‘BBI’ and a ‘main street’ concept among the advice for Maple Valley

Maple Valley officials are on the right path for economic development, according to a panel of development experts, but were advised that this is “a marathon, not a sprint.”

Developers met with the City Council and members of the city’s Planning Commission and Economic Development Committee last week, discussing the city’s Four Corners sub-area plan in depth as the city sought feedback on the proposed plan and its alternatives, as well as guidance and advice.

The plan, which the city has been crafting for more than two years, is meant to be a blueprint for development of the Four Corners area as it grows and evolves.

Changes are coming at Four Corners Square, which will see new businesses and renovation or relocation of existing stores. And a new development has been proposed across State Route 169 that would bring a Fred Meyer store and other shops to the northeast corner of the intersection of Maple Valley Highway and Kent-Kangley Road.

Maple Valley also purchased the Summit Pit site just south of Four Corners and west of SR-169 with the intent to build ballfields.

The trick will be to figure out how to connect the old with the new, as well as creating a center of the community that maintains the small town feel that has drawn people to Maple Valley while including the development of the 54-acre Legacy Site north of Four Corners and connecting it all to Lake Wilderness Park.

City officials asked the experts for their thoughts on a number of topics during the three-hour session last week.

Bob Bengford of Maker’s Architecture and Urban Design said that “there has been considerable community participation throughout this process. Back in January, we held the second work shop and almost 160 people attended. The result of that is the straw proposal.”

Paul Keller, principal with Urban Partners, advised, “The average transaction we’re involved in is seven years. If you truly are committed to this and you truly have the political will, this is a marathon, not a sprint.”

Keller also suggested coming up with a “BBI,” or a big, bold idea.

“You need a BBI for this planning area, and it needs to be short and it needs to be succinct if you ever want to get this” funded, Keller said. “It sounds like you’ve put in a tremendous amount of work, and I commend you.”

Keller also applauded the city for its housing developments and said Maple Valley is fortunate to have the existing commercial it does have, particularly the Safeway store.

Developing a vision that is easy to communicate was a piece of advice that Ron Sher of Metrovation offered during the forum.

“If you’re going to capture the retail dollars, it’s because it has more of a sense of place, of image and vision,” Sher said. “Otherwise it’s competing with the person who may be going down to Auburn or something to work. With a sense of vision, it’s going to be much easier to attract people to come here.”

Sher also said it’s important to bring in businesses that create activity, because that will draw people to the area.

“At first, you can’t be too picky if it’s commercial, if it keeps the light on and creates a pulse,” Sher said. “It builds because there’s activity and people are attracted to it by other people. Those kinds of things are going to make a big difference.”

Jim Flynn, a former City Council member and owner of Flynn Development, described the proposals as “very ambitious.”

“There are unrealistic expectations about how fast this is going to happen,” Flynn said. “It being a marathon versus a sprint, I think, is very true.”

Flynn added that one suggestion that the city create a main street with festival retail businesses two blocks off Maple Valley Highway is going to be difficult, considering that SR-169 is currently the city’s main street.

“I think it would be possible if those elements were developed around the existing main street,” he said. “I think we could structure a plan on both sides of the highway that would complement each other that would make use of the actual main street.”

Heather Maggio, a member of the Economic Development Committee, said she would prefer the city build a main street off SR-169 that would offer mixed-use shops on the ground floor and possibly condos or offices above.

“I’m going there as a destination with my kids, with my family,” Maggio said. “We go to Lake Wilderness three times a week. I would love to have a secondary option, some place I can take my kids for ice cream or a long walk. (Putting) that closer to 169, that concerns me that it looks more like a strip mall, that it loses its focus, that feeling that Maple Valley has. That worries me.”

Another aspect of the plan emphasizes creating a pedestrian-friendly Four Corners.

“The biggest issue we have is that we don’t have many pedestrians,” Flynn said. “There’s a natural tendency for people to drive. I don’t think you’re going to get people walking throughout. That’s just not the nature of our community.”

By creating a gathering place with close connections, according to Tori Laughlin-Taylor with Lorig Associates, Maple Valley residents may find they have reason to get out of their cars.

“When you have a gathring place that’s connected, then more people are going to walk rather than drive across the parking lot,” Laughlin-Taylor said. “Why not build on the really remarkable connections you have to green spaces here and on capturing the retail market that is already here?”

Laughlin-Taylor said the challenge for Maple Valley is different than for more urban areas because of the natural beauty of the city and the opportunities that offers.

“You have some amazing spaces to connect to,” she said. “How do you do that in a way that brings the density together while allowing a close connection to those open spaces? One of the tools you have in doing that is connecting your civic campus to people. And you have that challenge of how do you get people off the highway.”

And though she believes that with the right planning and development people will walk and not drive, Laughlin-Taylor said plenty of parking is vital, possibly creating flat lots now with space for garages in the future as the city grows.

Mayor Laure Iddings said there is concern that there may be too much focus on commercial development, and the council is “trying to find that balance.”

“When we first started this exercise a few years ago, it was a way to provide economic sustainability and viability for the community as a whole,” Iddings said. “We want to provide the services the citizens have been asking for as well as a job base. Wouldn’t it be wonderful for people to be able to live here and work here. Now we’re looking at festival retail. It seems to be the catch phrase of the century. But is that the end-all, be-all?”

Keller said how Four Corners develops is “really a matter of filling this in properly, which is going to lead to a whole series of challenges having to do with timing and ultimately how the project is going to be capitalized. How is this going to be paid for?”

After the forum, assistant city manager Philip Morley said there was “lots of encouragement that the city is on the right track.”

Staff writer Kris Hill can be reached at (425) 432-1209 (extension 5054) and khill@reporternewspapers.com