April 2006 Meeting Summary

Area Council Discusses Rural Vision

      By Peter Rimbos, Corresponding Secretary

The Greater Maple Valley Area Council serves as an advisory body to the King County Council. It represents all unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District. On Monday, April 3, the Area Council, at its regular monthly meeting discussed the following topics: (1) King County Rural Initiative and (2) Rural Vision.

Public Comment

Mr. Dick Broullet described his concerns related to the lack of street signage on SE 249^th St in the area south of the Maple Valley Library and west of Lake Wilderness. Mr. Broullet indicated that fire, police, and emergency vehicles cannot find the homes along SE 249^th St because there are no County street signs, nor is it located on any map. County officials in attendance told Mr. Broullet they would contact Roads Division people to help rectify the problem.

King County Rural Initiative

Area Council Chair Dick Bonewits announced that King County has proposed a Rural Initiative. The initial thrust of this initiative is to establish a Rural Advisory Commission. The County has suggested a commission model based upon the rural Forest Commission and the rural Agriculture Commission. Lauren Smith of the Department of Natural Resources and Parks (DNRP) Policy and New Initiatives Team has been designated to work with the rural Unincorporated Area Councils (UACs) to help set up a Rural Advisory Commission.

 Ms. Smith has met with the four rural UACs Chairs and received the following major inputs: (1) UACs are the Rural Advisory Commission members; (2) an intermediate County-appointed group would be counterproductive; (3) Rural Area citizens deserve to be listened to directly by County officials; (4) filters should not be placed in communication channels; and (5) more Rural Area UACs are needed to fill voids in representation (e.g., Enumclaw area, Snoqualmie valley, etc.).

More meetings between the four rural UACs Chairs and Ms. Smith are planned. In addition, Ms. Smith has spoken at the Vashon Island UAC meeting and plans to do the same soon at meetings of the other rural UACs, including your Area Council.

Rural Vision

To better articulate desires and concerns of greater Maple Valley area rural residents, the Area Council decided to develop a “Rural Vision.” We believe we need a vision statement to provide guidance for ourselves and others as we seek positive outcomes for our community in the future. The Area Council intends to develop an “overarching” vision statement with supporting elements and objectives based on the wealth of information contained in our biannual Citizen Advisory Ballot Surveys (see Voice, January 31, p. 3, for last November’s results) and past area planning exercises.

The Area Council decided to develop a “Rural Vision” that provides a mental perception of a preferred future for our community--a community that is connected in interests, time, place, government, culture, heritage, and responsibility. Last month Area Council member Dave Fields developed a draft “Rural Vision” that helped jumpstart and inform this effort. Several vision development processes were discussed among Area Council members. These had many similarities including a tiered process of an “overarching” vision statement, its supporting elements, and plans for each element.

To begin the process nine elements were identified (listed alphabetically): Community, Economy, Education, Environment, Government, Growth, Infrastructure, Leadership, and Public Health and Safety. For each of these elements Area Council members will identify what we do and don't want to see in our rural area as we try to define our preferred future.

In future meetings, Area Council members will rank each do and don't, fit them into the appropriate elements, and develop a vision statement using the message derived from each element. Following this process the Area Council intends to solicit public comment on the proposed vision statement and eventually use the agreed-on final product in communicating with the County and other entities.

Next Meeting

The Area Council meets on the first Monday of each month (except on legal holidays) in the conference room of Sheriff’s Precinct # 3 Headquarters (at 231^st St & SR-169 across from Fire Station). The public is invited to attend. Each meeting begins with an Open Comment period to allow the public to voice issues of concern. Our next regular monthly meeting will be held on Monday, May 1, 2006, at 7:00 PM. Ms. Jackie MacLean, King County Director of Community and Human Services, will be a featured speaker. Comments on Area Council business may be submitted to GMVAC, P.O. Box 101, Maple Valley, WA  98038, or to Dick Bonewits, Chair, at gmvac_chair@hotmail.com.