County Task Force Makes Recommedations on Future School Sitings in Black Diamond

The Tri-Party School Mitigation Agreement that the Enumclaw School District entered into last year with the city of Black Diamond and YarrowBay to secure land for future schools pending new development in the city calls for seven total school sites, and three of those sites either border the Urban Growth Area (UGA) in Black Diamond or are completely outside of the UGA, according to Superintendent Mike Nelson.

That straddling of the Urban Growth Boundary, which was established under the state Growth Management Act to protect rural farms and forests and prevent urban sprawl, is not unique to the Enumclaw School District and Black Diamond. According to a press release issued last week by King County, 18 rural properties owned by eight school districts in King County are in the same situation.

The conflict between future growth and rural preservation prompted County leaders last November to pool 30 individuals from all of the districts with experience and insight into the issue into a School Siting Task Force to make recommendations for the siting of these future schools.

For Black Diamond, two of the sites border the city's UGA and one site is 850 feet outside of the UGA, said Nelson.

The task force's recommendation in the case of the elementary and middle school sites that touch the border is to either move both sites to within the master-planned development ensuring that no sewer is extended to the rural portion of the sites, or as an alternative, site all school construction within the UGA and limiting any development in the adjacent rural area to ballfields or playfields. According to the final report, the Black Diamond City Council approved a resolution in support of the first option which calls for the city, county, developer and school district to come to a consensus about where to site to schools inside the UGA.

The task force recommended that third site, sitting 850 feet outside the UGA to the west, be moved entirely inside the master-planned development.

The task force fielded public input about the matter and many citizens expressed concern that the schools outside the UGA would encourage urbanization and sprawl. They wanted them to be sited within the city's UGA and more specifically within the planned developments.

Nelson said he worked primarily on the Black Diamond issue though received input from other members of the task force. Black Diamond Mayor Rebecca Olness and resident Erika Morgan were also a part of the group.

The recommendations don't change the existing tri-party agreement. "The mitigation agreement says that if a site doesn't work, we can go back to the drawing board," he said.

Next steps involve working with King County and YarrowBay on finding new sites for the three schools, he said. The school district can't do its due diligence and evaluate each school site until the developer delineates the site boundaries after all appeals have been resolved. In the latest development with the Black Diamond City Council last week, the Council authorized Olness to pursue a lawsuit against YarrowBay (Read the Maple Valley Reporter story).

With regards to UGAs, Black Diamond's situation was less complicated than other locations and for other districts, Nelson said. Some districts had properties located miles outside their respective UGAs and the recommendations in some cases were to not use the sites for schools at all.

The task force recommends that school districts be invited to participate in planning bodies like the Growth Management Planning Council (GMPC) and the Puget Sound Regional Council (PSRC). The recommendations set a course that is consistent with VISION 2040, the regional growth strategy adopted by the PSRC for King, Pierce, Snohomish, and Kitsap Counties.

Formation of the task force originated from an agreement between King County, Seattle, Bellevue, and the Suburban Cities Association in November to examine the question of whether sewer lines should be extended into rural areas, to accommodate schools that had planned for the future by purchasing rural property.

"My congratulations and thanks to members of the task force for a job well done," said Executive Dow Constantine. "Their unanimous recommendations are a strong statement of our collective desire to set aside differences and focus on sustainable growth and planning for the educational needs of our children."

Constantine will review the task force recommendations and propose new Countywide Planning Policies for consideration by both the GMPC and the Metropolitan King County Council. The GMPC will review the policies in the spring. The County Council is expected to take final action on the new policies in September.

Read more:

• School Siting Task Force
• Task Force Final Report (PDF)
• Maps for sites