Drafter
Clerk 08/03/2017
Title
AN ORDINANCE approving an agreement between King County and the city of Algona relating to construction of a new recycling and transfer station and authorizing the King County executive to sign and implement the agreement.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. The King County solid waste system serves the unincorporated areas of King County and thirty-seven cities that have signed interlocal agreements with the county.
2. The solid waste system is comprised of eight transfer stations, two drop boxes, and the Cedar Hills regional landfill. Several of the original transfer stations, built in the 1960s, are still in operation today. The Algona transfer station is one of these stations.
3. Transfer stations are essential public facilities that are vital to communities for the safe and efficient handling of their solid waste.
4. Adopted in 2004, Ordinance 14971 to establishes a process for the cities to collaborate with the county in solid waste system planning, including future transfer station alternatives.
5. Working with the cities, the solid waste division of the department of natural resources and parks developed the Solid Waste Transfer and Waste Management Plan in 2007, as required by Ordinance 14971. According to the plan, the existing Algona transfer station fails to meet five of the six level-of-service station capacity criteria, because only the hours of operation were sufficient, and did not meet goals for traffic impacts on local streets. The plan recommends replacing the aging Algona transfer station with a new recycling and transfer station. These findings were confirmed though the 2014 Transfer Plan review.
6. In 2012, the solid waste division began a search for potential sites on which to locate a new south county recycling and transfer station. The site search for this essential public facility was concentrated in and around the cities of Auburn, Algona, Pacific and Federal Way, which is the service area for the existing Algona transfer station.
7. The division conducted an in-depth search that screened sites with pre-established policy criteria. Starting with over one hundred sites, the division narrowed the list of reasonable alternatives to two potential sites.
8. The division prepared an environmental impact statement analyzing two action alternatives located at 901 C Street Southwest, Auburn, and 35101 West Valley Highway South, Algona, which is the preferred alternative. A no-action alternative was also analyzed.
9. Notices that the draft environmental impact statement was available for public comment were sent to over twenty-six thousand residents and emailed to a list of agencies, residents and other interested stakeholders that had participated in other public comment periods or meetings. The solid waste division received comment letters from seventy-eight stakeholders. The comments were reviewed and a response summary was incorporated in the final environmental impact statement.
10. The final environmental impact statement was issued on September 20, 2016.
11. In February 2017, the executive made the decision to proceed with the new recycling and transfer station at the site in the city of Algona. The decision considered the findings from the final environmental impact statement, an equity impact review that looked at equity and social justice factors and an economic analysis that considered the potential positive and negative economic impacts of the station.
12. The county and the city of Algona have had discussions about the new recycling and transfer station project and desire to enter into an agreement relating to the construction of the new recycling and transfer station in the city. The agreement includes a development agreement pursuant to chapter 36.70B.170 RCW, which establishes the permitting standards and conditions, the mitigation measures and the permit process governing the construction of the new recycling and transfer station in the city as well as providing certain additional requirements for the operation of the facility.
13. The agreement will provide for regulatory certainty, mitigation and timely construction of the new recycling and transfer station. In accordance with chapter 36.58.080 RCW, the agreement establishes the nature and extent of future vehicular traffic impacts to the West Valley Highway S within the city of Algona from the new recycling and transfer station and the extent to which the county shall compensate the city. The agreement also establishes the project mitigation options as identified in the final environmental impact statement and establishes a mechanism to resolve disputes if they arise during the city's permitting process.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. The agreement with the city of Algona, relating to the construction of a new recycling and transfer station, substantially in the form of Attachment A to this
ordinance, is hereby approved, and the King County executive is authorized to sign and to implement the agreement.