The Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River subarea is one step closer to documenting the long-term vision for their community.

On Sept. 26, the King County Department of Local Services Subarea Planning team held an open house at the Hobart Community Church to start the conversation about community values, priorities, and concerns.

More than 120 people joined King County staff and subject matter experts to learn about the process and give their input regarding:

  • Housing and human services
  • Transportation
  • Parks, open space
  • Cultural resources
  • Services
  • Utilities
  • Economic development
  • Land use and zoning

These elements play a role in the character and development of a community.

Local Services brought in an artist to capture comments throughout the evening and represent them visually. She listened and made companion sketches. She filled in the color and posted the illustrations for residents to see. It’s an interesting approach and works for people who prefer visuals to words.

Hearing from the community is the first step in the process of getting that long-term vision right.

From the start, it was obvious that the Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River open house was more interactive than your regular government meeting. Through spirited conversation, visual activities and a unique illustration approach, residents shared their desire to keep their rural community’s character while also addressing the issues that come with population growth.

Planner Kaitlin Harris answers questions from Peter Rimbos of the Greater Maple Valley Unincorporated Area Council.

Issues include traffic congestion, mental health support, local economic development, zoning rules for large industrial projects and the cost and inspection for local on-site septic systems.

Residents who didn’t make the meeting are encouraged to share their feedback in a survey here: Greater Maple Valley/ Cedar River Subarea Plan Vision and Scoping Survey – PublicInput

Residents were engaged as they walked around the room looking at various boards that describe the existing conditions in their community. The ‘existing conditions report’ is a starting point for residents so they can see what’s happening now. This helps puts the future in perspective.

What’s next

The meeting was just the start of the process to listen, draft ideas and get feedback, create policy proposals and amend those proposals. At each step of the process, the planning team will use on-going community feedback. Planning is a two-way street.

If you live in the area, please bookmark this site. This is where you can find all updates and track opportunities to stay engaged: Greater Maple Valley/Cedar River Subarea Plan – PublicInput

Here are a few more pictures from the open house:

Planning supervisor Susan McLain matches a comment to a resident as she prepares to take a photo.
Deputy Director Danielle de Clercq and Community Service Area Liaison, Marissa Alegria, welcomed residents to the meeting.
Planner Katharine Shaffer’s event station focused on existing land use – what we are doing with our land and open space now and what current limits are in place.
Placing sticky notes is one way to gather information about community priorities. By the end of the night, it was clear that residents care about it all! That’s good to know too.
Colored dots are a great way to get a feel for the community. Dots represent where people live and where we should focus our work.
King County uses many tools to connect with residents to let them know what’s happening in their community. To make our request fun, we asked residents to put a black token in the right box to help us understand what works with our communications channels.