While the wheels of planning intentionally move slowly, the Maple Valley Planning Commission will soon begin work on the details for the northwest quadrant of the Four Corners subarea plan, a project that has been in the works more than four years.
At its Sept. 20 meeting, the Maple Valley City Council came to a consensus on that section of the plan, sending the concept back to the commission and support staff to work on it.
“The real nuts and bolts work starts now,” said Glenn Akramoff, planning commission chair.
The concept — developed after gathering input from developers, homeowners, businesses and other stake holders — is to mold that section of Four Corners into a pedestrian friendly part of town with a mix of shops and housing.
The northwest quadrant starts just north of Southeast 260th Street and is bounded by state Route 169 to the east and runs south along SR 169 past Southeast 264th Street.
Part of what has held up the work on the subarea plan has been the delay in developing and adopting a concrete vision for the northwest quadrant, which has been a sticking point, particularly for business and property owners in that section of the plan.
“The businesses were very vocal,” Akramoff said. “The recommendations to council had a couple of key components that need to be addressed in the next phase.”
For Sue VanRuff, executive director of the Maple Valley-Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce, there has been an effort to help affected businesses and property owners learn about the process as well as “make sure they got involved in the process.”
“The feeling that I’m hearing, especially from the Westovers (owners of Westover Auto Rebuild), is that they’re being ignored… that the city is going forward without any of the property owners (being considered),” VanRuff told the Reporter in late September. “This is their future. This is their investment. I think they’re just more vocal right now.”
Akramoff, who recently was selected as chair of the commission and also is the public works director for the city of Covington, added as the process goes forward, this is the perfect time for those with concerns to add their input.
“One of the things we said when we forwarded it to the council (was) that this is the absolute right time for the businesses to be involved, because they were concerned they hadn’t been involved,” Akramoff said. “We’ll be getting more into the details now and that’s where we need their input.”
One of the more controversial points, Akramoff said, is where a proposed road would be located.
In the near future, the commission will work on that concept for the northwest quadrant that could include a pedestrian friendly street running north to south from Southeast Kent Kangley Road through the 54-acre Legacy Site, which is part of the subarea plan and owned by the city, then connecting to SR 169.
Along the street could be a variety of uses such as shops, offices and homes, while to the west the proposal includes residential housing types at a medium density that would serve as a buffer between the trail area and the commercial areas. To the east, the concept envisions commercial and office use near SR 169, allowing those businesses the benefit of the high visibility of being along the highway.
“In reality, we don’t know where the road will go and we need to look at that much more in depth,” Akramoff said. “We don’t want to lock up those businesses without having a long term plan there to the point they have a hard time getting loans (and other business services). There’s probably 20 layers of decision making that needs to be done and (the road) won’t be a small issue.”
VanRuff said it’s important to make sure the concerns voiced by chamber members and property owners in the northwest quadrant be heard and considered.
“We want to promoted healthy businesses in our community and we believe those are healthy, contributing businesses,” she said. “The whole idea of those businesses not being allowed to do what they need to do is a concern.”
Akramoff said he understands those issues and believes that as the planning for the northwest quadrant moves forward in the near future everyone on the city’s side of the table will do their best to keep those concerns in mind.
“The commitment (of) the planning commission, the council and the staff is do the best for the community,” Akramoff said.
Work on the subarea plan, according to information provided by Community Development Director Ty Peterson, began in 2006.
Council decided on a proposed course of action for the other three quadrants of the subarea plan, according to documents provided by Peterson, and in late 2009 directed the commission “to work further on the northwest quadrant and consider information not available to the commission during previous deliberation.”
The Four Corners subarea plan would create a blue print for further development for that section of the city, which already has businesses but has room for more, and planning economic growth is important to the city as it approaches residential build out and slow down in new home construction.
