VASHON ISLAND, Wash. — The Vashon-Maury Community Council is using its monthly meeting to discuss topics that are causing a debate on the island. Some residents are raising questions about plans for a treatment center and possible zoning changes.
"I think there is a little bit of a disconnect between what happens here on Vashon Island and the rest of King County,” Travis Holman said.
Holman said Vashon Island is unique. Victoria Barr agreed.
"There is no other place in this county that is a bridgeless island," Barr said. "That's the problem. We haven't had that dialogue."
Wednesday’s meeting will address turning a former senior living facility into the Thunderbird Treatment Center for substance use disorders.
In April 2023, Esther Lucero, the President and CEO of the Seattle Indian Health Board, explained why she's pushing for it.
"We’re actually losing generations of our children to addiction and we made a commitment to our tribal partners and urban Indian community that we would provide a solution to that," Lucero said at the time.
Supporters want to see it open next year.
"We may not be able to even if we would like to, we may very well not be able to make a success of the things they want to bring over here,” said Barr who points to a lack of infrastructure. "We don't have a hospital. We have inadequate health care. We have inadequate transportation."
Another issue is King County's 10-year comprehensive plan and possible zoning changes.
"I think that when people don't know the information that is when they are afraid and when they are afraid that is when people are most likely to just say no to something so I think that this meeting could be a really good for the island,” Holman said.