Township idea
proposed for Key Pen
By Jeanette Brown
Special to the KP
News
Chuck West is
frustrated with his efforts to get much-needed
services and road safety improvements funded and
implemented on the Key Peninsula. Many residents on
the KP know West as the division chief for Pierce
County Fire District 16 and, recently, as the 2008
recipient of the Citizen of the Year award. Now,
West wears a new hat as he lobbies for more local
representation and recognition on the Key Peninsula
by the Pierce County Council and the Washington
State Legislature in order to bring new services and
keep existing basic services and their funding local
to the Key Peninsula area.
An aerial view of Vaughn Bay. The entire
Key Pen would become part of
a township under a proposal that is
being discussed.
Photo courtesy of Mike Baum, Vantage
Point Photography |
After West
realized the Key Peninsula was generating enough tax
revenue to make the needed safety improvements to KP
highways and congested intersections, he addressed
county council members and tried to influence them
to allocate the necessary funding. West said, “[I]
got very little attention from the county regarding
my safety concerns and found that council members
were reluctant to deliver.”
Once an area has
been designated as an urban growth area, it can
incorporate into a city. He explained that, “because
the Key Peninsula is not a designated urban growth
area under the Washington State Growth Management
Act, the Pierce County Council can allocate funds
generated from the KP’s assessed tax evaluation of
$2 billion to other incorporated areas of Pierce
County that meet urban growth area criteria.”
“The Key Peninsula
does not have a voice at the county level or much
local control over the tax revenue it generates,”
West said. “I would like to see more Key Peninsula
Community Council members attending Pierce County
Council meetings to promote local funding and
provide local representation.”
He noted the
county council is ignoring the basic safety needs of
Key Peninsula residents while approving a new $6.5
million expansion of the Cushman Trail in Gig Harbor
and allocating funding for a new golf course at
University Place. “I can’t even get them to fund a
crosswalk at Key Center,” he said, and asserts that
the main intersection at Key Center needs a traffic
signal too.
A view of Key Center, one of KP’s
commercial rural centers. The entire
Key Pen would become part of a township
under a proposal that is being
discussed. Archive photo by Mindi LaRose |
Realizing that
most residents on the Key Peninsula would like to
keep the KP rural and don’t want to incorporate as a
city or become part of an UGA, West started to
research the possibility of creating a new type of
entity based on the township models found on the
East Coast. “We are in the early stages of
researching the feasibility of a township model that
would allow KP residents to have more local control
with respect to the allocation of funds on the Key
Peninsula in order to get the services they need and
deserve and that they are already paying for,” he
said.
The Key Peninsula
Township would start at Purdy and extend to the end
of the Peninsula at Longbranch. West recently
approached the Key Peninsula Business Association
and the Key Peninsula Community Council with his
proposal to keep tax revenue locally; his idea has
been well received by both organizations.
“KP business
owners and residents would like to see their tax
dollars put to use locally in order to fund road
improvements and fix dangerous intersections,” he
said. In addition, he believes if the tax revenue
stays local, it could be used to build new schools,
a new library near Lake Kathryn, and to create a
park-and-ride that would help ease up congestion at
the Purdy Bridge. He would also like to see outreach
programs offered on the KP through the new Gig
Harbor Boys and Girls Club at the Vaughn Civic
Center for local area youth.
West contacted
State Rep. Larry Seaquist, who has embraced the idea
with enthusiasm. Seaquist said in an interview he
would like to see the Key Peninsula “grow modern and
stay rural.” “The township would build on the
existing master community plan approved by the
Pierce County Council last year,” he said, adding
that if the citizens want to proceed in that
direction, he would be happy to sponsor the
legislation necessary at the state level. “It is
really all about what the residents of the KP want,”
he said.
According to West,
a township would create revenue to support services
for an area identified as a geographically isolated
region or belt. He believes the Key Peninsula meets
this criteria and would like the community’s input.
