Mill Creek and Lynnwood want same land for growth
Published 10:41 pm Saturday, May 9, 2009
Mill Creek and Lynnwood have submitted their arguments as to which city is best suited to annex one of the last remaining areas of unincorporated land between them.
Now it’s up to the Washington State Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County to rule whether Lynnwood can proceed to an annexation election next November with the map it has in mind or whether certain portions of the proposed annexation area should be removed.
The state board will hold a hearing on the matter Tuesday and is expected to issue a boundary ruling within 21 days.
If the board agrees with Lynnwood’s proposed annexation map, the City Council will still have to vote next June on exactly which areas the city will ask voters in those unincorporated areas to OK for annexation on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The city of Mill Creek is challenging Lynnwood’s annexation proposal because leaders there say the Municipal Urban Growth Area that borders I-5, known to Lynnwood planners as Larch Way, should eventually be part of Mill Creek.
“We have an interest in influencing growth,” said Mill Creek planning manager Tom Rogers, during a briefing on the subject before the City Council on April 28.
Mill Creek Councilwoman Mary Kay Voss said she’s concerned about recent alterations to the city’s Comprehensive Plan, in which the city declared an emergency so it could make the changes.
“I question why we would push Lynnwood at this point, if we have expressed at some point that we are not interested in annexation,” she said. “To me, it’s kind of disingenuous.”
Rogers said the city has a strong interest in the future land use and development along the 164th Street corridor “regardless of whether we annex or not.”
“There’s nothing in these amendments that says we’re fighting with the city of Lynnwood over that overlap area,” he said. The point of amending the city’s land-use plan was to emphasize “the city cares what’s going to happen in that area.”
Councilman Mark Harmsworth said, “Let’s not beat around the bush: Lynnwood’s coming out here because they want those numbers and dollars. I don’t blame them. If I were on the Lynnwood City Council, I’d vote the same way.”
The Snohomish County Council last month voted to invoke jurisdiction, which essentially means the county wants a seat at the boundary review board hearing table. But the County Council voted unanimously not to oppose Lynnwood’s plans.
Paul Krauss, Lynnwood’s community development director, said his staff reviewed its annexation plans with Mill Creek officials for two years and attempted to reach a compromise on the unincorporated area just east of I-5 that lies within both cities’ municipal urban growth areas.
“I can tell you Lynnwood came to the table with options and what we were hearing was, ‘We don’t have any plans now but why don’t you not do this?’ ” Krauss said.
Even if the state board approves Lynnwood’s annexation plan, which could add as many as 27,000 residents to the city, voters could still say “no” next November.
“We are shooting for the November ballot but there’s always the potential that it could be on the ballot in the following year” if voters reject the plan, Krauss said.
