The King County Council approved the county’s 2019-20 budget last Tuesday, allocating $4 million for The Creekside Village apartments on Vashon as part of the county’s $11.7 billion spending plan.

The project, first proposed three years ago, is expected to provide 40 apartments and a common house, integrating affordable rental housing, wetland preservation and open space.

Vashon’s Shelter America Group is behind the project, which will be located on Gorsuch Road on property owned by islander Mike Masi. Last week, Shelter America’s President Christopher Bric said the county’s financial support will make the project possible.

“This was huge for us to secure these funds,” he said.

He called the $4 million “the centerpiece” to the project’s financing package and said it will allow them to continue pre-development architecture and engineering work. While there may be challenges ahead, as with any project, Bric said he fully expects that Creekside Village will be built.

“Now we can proceed with confidence. I think it is a very sure- footed project,” he said.

Going forward, 2019 will be focused on completing the architectural and engineering work, permitting and closing all financing for the project. A 12-month construction schedule will take up 2020, he said, with the community opening of the building set for 2021.

Last week, Bric was quick to thank many people for the funding, including state Sen. Sharon Nelson and Reps. Eileen Cody and Joe Fitzgibbon. They sent letters of support for the project to King County Executive Dow Constantine, who became a project supporter, Bric said.

He extended “special thanks” to King County Council Chair Joe McDermott, who represents Vashon.

“He and his staff really got behind this and really understood the need for affordable housing on Vashon,” Bric added.

Bric also thanked the heads of many nonprofits and businesses on the island for supporting the project, including the chamber of commerce, the Land Trust, Vashon Island School District and Vashon Youth & Family Services.

Last spring, speaking about the project, Bric noted that the property near town is rare, with water, sewer and a patient seller, who has wanted for years to provide affordable housing.

“Someone called it the Halley’s Comet project,” he said at the time. “Vashon won’t have an opportunity like this in the foreseeable future unless something changes dramatically.”

Creekside Village is expected to include one-, two- and three-bedroom units and serve people who earn 60 percent of the area median income or below. Currently, King County area median income is $72,380 for one person and $100,400 for a family of four.

Bric said he plans to keep the many supporters of the project informed of its progress and invited islanders to stop by his office on Bank Road to check in on the progress as well.

Three years ago when the project started, it looked like a long shot, he said. Supporters suffered a disappointment in 2016, when the county turned down a funding proposal for the project. But the county told them to try again, and they persevered, receiving the news of the funding last week.

“I am looking forward to doing the work to make the project happen,” he said.

The budget includes a variety of projects and services that may be helpful to islanders, according to McDermott’s Chief of Staff Grant Lahmann.

The Department of Local Services was funded through this budget and will open on Jan. 1. The department is intended to improve services to unincorporated areas of the county and is expected to streamline permitting, roads maintenance and some other county services.

As part of the creation of that department, an economic development position was created to support and provide technical assistance to people in unincorporated areas.

“We are hoping that is an additional resource that island residents and businesses will take advantage of,” Lahmann said.

Regarding the county’s passenger-only ferry service to Seattle, Lahmann noted that McDermott prevented a fare increase, which was slated for 50 cents at the beginning of 2020.

“The fares have been rising once a biennium since 2012,” he wrote in an email. “This will be the first time they will remain flat, and Joe will be working with Metro to align any future fare increases with scheduled bus fare increases, with the goal of simplifying changes to the cost of transportation for folks.”

Additional Vashon-specific budget allocations include $300,000 for farmland preservation, covering 10 farms over 104 acres and $500,000 to acquire 40 acres of forest in southern Vashon to become part of Frog Holler Forest. With a recent purchase of 12 acres two weeks ago, this purchase will bring Holler Forest to 112 acres.

Finally, the budget allocated $1.7 million for Vashon ecosystem restoration. Lahmann said this program includes actions to protect or restore aquatic ecosystems in the Vashon-Maury Island Watershed, including reconnecting side-channel habitat to a main river, removing levees and other forms of bank hardening, eliminating human-made barriers to fish migration (such as blocked culverts) and recreating log jams to increase the complexity of river flows.

For more information on King County’s budget, see kingcounty.gov/council/budget.aspx.