The current House Capital Budget proposal includes a provision that would give away land currently held in the Developmental Disability Community Trust (Trust) to the City of Shoreline to create a dog park. Sections 3312 and 7305 of the proposed House Budget Bill affect trust land located at the Fircrest School in Shoreline, Washington. If enacted, these provisions would require the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) to transfer up to six acres of the trust land and to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), exchanging it for land of at least equivalent type and value. The DNR would be required to transfer the land to the King County Housing Authority for the development of affordable housing.

The proposal is has been presented to suggest that the affordable housing would be used to benefit the developmental disability (DD) community.  In reality, however, only a few units would be reserved for residents with disabilities, and most of those residents would not be able to access those units unless they were provided appropriate community supports. Community supports for individuals with disabilities have been routinely underfunded by the State Legislature and many people who are in critical need are not able to gain access to these supports due to this lack of funding. The land giveaway would essentially eliminate the possibility of that land being sold to provide critical funding that could be used for community supports to serve unserved people in the developmental disability community by taking the only valuable piece of excess property in the Trust at Fircrest and give it away to the City of Shoreline.

Not only is this troubling repurposing of this property morally questionable and financially irresponsible, but it is also contrary to Washington law. When the Trust was initially created in 2005 and codified as RCW 71A.20.170, the law provided that excess property must be managed to maximize income to benefit persons with developmental disabilities who can be served by community based services. The original intent was that this land would be reserved to benefit the DD community. The income generated from the lease of land, conservation easements, sale of timber, or other activities must be deposited into the Developmental Disability Community Trust Account. Passing this proposal would amend RCW 71A.20.170 to alter the use of this property which would fail to maximize its revenue potential for the benefit of the DD community.

If adopted, this proposal would surrender millions of dollars that could be used to provide services to individuals in the DD community.

Please call your 2 State Representatives and State Senator and ask them to reconsider! If you don't know which legislative district you live in, you can find it here!

Thank you for standing together with us for change!