The Tahoma School District is one giant step closer to building a new high school on a portion of the Donut Hole property in Maple Valley.

During the special meeting Monday, the King County Council unanimously voted to authorize the county to sell 35 acres of the land to the district, according to a release from Councilman Reagan Dunn, who represents the school district and Maple Valley area on the County Council.

It was also approved Monday to allocate about one-third of the revenue from the sale of the property for use in repairing roads in unincorporated King County.

The price tag on the property is close to $9 million, which will be paid for by district funds and a contribution from the state of Washington.

They hope to have the new high school completed by 2017. In the release from Dunn, District Superintendent Rob Morrow thanked the council for the fast turnaround on their decision because it enables the district to proceed with their scheduled timeline.

“The County Council’s timely action today allows us to move forward to address critical capacity needs in our district and to fulfill our community’s vision for a centrally located high school and regional learning center,” Morrow said in the release.

The next step for the district is to secure an additional 20-acre plot of land adjacent to the Donut Hole that is currently owned by the city of Maple Valley. The district plans to use this property for additional parking, joint-use athletic fields and access roads.

Kevin Patterson, spokesman for the district, said they are still in negotiations with the city for the sale of the property.

“Both parties want to move forward with the property purchase,” Patterson said.

The final hurdle is to agree on a price. Both had appraisals done on the property, but they are still more than $600,000 away from reaching a consensus.

According to the appraisal report from Appraisal Group of the Northwest, the group did the valuation based on the “highest and best use” of the property with the potential for rezoning it from Public Use to Medium Density Residential. As a result, their appraisal amounted to $735,000. However, the district’s appraisal – $130,000 – was based on the “as is” value of the property, without any rezoning.

Rezoning wouldn’t be necessary for the district’s purposes, but City Manager David Johnston says the city’s appraiser looked at recent land sales in similar markets and compared the land in question to adjacent plots to arrive at their valuation. Johnston said a new hypothetical appraisal was made at $515,000 after eliminating the potential for rezoning.

And this, he said, is where the negotiation process starts.

Something that complicates the issue further, Johnston said, is the city has to juggle the limited amount of usable recreational space in Maple Valley with the need for a new high school.

“(The City) Council made it clear (Monday night) they will do everything in their power to never delay the school project,” Johnston said in an interview. “But parks and rec land is significantly limited in Maple Valley.”

“One-third of our population is under 17,” he continued. “There’s no place to play.”

The Maple Valley City Council will hold a public hearing about the sale of the property on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. at the Tahoma School District Central Services Center.