Covington/Maple Valley Reporter, November 13, 2015

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REPORTER

COVINGTON | MAPLE VALLEY | BLACK DIAMOND

NEWSLINE 425-432-1209

LOCAL | Drowsy driving collisions shatter lives [page 3]

Heading to State | The Tahoma Bears volleyball finished fifth at districts, secure FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2015 spot at state [9]

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WEBSITE | Check the website for breaking news, sports and weather stories. maplevalleyreporter.com or covingtonreporter.com

Covington ends school impact fees agreement

Annexation moves ahead for Hawk property The King County Boundary Review Board has 45 days to rule on the petition

City Council passes an ordinance terminating Kent School District impact fees collection

BY DENNIS BOX BY DENNIS BOX

Editor

The Covington City Council unanimously approved the annexation petition for 75 acres of the Hawk property that will be part of the LakePointe development. The next COVINGTON stop for the petition after the council approval is the King County Boundary Review Board. The city staff submitted the petition to the board, which has 45 days to rule on the request for

Editor

They are the Champions

The Tahoma boys cross country team won the 4A state meet in Pasco Saturday. The girls team took seventh. The boys team had two runners, Graeme Schroeder and Keegan Fitzpatrick, finish in the top 10. The story and results are on page 9. Photo Courtesy Jeff Brady

[ more HAWK page 15 ]

Gibbs said during the fall, the club focuses on training new club members and preparing for competition. Competition season begins in January. During the 2015 competition season, Bear Metal placed second at its first district event and qualified girls in robotics so it for the district chamwas nice to have this pionships. competition to get to Tahoma placed know and work with 35th at districts and them.” qualified for the world Fleming participated championships in St. on the Bear Metal girls Louis, Mo. drive team at this year’s Gibbs said during competition. the world championThe club was founded in 2006 and ships, Bear Metal has been advised by finished as a finalist in Tahoma teacher DarTeam 2907 from Auburn Mountainview participate its division. ren Collins since the Tahoma was 64th out in the competition at Tahoma. COURTESY PHOTO beginning. of a total 6,000 teams. There are around 40 Bear Metal has made members in the club this year and Gibbs it to the world championships six out of said a third are female students. nine seasons. “(It is the) most (girls) in team history,” The club is holding its ninth annual he said. spaghetti dinner and auction today, Friday Gibbs said the club members “are greatly Nov. 13 at Tahoma High School in the interested in STEM (Science, Technology, [ more ROBOTICS page 7 ] Engineering and Math) projects.”

Tahoma Robotics Club hosts fourth annual Girls’ Generation competition BY SARAH BRENDEN Reporter

F

or the fourth time in club history, the Tahoma Robotics Club known as Bear Metal, hosted the Girls’ Generation competition in October. The event was organized by the Tahoma Robotics Club, Alex Gibbs said., secretary of communication. Teams from 30 schools in the Pacific Northwest came to Tahoma High to participated in this year’s event. The teams are spilt up into alliances. Gibbs said the teams were then pitted against each other. There were six robots on the field at a time and teams guide their robots to construct towers using plastic totes. “It was a lot of fun working with robots and the girls from other schools,” Tahoma junior Forest Fleming said. “You don’t see a lot of

A legal battle between the city of Covington and the Kent School District reached the nuclear option Oct. 27 when the Covington City Council unanimously approved an ordinance terminating the collection of school impact fees. The dispute began more than a year ago and culminated in the ordinance that severed the interlocal agreement between the district and the city for the collection of impact fees that dates back to 1997. According to the interlocal agreement and the city code, the city collects school impact fees on development projects for capital facilities for the district. The new ordinance repeals the municipal code concerning school impact fees and terminates the interlocal agreement. According to the city the district has received about $5 million in impact fees since 1999. BACKGROUND The dispute began around May 2014 when Inland group requested a partial exemption from the school impact fees of $700,000 for a Town Center development for low-income families. The city staff determined an 80 percent exemption was necessary for the development to be built. The city staff wrote in the documents with the new ordinance, “…the City also recognizes that though school impact fees support the District’s infrastructure, without impact fee exemptions affordable housing development, which is an equally important public need governed and re[ more FEES page 2 ]


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