Make sidewalks safe for seniors, disabled
As many Vashon residents may have noticed, the sidewalks and crossings in town are becoming increasingly difficult for our seniors and disabled neighbors to navigate.
King County Roads recently published its draft ADA Transition Plan in order to make the county’s sidewalks, curb ramps, and street crossings ADA compliant. However, Roads has a fiscal crisis on its hands. Over the next six years, they only have $900,000 to fix existing sidewalks and crossings that are not ADA compliant, yet they estimate making all of the sidewalks and crossings in the county ADA compliant will cost over $500 million.
The first recommended action in the draft ADA Transition Plan is to seek funding and King County Roads is working hard to make it happen. However, until the county finds the full $500 million needed, projects will essentially be triaged through a “prioritization” process. The prioritization process is a scoring system that looks primarily at two factors: 1) Physical impact to accessibility and 2) Proximity to key pedestrian destinations, such as transit stops and schools.
Community input will directly inform the prioritization process. Therefore, it is important for Vashon’s seniors and disabled that we get as many concerned Vashonites as possible to submit feedback on the draft ADA Transition Plan so that the final plan will be more likely to emphasize Vashon projects.
For more information on the plan and information on how to submit public comments, visit the VMICC’s website at vmicc.net/ADA. — Adam Foster, Active Transportation Chair, Vashon-Maury Island Community Council
‘Hey, King County, you should ______’
What services, programs, or capital improvements should be on the Vashon-Maury Island Community Needs List?
King County Local Services is asking for input from community members in unincorporated areas to create Community Needs Lists for their areas. The first step is to put together a catalog of community requests. Islanders are invited to take part in this effort online by visiting publicinput.com/vashon.
After the end of March 2021, the first batch of community requests will be reviewed, vetted, and prioritized by Local Services, other County agencies, and communities during the summer and fall months. The survey will remain open after March, however, to collect additional input after March, but the county said manageable internal review timelines.
Give input on Dockton Park playspace
King County Parks is seeking input, through March 7, on a plan for a new play area in Dockton Park.
As part of this plan, Parks will replace the play equipment and safety surfacing of the play area at the park, and also address drainage issues and make the play area more accessible. The new play area will be built in the same footprint and will include one central play structure, additional smaller play features, and swings.
Design of the new play area will take place in March and April, construction is now slated to begin in May and will be completed in July. To weigh in on the survey, visit online.
