Advisory vote may help Mukilteo grow

Published 8:47 pm Saturday, October 23, 2010

MUKILTEO — Mark Fussell has a list of reasons he’d like this city to annex his Lake Serene neighborhood, which lies just south of city limits.

For one, Snohomish County Sheriff’s deputies are slow to show up when needed, he said.

And cities have better development regulations, Fussell said.

“In an urban area, it just doesn’t make sense to be part of the county when the county is laying off people,” he said.

Voters in the Nov. 2 general election are being asked to weigh in on whether they like the idea of annexing 2,559 acres — and about 11,000 people — south and east of this city of 20,500.

It’s an area that stretches south from 148th Street SW, west to the shoreline and east to Airport Road and Highway 99.

The vote is a way for city officials to gauge the preferences of city residents. It is advisory and carries no legal weight.

‘‘But it certainly carries political weight,” Mayor Joe Marine said.

If residents vote in favor of annexation, the council will decide whether it’s better to annex the entire area at once, or in stages.

Before annexation could happen, the city’s proposal would have to be approved by both the City Council and the state Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County.

By law, only people like Fussell who live in the proposed annexation area will be able to vote on whether the annexation occurs.

A similar annexation proposal appeared headed for a public vote last year after the review board approved it.

It hit a wall when Snohomish County Fire District 1 challenged the annexation proposal in court, so a public vote never happened.

Among other things, the fire service’s lawsuit said former boundary review board member Lori Kaiser had a conflict of interest because she sat on Mukilteo City Council from 2004 to 2007.

Instead of challenging the lawsuit, the city decided to start the process over again this year, Marine said. Kaiser is no longer on the City Council nor on the state boundary review commission.

Proponents say the annexation would bring more money into the city than it costs to service the new area. They say the change would provide the nearly built-out city room to grow and bring in new revenues from sales and property taxes.

The state also offers an incentive to annexation. If the city annexes by 2014, it would receive $500,000 to $800,000 in additional sales tax revenues over 10 years, part of a state law to help cities cover the costs of growing.

Opponents are skeptical.

Jon Voyce, who started a group, Save Mukilteo, to fight the proposal, said in his surveys he’s only met one person who likes the idea. The proposal, he said, is being pushed by city officials, not residents.

The advisory vote asks voters whether they approve of, oppose or have no opinion about the annexation.

”They want wiggle room,” Voyce said. “In case the result is close they can say ‘well, the people really want this’.’’

Marine said fear of the unknown is driving the opposition. Annexation, he said, gives the city control over how development happens. That’s important because state growth management laws force cities to accept more growth to prevent sprawl.

Besides, large stretches of undeveloped land along the Mukilteo Speedway, the city’s main north-south thoroughfare, are outside city limits. Annexation would bring those areas into the city, giving Mukilteo control over development, Marine said.

Opponents, he said, would live to regret not annexing, especially if airlines begin regular service at nearby Paine Field.

“I don’t even want to think about what that area could become,” he said.

Oscar Halpert: 425-339-3429; ohalpert@heraldnet.com.