Mukilteo voters will mull annexation

Published 9:50 pm Thursday, September 9, 2010

MUKILTEO — A 2009 annexation proposal, dormant after it was challenged in court, is alive and kicking again.

This time, city officials want residents to weigh in in it before the city decides whether — and how — to move forward.

City voters Nov. 2 will be asked to cast an advisory vote on whether they think annexing 2,559 acres south of this city of 20,050 is a good or bad idea or whether they have no opinion.

“The big thing about this vote is asking Mukilteo voters if they think this is a policy they should pursue,” Councilwoman Jennifer Gregerson said.

About 11,000 people live in the proposed annexation area, which stretches south from 148th Street SW, west to the shoreline and east to Airport Road and Highway 99.

“Police response is a major concern … but it was really a desire to have more say,” said Mark Fussell, a resident of the unincorporated area.

Fussell, vice president of the Lake Serene Community Association, said most of the residents he’s spoken to like the idea of joining the city.

The proposed annexation seemed all but set to go to a public vote last year after the state Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County agreed to allow it.

But the proposal ran into a roadblock when Snohomish County Fire District 1 challenged the proposal in court. Among other things, the fire service’s lawsuit said former review board member Lori Kaiser had a conflict of interest because she sat on the city’s 2009 salary review commission while serving on the council.

Rather than fight the lawsuit, the city opted to nulify the review board’s annexation approval and start over again, Mayor Joe Marine said.

If residents vote in favor of annexation, the council will consider whether it makes more sense to annex the entire area at once or do it in stages.

Marine said it makes more sense to annex everything at the same time because of a 2006 state law.

That law would allow the city to receive a share of sales tax revenues — about $500,000 to $800,000 over 10 years — that the state normally would keep.

That money is available to cities annexing at least 10,000 residents by 2013.

If the proposal goes forward, an annexation vote by residents in the unincorporated area wouldn’t happen until the fall of 2012, community development director Heather McCartney said.

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

To learn more

The city has scheduled two public meetings in advance of the Nov. 2 advisory vote on annexation. The first meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Rosehill Community Center, 304 Lincoln Ave. Another meeting is scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Oct. 19 at City Hall, 11930 Cyrus Way.