With the state legislature finally completing its work last week, the city of Covington seemed to have fared well, despite deep gashes made in the budget following a special session.
Covington City Manager Derek Matheson explained on May 16 the state had found a way to provide nearly $1 million dollars for key city projects.
“It’s huge in a legislative session where they’re cutting $5 billion that we’re able to keep almost a million (dollars),” Matheson said. “The legislative session has been good for Covington.”
And even the cuts that were made won’t hurt too much, Matheson said, such as a 3.4 percent cut in revenues shared among municipalities across the state such as liquor revenues only amounted to a lost of about $9,000, “which is amazing.”
Some of the money the city is due to receive will pay for a road project, Public Works Director Glenn Akramoff said.
“I think we got all of the (funding for) the main project we’re doing,” Akramoff said by phone on May 27. “That’s the next phase of Kent Kangley, the bridge to 185th.”
Work on the second phase of the road improvement project began in December 2009. That widened the Kent Kangley, formally known as Southeast 272nd Street in the city limits, from Wax Road to the Jenkins Creek Bridge. Construction was complete in summer 2010.
This next phase would widen Southeast 272nd to five lanes heading east from the Jenkins Creek Bridge to 185th Avenue Southeast.
Currently Southeast 272nd Street is a two lane road through half of the city, the portion that runs east-west from the Maple Valley city limits up to Southeast Wax Road, where it widens to five lanes.
In addition to moving forward with work on the road improvement project, the city is also still in line to receive money for construction of the first phase of its Covington Community Park, located at the intersection 180th Avenue Southeast and Southeast 240th Street.
The site is about 30 acres and is a collection of four parcels purchased by the city in 2003 and then brought into King County’s urban growth boundary in 2004. It was annexed into the city in 2008.
Scott Thomas, Covington’s Parks and Recreation director, wrote in an email on May 26 that there are still some loose ends to be tied up before he can count on the funding designated for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program that would cover construction costs for the first phase.
“The WWRP grant funding did survive the legislature’s budget process, but I’m still waiting to hear about another crucial portion of the funding,” Thomas wrote.
