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February 2012
Impacts to King County Services
by Peter Rimbos, Corresponding Secretary
On Monday, February 6, 2012, the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council (GMVUAC) held its regular monthly meeting. Guest speakers were Commander Major Jerrell Wills and King County Department of Transportation’s (KCDOT’s) Jay Osborne.
King County Sheriff’s Office
East Precinct South Headquarters (Maple Valley) Commander Major Jerrell Wills provided an update on the impacts of budget cuts in their 1,600-sq-mi service area. As [part of those impacts, by April unincorporated King County will convert from a “Precinct” structure to a "Zone" structure. This will allow officers to move more fluidly between zones to meet needs in spite of personnel reductions. There will be four zones, with the Maple Valley area in Zone 2 along with Covington and Newcastle.
Commander Major Wills detailed some of the impacts of the budget shortfalls in terms of calls responded to and prioritization of resources. For example, officer response times will be adversely affected in unincorporated King County.
King County Department of Transportation
Road Services Division (RSD) Manager Jay Osborne discussed the updated Strategic Plan for Road Services based on current and projected budget constraints. Part of that Plan is a new “Tiered Level of Service” that was implemented at the beginning of 2012. The Plan includes in descending order of priority: required services, safety, and maintenance/preservation, mobility, and capacity improvements.
The annual cost of the Strategic Plan was estimated to be ~$180 million, but the Road Fund covers about half of that total. Because of this shortfall, RSD developed a “Tiered Level of Service” system in which all County roads have been assigned a prioritization level to determine which roadways will be serviced to keep them in working order, while allowing other roadways to slowly deteriorate due to lack of maintenance and preservation.
More information on the new County “Tiered Level of Service” including a map of roads and their assigned “Tiers” can be found here.
Pacific Raceways
Rural Area (RA) resident Karen Meador requested the Area Council submit a more comprehensive letter as a follow up to our September letter to the King County Council. Concerns still center on a major industrial footprint in the RA in violation of the State’s Growth Management Act and the County’s Comprehensive Plan.
The Area Council agreed and voted to draft and submit a joint letter to the KIng County Council and Executive Constantine with the concurrence of the other two RA UACs--Four Creeks and Upper Bear Creek.
A Public Hearing before the King County Council on the new “Striker” Amendment to the proposed Ordinance will be held on Tuesday, February 21. More information can be found here.