IV. ADMINISTRATION:

A. Chair’s Report

Executive Secretary: Chandler Felt and Jay Hamlin (Acting Chair of the Personnel Committee) reported that the Board has selected Shelby Miklethun as new Executive Secretary for the Boundary Review Board.  She will begin her tenure on June 13.  Lenora Blauman will remain with the Board until her retirement effective July 1.  

Chair Felt reported that Ms. Miklethun is attending as a guest at this meeting.  He invited her to introduce herself.  Ms. Miklethun shared her gratitude to the Board for selecting her for the position and her excitement for the opportunity and work.  She shared details regarding her professional and educational background and thanked Lenora Blauman and Angelica Velazquez for their service to the Board.  

General Business: Chair Felt and Lenora Blauman reported that the Board staff is currently working on several projects including: (1) coordination with King County Executive/Council Work Program; (2) coordinating activities with the State Association; (3) pre-development review for future Notices of Intention; (4) selection of a new Executive Secretary; (5) planning of orientation programs for 2022; (6) implementation of   the 2022 Budget; and (7) launching of the 2023-2024 Biennial Budget.

B. Orientation Program - King County Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget: King County Annexation Countywide Planning Policies (CPPS) & Growth Targets.

Ivan Miller, Rebecca Maskin

Ivan Miller and Rebeccah Maskin of the Regional Planning Section of the King County Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget presented to the Board regarding the King County 2021 Comprehensive Planning Policies (CPPs) and growth targets.

Mr. Miller shared that the County Council adopted the CPPs on December 21, 2021, via Ordinance 19384 and that the cities and towns of King County ratified them on April 6, 2022.  He noted that CPPs are for issues of a Countywide nature and are intended to be used as both guidance and expectations for comprehensive plans.  This update of the CPPs is in alignment with the Puget Sound Regional Council’s VISION 2050 and Regional Centers Framework, Growth Management Act (GMA) legislative changes, the King County Affordable Housing Committee Action Plan and Updated Urban Growth Capacity Study (f/k/a/ Buildable Lands Report.)  Policy focus areas of the update include equity and social justice, climate change and a revised centers framework.  Regarding annexation issues specifically, Mr. Miller shared that the update includes new language in several areas including DP-24, DP-25, DP-27, DP-28 and DP-30.  He added that this new language is intended to: 1) increase collaboration between parties and the County regarding annexation-related issues; 2) promote holistic evaluations of areas to potentially be annexed; and 3) promote equity and social justice analysis and community outreach as part of the annexation process.

Mr. Miller then highlighted the King County Unincorporated Urban Area Annexation Databook which the Regional Planning Section created in 2018 with significant assistance from Chair Felt who was then a member of that team before his service to the Board. This publication includes data on annexations and incorporations since 1990 and profiles for each Potential Annexation Area (PAA). It is intended to be a tool to support conversations with cities about annexation. Mr. Miller shared that in 2019, the County developed an Annexation Action Plan to further facilitate communication and collaboration between the County and the cities regarding annexation. Additionally, this plan revised the criteria for County review of proposals.

Members had several questions for Mr. Miller, including regarding how the CPPs address conflict between cities. He addressed these questions and shared that there are no longer overlapping PAAs in King County. He added that there are no PAAs that are affiliated with more than one jurisdiction. An updated PAA map is available for the public including the Board.

Ms. Maskin shared with the Board information regarding updated growth targets. She reported that growth targets are part of the CPPs for the urban area only. She stated they cover at least a 20-year period and are a policy statement of amount of housing and jobs that each jurisdiction will use for comprehensive plans. The process for determining growth targets is collaborative with all cities in King County, and the primary data source for the current update for 2019-2044 is the Puget Sound Regional Council Forecast. This update adopts the following growth targets for Urban King County, which is allocated 99% of all growth:

Ms. Maskin stated key themes gleaned from the process include transit investment and timing, relative capacity and an uncertainty about future job growth and capacity in the current environment.

Members had several questions for Ms. Maskin, including confirming that the forecast data from the Puget Sound Regional Council has a validation process and asking why the targets do not include the rural area. She confirmed there is a data validation process and stated that the decision not to include the rural area growth targets is a policy decision and that the overarching policy guidance in that realm is to not encourage growth in the rural area. Chair Felt thanked both Mr. Miller and Ms. Maskin for their informative presentation.

C. Committee Reports

Nominations Committee

Lenora Blauman, reporting on behalf of the Nominations Committee, stated that the Board is now working with the Water and Sewer Districts of King County to select a member to represent these Districts. The Water and Sewer District Board is meeting to select a candidate (or candidates) to recommend to the Board by the end of June, 2022. Candidate information will be provided to the Board’s Nominations Committee for review and selection of the new member.

Budget Committee:

Lenora Blauman reported that the Boundary Review Board staff is working with the King County Budget Office to administer the 2022 Biennial Budget. Standard operations costs are well-supported within the 2022 Budget through the first quarter of this year.

Claudia Hirschey and the Budget Committee are working with Board staff and Jim Record (Budget Analyst) to ensure that there is satisfactory funding provided in the 2022 Budget to support our new Executive Secretary and to provide “pay out” funding for Ms. Blauman to address vacation time and executive leave allocations remaining in her account. Mr. Record reports that the proposed budget management plans – which have been presented to the County -- are standard in form and function.

Ms. Blauman reported that the application process for the Biennial Budget for 2023-2024 remains underway. The Board’s Budget Committee has been active in the development and review process for this Biennial Budget.

The preliminary Budget Proposal has been submitted to the King County Office of Planning, Budget, and Strategy in the amount of $870,000 (as allocated by King County). Ms. Blauman is working with Mr. Record and Angelica Velasquez to ensure ongoing compliance with requirements for Budget Proposal content and format. The Board is expected to receive satisfactory funding for 2023-2024

Legislative Committees: King County Board; Washington State Association of Boundary Review Boards; American Planning Association – Washington Chapter (APA- WA)

Chandler Felt – speaking as a member of the APA-WA Legislative Committee – provided a Committee report to the Board. Mary Lynne Evans, Co-Chair of the King County Board’s Legislative Committee and Co-Chair of the WSABRB Legislative Committee contributed to the report.

Mr. Felt also provided a brief report regarding the APA-WA work with Road Map to Washington -Phase III (RMIII)– in connection with the Legislature -- which continues studies and is providing recommendations for several policies and programs in support of coordinated and equitable standards for the future development of Washington State. As part of that work, Chair Felt stated that he, Mary Lynne Evans and Lenora Blauman met with Joe Tovar, who is leading this effort with APA-WA, to clarify the authorities and responsibilities of the Boundary Review Board (prescribed by RCW 36.93 as independent, quasi-judicial agencies) pursuant to the review of creation of/changes to jurisdictional boundaries. This information will be relevant to the work of the Committee as it reviews annexation procedures and protocols. Both Chandler Felt and Mary Lynne Evans have planned to ensure that reports on future APA-WA activities will be provided to the Boundary Review Board.

D. Executive Secretary’s Report

FILE 2306: COVINGTON WATER DISTRICT -STATION BY VINTAGE ANNEXATION:

Ms. Blauman reported that the 30-day comment period for this file has closed and that, unless jurisdiction is invoked by June 16, the file is slated to be approved by operation of law on June 17, 2022.

ORIENTATION PROGRAMS:

Ms. Blauman is working with Shelby Miklethun to support planning for a new cycle of orientation programs in 2022. Suggestions include the following topics/agencies:

• Municipal Research Services Center

• APA-WA Legislative Team

• Special Purpose District Teams

Correspondence:

General Correspondence

Chair Felt stated that no general correspondence has been submitted to the Board.