February 2007 Meeting Summary

Area Council February Meeting Highlights

By Peter Rimbos, Corresponding Secretary

The Greater Maple Valley Area Council, at its Regular monthly meeting on Monday, February 5, addressed the following items: (1) Rural Vision, (2) Area Council Web Site, and (3) King County Council Update. The Area Council serves as an all-volunteer, locally elected advisory body to the King County Council and represents all unincorporated area residents living in the Tahoma School District.

Rural Vision Underlying Objectives

Last Fall the Area Council adopted a draft overarching Rural Vision statement and developed a draft set of underlying objectives. The Area Council discussed these objectives to ensure consistency with the overarching Rural Vision statement. Following this discussion our Rural Vision Committee was tasked with developing a draft of the underlying objectives for Area Council adoption at our regular March monthly meeting. The next step will be to provide members of the general public the opportunity to help shape the final product.

The purpose of our shared Rural Vision is to provide a clear voice of what the greater Maple Valley community believes is important to maintain our rural character and support rural interests. It will be used in talks with County officials, other government entities, and organizations.

Area Council Website

Zach Johnson, a sophomore at Tahoma High School, has been developing an Area Council web site that will allow area citizens the opportunity to access Member Contacts, Meeting Announcements, Meeting Agendas, Meeting Minutes, Summary Articles (such as this), Committees and Responsibilities, Official Correspondence with government officials, Citizen Advisory Survey Results, Event Announcements, Links to Websites of Interest, etc.

Zach electronically displayed a detailed mock-up of the site for our review. The Area Council was pleased with the quality product Zach has produced in such a short time. We thank Zach and Tahoma High School for helping in our effort to improve communications with and provide ready access of information to the citizens of the greater Maple Valley community. The Area Council plans to have the web site go live online by the end of this month.

King County Council Update

King County District 9 Councilman Reagan Dunn provided an update of issues important to rural residents in the greater Maple Valley area. Councilman Dunn indicated that transportation issues and congestion relief are a very high priority. Consequently, he was pleased to announce his recent appointments as chair of both the King Council’s Transportation Committee and the Regional Transit Committee. He also is a member of the Executive Board of the Regional Transportation Investment District, which along with Sound Transit, has been working together on a plan to improve transportation in King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties. The plan will go before voters in fall 2007.

Councilman Dunn also is a member of the King County Council’s Growth Management & Natural Resources Committee This committee considers and makes recommendations on policies relating to land use development, comprehensive planning, development regulations, regulatory reform and recommendations to the Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES). He indicated his intent to work to improve DDES’s permitting process and reduce its processing and consulting fees for landowners. The Area Council thanked Councilman Dunn for his support and work on rural issues important to residents of the greater Maple Valley community. In addition, the Area Council was pleased to hear that Councilman Dunn moved recently and is now a resident of our rural community.

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 to be held on Monday, March 5, at 7:00 PM will feature Ms. Julia Larson of King County's Office of Business Relations & Economic Development. She will discuss Rural Economic Strategies. 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.