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As Facilitated and Recorded by Walkable Communities, Inc.
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Gregory J. McCormick
AICP, Director of Community Development.
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Focus Group 2 What would you like accomplished by this charrette process? Answer: Concerned about how much growth, what kind of businesses will we get. It’s scary; high school has 21 portable units; hallways are gridlocked. Answer: Don’t want mall shopping centers. Traffic is horrible with big changes during the last two years. Answer: Twenty years from now I’d like to see a cohesive town center. We are developing around Lake Wilderness now with a library. Answer: A business district would be good. Schools are too crowded; they have the largest elementary school in the state. There are four elementary schools. Answer: Infrastructure needs to be planned prior to growth. We don’t want to look like Federal Way. Answer: Town center doesn’t necessarily have to be where businesses are. Limit multi-family dwellings because of the burden on infrastructure and environment. Light industrial long term would be good. Need more jobs in the community. The school district is the largest employer. Answer: Growth inevitable; traffic problems needs to be resolved. People want some space; they want to build on biggest lots allowable. General Discussion: Ramon led a discussion about how a town center might look and how mixed use fits into a town center as long as density is appropriate. We have a water issue; we have too many people now for the infrastructure. Community center should be a cultural center. Library, town hall, teen center, performing arts center, maybe a movie theater, senior center. Wilderness Village, Four Corners and 316 are three commercial centers. Through planning, these could feed the town centers. Downtown doesn’t necessarily have to be commercial. The potential is here; banks are here now, grocery stores are coming in. There are no 24 hour places in Maple Valley, so it shuts down at 10 p.m. Although we don’t want a "hopping" town, some people need services at night. A fundamental issue is this is a bedroom community; everyone has to drive for everything they need. It is necessary to find out what the private sector is interested in. Residential doesn’t pay for the services needed by itself. The only way around that is to have a complete town. Issues include the fact this is a through route for many people and that cannot be changed.
Choices include a village environment where the number of trips are minimized and through trips are routed onto 18. DOT’s will always want to add lanes to deal with traffic, but more lanes never really accommodate all the traffic; traffic volume increases. DOT projects for this area are limited, so short term solutions are up to the city. You will need to develop a community in which you minimize the number of trips. |
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