City on tight deadline to sell land

Maple Valley city officials have until Oct. 31 to decide to sell some of their land to Tahoma School District or not

By Rebecca Gourley • October 15, 2014 3:44 pm
The blue shaded area east of the main building is the approximate location of the 7.7 acres the city is looking at selling to the school district within two weeks.
The blue shaded area east of the main building is the approximate location of the 7.7 acres the city is looking at selling to the school district within two weeks.

Maple Valley city officials have two weeks to decide if they will sell at least a portion of a plot of land to the Tahoma School District for the construction of an additional parking lot for the district’s new high school.

Tahoma school board member Tim Adam said they need to have access to at least part of the property in order to start the permitting process. The portion of land in question is about 7.7 acres, instead of the entire 19.8 acres they need to complete their project.

This partial land acquisition would allow the school to build an access road on the East side of the new high school and about 200 faculty parking stalls, but no athletic fields.

At Monday night’s City Council meeting, a public hearing was held in regards to the potential for an interlocal agreement between the city and the district for use of the future athletic facilities.

Councilwoman Erin Weaver urged her colleagues to pass the agreement in its current form and then amend it at a later date, pending the sale of the property. Her urgency was because of the deadline that the district had given the city for access to the land. Weaver stated that even though an interlocal agreement is not required for a purchase and sale agreement to be signed, having one established would provide the city more assurance that they will be able to use the facilities that the district may build there.

“I would not table the ILA, we need to take action and start now with an ILA and it will be amended as the property sells,” Weaver said at the meeting.

Mayor Bill Allison disagreed. He said that the ILA needs to be written for the current circumstances and if an ILA is made before the property sells, it’s going to be substantially changed anyway.

City Attorney Jeff Taraday suggested a compromise. In order to meet the district’s deadline of Oct. 31, he said he will work with the district to draft a purchase and sale agreement for 7.7 acres of the land. In the agreement, he said, he will include that the city will have access to the athletic facilities that will be built on the west side of the new campus and the parking lot on the east side. This proposal would give the assurance that Weaver was looking for while keeping the district’s project on schedule.

Even though the council hasn’t officially agreed to sell the property to the district, they have stated on many occasions that they do not wish to delay the district’s efforts in the planning and construction of it.

If the council decides to sell the 7.7 acres to the district, the remaining 12.1 acres could still be sold as well, but the latter is not likely to happen before Oct. 31. Acquisition of the remaining land, the district stated, is not necessary for them to move forward.

Community members will have an opportunity to comment on the sale of the property at the public hearing scheduled for Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.