Tahoma School District gets room to grow: County Council unanimously adopts ordinances selling portion of Summit Pit to district

October 6, 2014

Summary

Dunn legislation step toward new High School

Story

The Tahoma School District (TSD) is looking for space to expand, and with today’s unanimous vote by the Metropolitan King County Council, the district now has the land it needs. The Council acted on legislation sponsored by Councilmember Reagan Dunn authorizing the county to sell a portion of the Summit Pit property in Maple Valley to the School District to facilitate construction of a new high school.

“The voters in the Tahoma School District spoke loud and clear in support of a new high school to meet the needs of a growing district,” said Dunn who represents the residents of the Tahoma School District on the County Council. “I would like to thank my colleagues on the County Council for their expeditious review that allows the proposed construction timeline to stay on schedule.”

“On behalf of our Board of Directors, I want to express our great appreciation to the King County Council for its action today. We appreciate the opportunity to work together with King County and the City of Maple Valley to site a high school in a location best suited for our students and the community.” said Tahoma School District Superintendent Rob Morrow. “Without the creative thinking and cooperative planning of all three parties, this school would not be a reality. The County Council's timely action today allows us to move forward to address critical capacity needs in our district and to fulfill our community's vision for a centrally located high school and regional learning center.”

The adopted ordinances approve the Purchase and Sale Agreement of the land and provide appropriation approval for the transaction. The Tahoma School District will utilize district funds and a contribution from the state of Washington to meet the $9 million purchase of 35 acres of the 156 acre site for a new high school development. The School District’s goal is to have the new high school ready for students by 2017. They requested closing on the Summit Pit parcel by the end of 2014 so construction of the facility can proceed.

Along with the sale of the land to the school, the accompanying legislation includes an amendment sponsored by Councilmember Dunn that allocates $2.9 million from the sale of the property to the County’s Road Services Division to assist in the repair backlog of roads in unincorporated King County.

“Roads in unincorporated King County, like many other municipal road networks are aging rapidly and are in need of repair”, said Dunn, “I would like to thank my council colleagues and the Executive for working with me to reprioritize $2.9 million of the proceeds of this sale to fund capital improvements in our road network.”