The Meadowdale area – an expanse of forest, wetlands and neighborhoods between Mukilteo and Lynnwood – may be split if the two cities extend their boundaries.
City officials in Mukilteo and Lynnwood are working on a plan to divide the Meadowdale area in their future annexations. Creating such a plan would prevent a turf war between the two cities, Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine said.
Voters who live in the Meadowdale area would have to approve of the annexations.
The Meadowdale area is bounded by 148th Street SW to the north, 52nd Avenue W. to the east, Possession Sound to the west and the cities of Lynnwood and Edmonds to the south. Homes in Meadowdale have Edmonds addresses, and the area includes nearly half a mile of land on the waterfront.
Under a plan proposed by Mukilteo officials, Mukilteo would annex the Norma Beach Road and Fisher Road neighborhoods. Lynnwood would be able to annex the neighborhoods in the area between 64th Avenue W. and 52nd Avenue W.
The plan would allow Lynnwood to lay claim to the area that includes Meadowdale Park – an important detail because the city has purchased 105 acres around Lunds Gulch Creek to help preserve the park and nearby wetlands.
Annexing the park would give Lynnwood its second small piece of waterfront property, measuring nearly a quarter-mile in length. The city also owns a sliver of waterfront property in Edmonds for its wastewater treatment plant.
Mukilteo City Council members reviewed their staff’s plan at a recent meeting.
Marine said the waterfront near Norma Beach and Fisher roads should be part of Mukilteo.
“I do think it makes sense for Mukilteo to continue down, meeting up with Edmonds along the water,” Marine said. “It seems silly to go down from Mukilteo, have two streets of Lynnwood and then go into Edmonds. Edmonds is a waterfront community, and so is Mukilteo.”
Plans to split the Meadowdale area have not been reviewed by the Lynnwood City Council, said City Councilman Jim Smith. He said he shares Marine’s desire to reach an agreement about which areas each city should try to annex.
“We have mutual reasons why we don’t want to make this into a big battle, but we want to be able to work this out,” Smith said.
The Mukilteo City Council is hoping to have its annexation plans ready for public review by late September. If the council decides to go ahead with its plans to annex, people who live in the proposed annexation area could be voting on the issue by spring, City Councilman Marko Liias said.
Mukilteo officials say annexing the high-end homes in the west Meadowdale area would help their annexation plans pencil out financially. They also believe homes there would fit in well with their city.
Meanwhile, Lynnwood officials have said they want to preserve wetlands in the area.
“I’m more than happy to let them control the gulch, since that’s a priority for them and they want that waterfront acreage for the city,” Liias said. “I think that’s great.”
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