegal dumping, the contaminated waste issue largely is settled. Consequently, on February 26 the Area Council sent a letter to KC DLS-P again calling for answers to its questions:
•What is the intent of the on-going activity on this [recent clearcut] site … and why no public notice of such activity has been issued?
•Provide a copy of GRDE15-0011 (both the current 8/19/2022 version and the version that would have been in place at the time of the clearcut – late 2021/early 2022), and the associated Permit Conditions.
•Confirm DLS-P approved the 40-ac clearcut. If so confirmed, under what authority or Code?
•Supply specific approval date, and dates over which clearcutting activity occurred.
•Confirm the two recently-clearcut parcels have never been a part of the mining/reclamation Project Area, based on other communications and maps.
•Has the no-longer valid 2014 Interim Reclamation Plan, been updated and approved? If so, can you provide a copy? If not, can you provide a copy of the approved Reclamation Plan approved prior to the 2014 Interim Plan?
•Based on survey information, how much fill has been dumped on the Reserve Silica property as part of their reclamation, and what filling and grading remains (amounts and locations) to complete the reclamation?
•Provide a copy of the Fill Survey information, when received from the Applicant.
•Provide an Estimated Date when the DLS-P stated Additional Research will be complete and when we will receive responses to those questions [still] Unanswered.
Proposed Segale Mine and Asphalt Plant
Segale has proposed the Cumberland Aggregate Mine and Asphalt Plant along the Green River Gorge on 16 parcels located at North of SE 352nd St and East of 309th Ave SE. The project would extract and process aggregates, construct an asphalt plant, and be developed in four phases over a 35-yr span into the 2060’s. Below are some statistics of the proposal:
•One permit application for the project that should need 6 permits: 5 pits and an Asphalt Plant.
•Asked to mine fully bounded 640 ac mostly owned by State DNR.
•990 ac over 15 parcels.
•4.5 river mi along the 12-mi Green River Gorge, potential for pit walls to collapse into Gorge.
•2.25 mi length Cumberland & Kanaskat-Palmer State Pk, 1.4 mi between Cumberland & Green River Gorge Resort.
•35 yr of operation and could ask to extend to take down Lizard Mt.
•1 large Asphalt (and used Asphalt Recycling Plant) close to Kanaskat Palmer State Park.
•Industrial size liquid (hi P) natural gas tanks to melt /process asphalt – possible forest fire risk.
•50-55 M cu yd of material available for mining—double that with Lizard Mt.
•55-70 M cu yd of fill to be imported, landfilled, statistically some will be contaminated.
•668 truck trips/da on County roads (summer running 18 hr/da, 6-7 days/wk): road wear; safety.
•250,000 gal/da of water required for operation (91 M gal/yr) and same about of waste water.
•1500 ft from Hyde Lk/Deep Ck, hydrology studies note lake as source for GRG Resort Spring.
•Corridor one of windiest areas of the Cascades – dust or fire from site can get out of control.
•Located along border with Kanaskat-Palmer State Pk, border at Gorge crest.
•Blocks access to State Pk land along river.
•Blocks key wildlife migration corridor; will compromise local herds and hunting.
•Surface water runoff and discharge flows into Green River, Deep Ck then Hyde Lk, Deep Lk.
•Removes largest block of standing uplands-connect forest along corridor.
•22 surface mines already are in place in SE King County—5 along the Green River Gorge.
•Mine hazards: Pit 3 Hg smelter site, exposed Coal seam thru Lizard Mt to be disturbed.
•Incomplete SEPA checklist: Plans to use railroad, use Cumberland water, etc.
Following detailed discussions the Area Council decided to submit a Comment Letter to KC DLS-P by its March 12 deadline. It will call for a Determination of Significance (DS) to be issued.
Next Area Council Meeting
The next Area Council monthly meeting will be held Monday, April 1, from 7 – 9:30 PM at the Maple Valley Fire Station at 22225 SE 231st St (across from the KC Sheriff’s Precinct). Meetings are held on the first Monday of the month (except for Holidays, when they are held on the second Monday). As a hybrid meeting, members of the public will be able to attend either in-person or virtually via Zoom. Meeting announcements, Agendas, and Zoom information are published in the Voice of the Valley, the Area Council’s Website (www.gmvuac.org) and local NextDoor platforms. You can also find us on our FaceBook page (https://www.facebook.com/GMVUAC/). Each meeting begins with an open Public Comment period where anyone can voice concerns, comments, etc.
Area Council Membership
Your Area Council serves as an all-volunteer, locally recognized advisory body to King County on behalf of all rural unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District (TSD). The Area Council’s works to keep the Rural Area rural. The Area Council also works regionally with other King County Rural Area organizations through both Joint Planning and its Joint Transportation Initiative.
The twelve-seat Area Council has four open seats. If you have an interest in joining, please send an e-mail to: info@gmvuac.org or attend (either in-person or virtually) a monthly meeting and express your interest. To be eligible to join the Area Council as a member you need to live within the TSD.
Residents, even those not living within the TSD, are eligible to become Associate Members who can serve on any Area Council Committee: Environment, Growth Management, Transportation, Public Relations, or Train Show. For information on each of these committees please see the Area Council’s Website (www.gmvuac.org) and use the drop-down menu under Committees.
All Monthly Meeting Summary Articles can be found on our Home page in the 2024/2023 GMVUAC Monthly Meeting Articles box or by using the drop-down menu under Correspondence.
