Editor, the VOICE,
In response to Ms. Keeler’s Letter to the Editor (“Lakeside Industries Maple Valley Plant”), published in the January 23 edition of the VOICE, a major clarification is needed.
The proposed Asphalt Facility is not being planned for the City of Maple Valley, but rather it is being proposed to be placed in the Unincorporated Area of King County, in fact, the Rural Area, along SR-169 and the Cedar River between the cities of Maple Valley and Renton.
The City of Maple Valley rejected the proposed Asphalt Facility and rezoned a parcel on which it was being considered.
Hundreds of local citizens have been protesting the proposed move of the Lakeside industries’ Asphalt Facility from inside the Urban Growth Area (UGA)—the City of Covington—to outside the UGA into the Rural Area.
A standing-room-only crowd attended the GMVUAC’s December monthly meeting to hear Lakeside Industries’ representatives discuss their proposed move. Citizens were in near unanimity, as well as the GMVUAC, in rejecting the proposed move due to a variety of issues, especially Zoning.
The GMVUAC has requested the King County Council, following its 6-mo Moratorium, do exactly what the City of Maple Valley did—rezone the Rural Area parcel to Rural Residential. The 2016 King County Comprehensive Plan (KCCP) calls for this.
KCCP Policy R-515 applies to existing, isolated industrial sites in the Rural Area that are recognized, but are not appropriate for new industrial uses: “Existing industrial uses in the Rural Area outside of Rural Towns, the industrial area on the King County-designated historic site along State Route 169 or the designated industrial area adjacent to the Rural Neighborhood Commercial Center of Preston shall be zoned rural residential but may continue if they qualify as legal, nonconforming uses.”
This KCCP policy expressly directs that this specific property “shall be zoned rural residential” and that only pre-existing legal, nonconforming uses are allowed to continue thereafter.
Once again, Ms. Keeler’s contention that the proposed Asphalt Facility is planned for the City of Maple Valley is incorrect. In fact, it is planned for the Rural Area of King County and hundreds of citizens stand opposed to such a move.
Thank you.
Respectfully, Peter Rimbos, Lake Francis
