REPORTER
COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2015
A DIVISION OF SOUND PUBLISHING
NEWSLINE 425-432-1209
HEALTHY LIVING | Trendy workouts can keep you in shape [page 7]
Rival Game Thursday | Kentwood boys WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking basketball advances to the semi-finals at news, sports and weather stories. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com the district tournament [9]
Voters to decide on a sales tax increase
City Council gets Hawk property update
BY REBECCA GOURLEY
BY DENNIS BOX
rgourley@maplevalleyreporter.com
dbox@covingtonreporter.com
The Covington Transportation Benefit District wants to fund local road repair projects by increasing the city’s sales tax by 0.2 percent through Proposition 1, which will go out to the voters in April. The sales tax rate is currently 8.6 percent and is the largest source of city revenue according to the city’s website. An increase of 0.2 percent would make a $15 purchase Regan Bolli (pre-tax) increase by 3 cents for the consumer, $16.29 to $16.32. For the city that 0.2 percent is estimated to bring in about $750,000 per year for the next 10 years when it will expire. According to Regan Bolli, city manager, the money generated from the increase would provide “dedicated funding” for street maintenance, eliminate the $250,000 annual subsidy from the general fund to the street fund and address the issue of aging
The Hawk property project is flying fast and furious into Covington. That was the update the City Council received at the Feb. 10 meeting from Colin Lund, director of development for Oakpointe-Yarrow Bay Holdings, a Kirkland firm. Lund said Oakpointe took the site’s subarea plan approved by the city in 2014 and did a national search for COVINGTON planners and architects to “help realize the vision in the subarea plan. This is a unique and somewhat complicated site. It has a lot of different uses. How do you interact with the lake, commercial, multifamily?” Lund said Oakpointe found a planning firm and “two very qualified real estate brokers… to help us define who those target tenants and who those residents will be for this project.” According to Lund the site plan has gone through nine versions and he expects there will be more before the final plan is settled.
[ more TAX page 11]
Floral Art
Sue Bauer, of Bee’s Florist in Covington, puts the finishing touches on a floral arrangement for Valentine’s Day. The artists at Bee’s Florist made about 130 floral arrangements for the big day and sold more than 500 rose stems. Rebecca Gourley, The Reporter.
Senate unveils $15 billion transportation package BY REBECCA GOURLEY rgourley@maplevalleyreporter.com
A group of four state senators who serve on the Transportation Committee, including Sen. Joe Fain, R-Auburn, unveiled a $15 billion transportation revenue package proposal Feb. 12. The package consists of more than $8 billion in new project funding including $3.2 billion for projects affecting residents in Covington
and Maple Valley. The senators are proposing an 11.7 cent gas tax increase over the next three years as the primary funding source. One of the projects would widen state Route 516 from two to five lanes from Jenkins Creek to 185th Avenue, a cost of about $15 million - $1.8 million of that has already been funded according to the county’s website. Another project specifically for Covington is being referred to
as the Covington Connector. It would connect state Route 516 to state Route 18 via development and extension of 204th Avenue Southeast through the Hawk property. The funding package released Thursday would allot $24 million for that project. There are a couple of projects included in the proposal that could impact quite a few commuters in the area. A shoulder hardening of I-90 between Bellevue and Issaquah is estimated to take almost $72 million out of the pot. It would allow shoulder driving during peak traffic times. Two more projects – totaling about $54 million – would affect the eastbound lanes of I-90 and
the I-90/I-405 interchange. Sen. Mark Mullet, D-Issaquah, said in a phone interview he’s pleased with the commuter projects that were included. “Overall, I’m happy to have the $125 million to relieve some of the I-90 congestion as people head into Sen. Mark Mullet Bellevue and Seattle,” he said. Another project affecting commuters is the proposed widening of I-405 between Renton and Lynnwood. It would cost about $1.2 billion.
[ more HAWK page 6 ]
Maple Valley City Manager David Johnston said he was happy with the projects included in the Senate proposal, but still wanted the expansion of state Route 18 to be on the list. However, at least one project that city officials were hoping would get funded is included in the list, Sen. Joe Fain the completion of state Route 167 from Puyallup to the Port of Tacoma, an approximate $1.9 billion project. [ more SENATE page 6 ]