Minutes of the June 16, 1997 General Meeting of the Vashon-Maury Island Community Council 1 1. The meeting was called to order at 7:35PM, Craig Beles presiding. 2. The Treasurer reported balances of $154.52 checking, $2,449.01 savings. 3. The Land Use Committee reported on several ongoing issues with the County, including a) Proposed telecommunications amendments making 100-foot towers an allowed use b) A hearing July 10 on the Sprint Monopole appeal c) Continued work with Nextel in Dockton d) A request for vacation of an unused portion of road 4. The Motion from the Safety Committee requesting the County to use centerline-only reflectors rather than waste money on multiple reflectors that will be removed by snow plows was brought up for debate. a) The Safety Committee does not believe the supposed benefits of the extra reflectors are worth the confusion they create nor the cost of repeatedly replacing them. b) Reflectors not on the center line will always be plowed off in snow emergencies when the county must use graders instead of rubber-edged snow plows. c) It appears the County will go probably ahead with reinstalling the extra reflectors whether the community wants them or not. d) The question was called and the Motion passed. i) Aye 20 Nay 3 Inappropriate 1 Abstain 3 5. The Motion to approve the Election policies submitted for approval last month was tabled pending additional revisions to those policies. 6. Celine Gihring of the Washington State Ferries presented three alternatives for the 20 Year Plan for the Vashon/Fauntleroy/Southworth and Vashon/Seattle runs. a) The ferry system is essentially admitting defeat in providing needed expansion at the Fauntleroy dock, so some other route must be found for some of the vehicle traffic. b) Their preferred alternative would eliminate the passenger only ferries in favor of fast car ferries, providing little new capacity for Vashon but diverting most Southworth car traffic and some Vashon car traffic to the overcrowded downtown terminal. There was no indication of how additional terminal capacity would be provided downtown, how Southworth to West Seattle traffic would be handled, or how induced growth from doubling the capacity of the Pt. Defiance/Tahlequah run would be mitigated. c) Other alternatives include routing all Southworth vehicle traffic downtown, or simply expanding Fauntleroy and adding more passenger service. d) The proposed increases in passenger only service show much slower growth than is happening today - the baseline study suggests that a 350-passenger Seattle to Vashon boat would not run at full capacity, even though the existing boats already exceed their rated capacity on a regular basis. e) Only slight increases in bicycle capacity are planned. 7. Paul Robinson took questions on King County's approaches to septic and sewer issues on the island. He noted that a code revision is in the works that could change a lot - he did not know the contents of the changes and we will not find out until the fall. a) Jake Jacobovitch noted that by Executive Order, all County agencies are supposed to be coordinating their activities with Unincorporated Area Community Councils, and hoped that more information on proposed revisions would be forthcoming. 8. District Court Judge Vickie Seitz presented bad news on the Vashon Courthouse. a) The staffing hours have been curtailed due to medical leave for our local clerk. Her cancer is terminal and she will not be coming back to work. b) The entire District Court is under intense budget pressure and is being forced to slash staffing levels. Instead of replacing Vashon's clerk, our courthouse will be staffed only on days the court is in session, two days per month. This makes the Vashon courthouse the least staffed in the County. No new money is expected any time soon. c) The District Court is hoping to find volunteers to take over the functions of the eliminated position, such as preparing and filing domestic protection orders. d) In urgent situations, residents should skip the courts and call 911 as the police are already on the island and have emergency access to filings. 9. Jake Jacobovitch presented two urgent matters from the Land Use Committee. a) A Motion to request the King County Growth Management Committee to delay deliberations on the proposed Telecommunications Ordinance 96-938 pending completion of the Conditional Use Permit #L96AC028 Appeal on July 10. i) The proposed ordinance would eliminate conditional use permit requirements for siting towers up to 100 feet tall. This would allow essentially unlimited numbers of towers with no consideration to their impact on the community, subject only to standard permit requirements. There would be no public input on the siting of such towers. ii) There has apparently been little effort to consider or mitigate the impact of this ordinance on Vashon or other unincorporated rural areas. iii) As the ordinance is moving rapidly it could be enacted before the next General Meeting of the Vashon Maury Island Community Council. iv) Emergency Consideration of the Motion was approved by the Board and by the members present. a) Board: Aye 5 Nay 0 Abstain 0 b) Members: Aye 24 Nay 1 Abstain 0 v) The Motion was put to a vote and passed a) Aye 24 Nay 1 Inappropriate 0 Abstain 1 b) A Motion opposing the Executive Proposed Amendments to the Comprehensive Plan, Ord. 97-326, which would in effect abolish the Vashon-Maury Island Community Plan by repealing numerous area- specific, issue-specific policies and background information for the pre-GMA area zoning that remains in effect. i) The proposal would repeal 83 of 86 policies in the Community Plan. ii) Many of the supposed conflicts or redundancies appear to result from County staff fundamentally misunderstanding the Community Plan policies. Most of the policies slated for repeal do not conflict with, and are not made redundant by, the Comprehensive Plan policies cited. iii) Emergency Consideration of the Motion was approved by the Board and by the members present. a) Board: Aye 6 Nay 0 Abstain 0 b) Members: Aye 23 Nay 0 Abstain 2 iv) The Motion was put to a vote and passed a) Aye 24 Nay 0 Inappropriate 2 Abstain 0 10. A new Motion was introduced requesting re-evaluation of the sewer plan for the North End health hazard area. 11. A new Motion was introduced endorsing Equestrian Community designation of Vashon/Maury islands to protect trails and unpaved shoulders against County urbanization and preserve a rural environment suitable for equestrian use. 12. A new Motion was introduced from the Safety Committee to make Vashon Island Highway one-way southbound from the ferry dock to 112th St., with the downhill lane becoming an official holding lane for ferry traffic. 13. A new Motion was introduced from the Land Use Committee to approve or reject a requested vacation of a portion of SW 240th on Point Robinson. 14. Adjourned.