EDMONDS – The Meadowdale area, known for its beachfront park and high-end homes, could be in for an identity crisis.
Lynnwood and Mukilteo may attempt to extend their boundaries into Meadowdale – an expanse of forest, wetlands and neighborhoods between the two cities.
Homes in Meadowdale have Edmonds addresses.
The issue could affect people such as Peter Keane, 50, who owns a home just north of Lunds Gulch. Uncertain about how being added to either city would affect his taxes, he’d rather his neighborhood remain in the county.
“They’d have to tell us what they’d do better than the county,” Keane said.
Mukilteo has already hired a consulting firm to begin studying annexation plans. In Lynnwood, no studies are under way, but the City Council has given the approval for staff to hire a consultant.
Planners from the two cities met this week to discuss their interest in the Meadowdale area. They raised the possibility of each city annexing different parts of the area to avoid a municipal land battle.
“We don’t want it to become awkward,” Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine said. “It’s not an area we’re interested in having a big fight over.”
Both cities are aiming for large-scale annexations. In March 2006, the Legislature passed a bill authorizing a tax rebate to aid cities that annex at least 10,000 people. The rebate is aimed at offsetting the costs of providing services to newly acquired areas.
The cities also want to annex the Meadowdale area to have more control over what kind of development happens there. The county has approved developments that wouldn’t be allowed under Lynnwood and Mukilteo building codes.
Beyond that, city leaders give different reasons for wanting to annex the area.
For Mukilteo, the area would generate enough revenue through construction and permit fees and property taxes to offset costs of providing services to new areas of the city.
A 2006 study showed Mukilteo could annex everything in its municipal urban growth boundary without losing money if it also annexes the Meadowdale area. Without the revenue from annexing Meadowdale, the city would lose an estimated $764,000 annually providing services to areas in its growth boundaries.
Also, Mukilteo officials say the area would be a good fit with the city.
“We’re a shoreline community, and we have some of the most significant waterfront in Snohomish County,” Mukilteo City Councilman Marko Liias said. “It would make sense for us to have that.”
Lynnwood officials say they’d like to add some waterfront real estate to their city.
They’d also like to have more control over development around Lunds Gulch Creek, which flows through Meadowdale Park and into Puget Sound. During the past decade, the city has helped preserve the wetland area by purchasing 105 acres around the gulch, city parks planner Laurie Cowan said.
“It’s an attractive neighborhood, and the park is very important to us,” Lynnwood Community Development Director Paul Krause said.
Jerry Gemar, 68, lives in a home on the west end of Fisher Drive overlooking Puget Sound. He said he’s not for or against annexation, but he said either city could probably provide better services to his neighborhood than the county.
“It can’t get any worse than it is now,” he said.
Keane said a city may provide better police service, but he doesn’t feel his neighborhood belongs in either city.
“It’s a totally different feel,” he said. “We’re totally out in the woods.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
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