September 13, 2010 Meeting Minutes

7:00 p.m. Call to Order
Pledge of Allegiance
Roll Call
Approval of Minutes
Approval of Agenda
Public Comments

7:05 PM

Beverley Tonda, representative for Francis Area for years and this year’s Recording Secretary announced she had to resign effective immediately for personal reasons. We had to accept her resignation.

7:15 PM

DDES Reform

John Starbard and Warren Cheney of King County DDES presented changes proposed and made at DDES to better serve the residents of King County. As a result of demographic changes in King County in past years DDES essentially serves residents of rural King County. DDES will also move to a system where fees will be fixed so that residents will know in the initial planning stages how much services from DDES will cost. DDES is planning on incorporating its new fee schedule in 2011. Also, DDES is looking to move to an area closer to those it serves.

7:45 PM

Black Diamond Update

Peter Rimbos reported that at its last Black Diamond City Council meeting in an ordinance to be voted on at its September 20 meeting BDCC approved the Master Planned Development by Yarrow Bay.

The BDCC rejected the Hearing Examiner’s primary recommendation, released in April, concerning transportation conditions and mitigations: That a new traffic model be: (1) developed, (2) validated with existing data, (3) used to analyze all key routes and intersections, and (4) used to identify necessary mitigations before any homes are built.

Testimony from the Area Council, City of Maple Valley, King County Department of Transportation, and the Public supported the Hearing Examiner’s transportation recommendations. However, the BDCC decided to wait until Phase 1A is complete, a total of 850 new homes (nearly a 50% increase in the size of Black Diamond), before even looking at potential traffic impacts and needed mitigations using a new traffic model. The Area Council believes this will have both direct and long-lasting impacts to the greater Maple Valley area’s transportation infrastructure, especially along SR-169 and SR-516.

Work will begin on a Development Agreement in which Yarrow Bay will prepare a more detailed plan to meet conditions placed on the MPD Applications by the City Council. This plan will be negotiated with City Staff. It is unclear what the public process will be in reviewing the Development Agreement, since the BDCC is considering eliminating the Hearing Examiner from their existing review process. This is a concern to the Area Council and many citizens in southeast King County, since the Hearing Examiner brings a tremendous amount of rigor to the process and can (as he did before) provide a technical and legal treatise on the pros and the cons of various parts of the Development Agreement. The timing on the Development Agreement is not yet available.

Members of the public can check the City of Black Diamond MPD web page for more information

8:15 PM

KC Code Change Recommendations

This item was tabled until our next meeting because we felt it would require more discussion time than we had at this meeting.

9:00 PM

Ravensdale Ridge

Two businesses, Ericson Logging and Reserve Silica Corp. have applied to DDES to truck in clean fill from highway construction projects around Puget Sound to fill in five old mine trenches. They are requesting the right to operate 24 hours and day 7 days a week until the project is completed. This project will require numerous trips to the site each day (around 60 in estimation) lasting for about 2 years. The Maple Valley portion of the trip will require the trucks to move through Kent/Kangley Road to Ravensdale Way on their way to their site. GMVUAC has several concerns:

(1) The project must meet the Department of Ecology (DOE) Standards for Storm Water Protection

 
(2) A full Construction Storm Water Pollution Protection Plan (CSWPPP) must be developed as required by DOE on all clearing and grading and building permits.

(3) On-site monitoring must include the type of material being dumped, any sediment leaving the site, and any storm water leaving the site and infiltrating into the storm water system.

(4) The present storm water problems must be corrected before any work begins.

(5) There are several State Environmental Policy Act (SEPA) shortfalls: Traffic, Noise, and Timber Growth.

Motion was made, seconded and passed to report our concerns to DDES by the September 27, 2010 deadline.

9:15 PM

Other Council Business

Dave Fields reported The Fire Department was considering Annexation to the Kent Regional Fire Authority which is a collection of Departments. That move would have required votes by the public and the Commissioners of Fire District 43. The vote by the public would have been a complicated issue because the Kent Regional Fire Authority already uses the Benefit Rating System. The Fire District was under the impression that they would need only a majority vote, 50%+1, but changing to the Benefit Rating System from the Levy System requires a 60% vote of the District voters. Since the voters of the District would be voting on both Annexation and the Benefit Rating System it is unclear if it would require a 60 or 50% vote. Dave contacted the Secretary of State's office and their conclusion was that the laws are so intertwined that it would likely take a court case to straighten it out. This same information was transmitted to the Fire Department and now Annexation is off the table.

At our next meeting the council will devote as much time as needed to resolving our KC Code Change Recommendations.

9:50 PM

Adjourn

Note: Area Council Members are expected to perform subcommittee assignments relevant to keeping the Council and area residents informed on activities, or issues, which affect, or potentially affect our community. In some cases, Area Council By-Laws define responsibilities. It is up to the Council to determine what other activities should be covered. Please look at page two, which has been updated and identify any additional interest(s), or make suggestions for other activities, and make your thoughts known to the Council at the next meeting.