Minutes of the 3/17/97 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 $164.52 checking, $2,434.42 savings. 3. Two corrections were presented to the minutes of the February meeting: a) Laura Bienen's name was mis-spelled. b) Tamma Farra was misidentified as a KC Solid Waste employee. 4. There were several Announcements of general interest: a) The KC Charter Review Commission is considering mechanisms for improved representation of unincorporated areas. b) The Vashon Ferry Advisory Committee will meet 6:30PM, March 19, at the Library. c) Tamma Farra noted a WUTC meeting on Island Disposal's rate increase request will be held on march 26. d) The Land Use Committee reported that DDES will begin providing notice of permit applications at the time they are filed, rather than delaying until ordinary public comment periods begin. e) The Outreach Committee reported progress on developing a Charter and goals for the year ahead. f) King County is attacking some provisions of the Vashon Town Plan, including reduced setbacks intended to preserve the rural, small-town nature of the town, and protections for significant trees. Meeting April 17 at the Library. g) Vashon Audubon is happy to report the Post Office has finally agreed to place recycling containers in the Post Office lobby so that residents do not have to take junk mail home in order to have it recycled. h) The Conditional Use Permit for the monopole at the Tahlequah Y has been granted. 5. Maj. Rebecca Norton of the SW Precinct gave a presentation on long-range plans for Vashon. a) Sgt. Ray has been posted to the Island. b) The department is working on long-range goals and a mission statement, looking for efficiency and improved citizen input. c) Local crime rates are down 25-26% since 1995, but calls to 911 dropped only 11.8% as more people use the service for more types of calls. d) Sgt. Ray reported a total of 22 DWI cases on Vashon last year, still a serious problem. e) The new Vashon Service Center is open. 6. John Komorita of KC Solid Waste reported on the status of the transfer station project. a) The KC Council is expected to eliminate the requirement for consideration of private transfer station options on Vashon. This process would be a significant complication for such a small project since it has never been used before. b) At the late February meeting on the project siting process, neighbors to the north of the existing landfill site complained about the proposed site of the transfer station on the north of the existing Solid Waste property, and suggested placing it on the state land to the east of the existing site. This area hosts one of the most popular public trail networks on the Island, used by equestrians, hikers, and cyclists, and is not owned by the County. c) Another meeting will be held April 2 at Chatauqua Elementary. 7. Julie Koler of KC Landmarks and Heritage and Jim Kelly of the KC Arts Commission discussed the Harrington Log House restoration project and grant, taking questions from the community. a) Public funds have been used to guarantee preservation of numerous privately owned properties on the Island. In exchange for the funds, land owners promise long-term preservation and negotiated public access. b) Jim Kelly insisted that the process was well-publicized and open to public input. When asked why his Agency had made absolutely no effort to inform the Vashon-Maury Island Unincorporated Area Council of its activities on the Island, he defended the lack of coordination and said the proposals should be reviewed by the Agency's juries alone. c) Numerous members of the Council complained that the County was negligent in not informing the public of its plans until the grant had been approved. d) Mary Matthews repeated her earlier criticisms of the proposed project. i) The house will be moved away from its current location, which is not considered appropriate by leading preservation authorities. ii) Moving the house will inevitably damage it. iii) While some parts of the house will be restored, others will be modernized for the owner's use, out of keeping with its character. iv) The owner has expressed reluctance to grant significant public access, and the house will not be visible from public property. v) There are more deserving projects needing funding on the Island, including the Pt. Robinson Light House. e) Jim Kelly responded that his Agency's experts had reviewed the project and approved it despite these concerns. 8. Laura Bienen reported on the upcoming Forest Practices motion. a) The Motion endorses island-specific forestry regulations developed in cooperation with groups from many other islands concerned that state forestry regulations designed for large mainland logging operations do not give adequate consideration to the unique characteristics of island environments. b) The proposed draft regulations are on file at the Vashon Library. 9. The Motion to request that DDES interpret its regulations of the Misty Isle custom slaughterhouse to allow processing of animals grown on the Island, not just on the Misty Isle property, was brought forward for debate. a) The Land Use Committee endorsed this interpretation as an alternative to field slaughtering on other island properties or the need to take animals off-island for slaughtering. Field slaughtering is not as environmentally friendly as processing the animals in a slaughterhouse, and hauling live animals long distances for off-island slaughtering is both expensive and unnecessarily cruel to the animals. b) The motion was put to a vote and passed. i) Aye 32 Nay 1 Abstain 3 Inappropriate 0 10. A new Motion was presented endorsing the Maury Regional Marine Park plan for a large natural reserve area. a) An alternative presented in the plan is to construct ball fields in this environmentally sensitive area. This use is entirely out of character with the park and would be very disruptive to the local environment. b) Because this plan is moving ahead rapidly, emergency consideration was requested. i) The Board approved emergency consideration Aye 6 Nay 0 Abstain 0 ii) The Council approved emergency consideration Aye 43 Nay 0 Abstain 0. c) The question was called and passed. i) Aye 45 Nay 0 Abstain 0 Inappropriate 0. 11. Mary Matthews presented a new Motion requesting that the King County Council reject the Harrington Log House grant and reallocate the funds to stabilization of the Pt. Robinson Light House. a) Mary Matthews requested emergency consideration of this Motion because the grant is pending before the KC Council. i) The Board rejected emergency consideration Aye 5 Nay 1 Abstain 0 ii) The Council approved emergency consideration Aye 20 Nay 18 Abstain 0 iii) The Bylaws require approval by both the Board and the Council, so emergency consideration was not granted, and the Motion will be before the Council next month. 12. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00.