Members of the Cedar Hills Preservation Alliance have filed an amendment to a lawsuit to block the development of the former Cedar Hills Alcohol Treatment center near Maple Valley into a transitional housing project.
“On Oct. 8, King County Department of Development and Environmental Services (DDES) issued the YWCA the Passage Point building permits,” the alliance stated on its Web site. Passage Point is the name of the project that YWCA is organizing.
The alliance went on to state that “this event triggers a 21-day window in which the lawsuit stay will be lifted and an amended appeal can be filed challenging DDES’ land-use decision.” The alliance is working on that appeal and plans to also file a land-use petition act appeal “in the coming weeks.”
The appeal of the construction permit’s validity was filed last week in Snohomish County Superior Court.
The original lawsuit was filed nearly a year ago but was stayed in January, and the stay was continued until Oct. 3 in Snohomish County.
The primary concerns driving the lawsuit are land-use issues, according to court documents, which lay out a case claiming King County — which owns the property — can’t allow a new non-conforming use for the facility for a variety of reasons. As a result, the plaintiffs claim that anything agreed upon or approved by the county with the YWCA should be null and void.
The lawsuit argues that because more than 12 months have passed since the former treatment center was closed, King County can’t allow it to have another non-conforming use, and that Passage Point isn’t similar enough to a treatment facility to be considered a continuation of a legal non-conforming use.
The site will be transformed into a small apartment complex and will be operated by the YWCA under the Passage Point plans. Remodeling of the buildings should begin this winter, according to Linda Rasmussen, a YWCA director.
Rasmussen said Monday that YWCA is aware of the amended appeal by Cedar Hills Preservation Alliance but hasn’t had time to respond to it.
Passage Point will offer housing for single parents — most likely mothers — coming out of incarceration, homeless shelters or rehabilitation. The goal, according to YWCA representatives, is to get the parents back on their feet so they can be reunited with their kids.
And while residents of the Four Creek area near the property agree that is an admirable goal, members of the alliance disagree that the project is the ideal solution. Many homeowners remember what it was like when alcohol treatment facility was operational — it closed in 2002 after its budget was cut — and those memories aren’t fond. Homeowners nearby have plots of five acres or more and have grown accustomed to the peace and quiet that has settled in the past six years.
The property is zoned rural, like the neighborhood around it. Cedar Hills Rural Preservation Alliance, which is based in Issaquah, argues in its lawsuit that a transitional apartment complex doesn’t fit the current zoning, nor the previously allowed non-conforming use the treatment facility was allowed to operate due to a conditional-use permit that was issued in 1975.
Staff writer Kris Hill can be reached at (425) 432-1209 (extension 5054) and khill@reporternewspapers.com
This report first appeared in the Reporter’s online edition Nov. 3.
