The revitalization of the Highlands has been on the City of Renton’s to-do list for many years. Task forces have been created and improvements suggested, and now city staff is to begin tackling a new to-do list.
Improvements to consider include recommendations made by the Highlands Phase II Task Force. The Renton City Council unanimously adopted those 24 recommendations at its meeting Monday night. The council had approved those recommendations at a Dec. 8 meeting of the Committee of the Whole, which is the entire council.
City staff are now working on how to make those recommendations a reality, says Erika Conkling, Renton senior planner. Conkling was the city project manager for the task force.
Conkling says city staff will present City Council with an implementation plan for those improvements in February. Staff will present the council with a report of its Highlands’ accomplishments before the end of 2009.
City Council will help decide when and how the recommendations will be made. Some of the suggestions fit into improvements city staff was already planning for the Highlands and don’t require lots of funding. Those recommendations are more likely to be implemented this year, Conkling says. Other recommendations are new, and will require new programming. Those suggestions might be enacted over the next few years, Conkling says.
Ultimately, the city’s budget will determine the development of the 24 recommendations.
“Some of the recommendations require millions of dollars of capital investment,” Conkling says. “I think it’s far-fetched to say every one of those recommendations would be implemented to the fullest extent. But I think the council is interested in investigating whether it’s possible to get there. That’s what we’re working on now.”
The 14-member Highlands Phase II Task Force developed the 24 recommendations over 15 months, while working with more than 40 City of Renton staff members. The group also received input from citizens at a public meeting in February 2008.
The task force was appointed by Renton City Council in the summer of 2007 to continue where the Phase I Task Force left off in 2006. That first Highlands task force focused on land-use and zoning. The Phase II Task Force was thanked and disbanded at Monday’s meeting.
The Phase II Task Force was made up of Highlands property owners, renters and business owners, plus representatives from Renton Housing Authority, Renton School District, Renton Planning Commission, neighborhood groups and local churches.
Conkling described the group as “lots of individuals with lots of very divergent perspectives.”
“I’m really proud of the work that the community did,” Conkling said. “It was a long, hard process. Not hard in terms of being difficult, but there were a lot of issues.”
Highlands resident and task force member Roxanna Johnson says she’s happy the City Council recognized that hard work.
“I was pleased the City Council and mayor accepted the recommendations,” she said. “That doesn’t mean they’re going to do everything, but they’ll take into account what the Highlands folks really need.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE HIGHLAND’S TASK FORCE, GO TO:
The boundaries of the Highlands study area are:
• Northeast 23rd Street to the north
• Union Avenue Northeast to the east
• Northeast Third/Fourth Street to the south
• Aberdeen Avenue Northeast and Edmonds Avenue Northeast to the west
Task force members
Chair Renton City Council member Terri Briere. Vice Chair Nancy Osborn of the Renton Planning Commission. Members: Vice Chair Scott Anderson, Steve Beck, Jerri Broeffle, Sandel DeMastus, Penny Eskenazi, Kim Howard, Roxanna Johnson, Marcie Maxwell, Howard McOmber, Evelyn Mitchell and Brock Weedman.
Task force recommendations
Some of the task force’s recommendations fit into improvements the City of Renton was already planning for the Highlands, and some are new.
Already planned improvements include park planning, senior recreation opportunities, expanding the Highlands library, expanding business and neighborhood safety and crime-awareness programs and strengthening code enforcement.
New recommendations are:
• Create a community center
• Develop a package of major infrastructure improvements
• Develop a Highlands sidewalk repair program
• Create an improvement plan for Sunset Boulevard
• Inventory the area’s open and public spaces to determine their best public use
• Develop a first-time home-buyer program in Renton
• Investigate the possibility of a sub-regional storm water drainage facility to serve the Highlands
