LAKE STEVENS — When Laura Kipp moved to her neighborhood southwest of Frontier Village six years ago, she thought she was moving to a city.
“I thought I lived in Lake Stevens,” said Kipp, 47.
She was wrong.
The area south of Frontier Village and between the lake, Highway 204 and extending south of 20th Street SE is in unincorporated Snohomish County.
Some who live in the area still believe they’re in the Lake Stevens city limits, city administrator Jan Berg said.
That’s one reason it makes sense, she said, to ask people who live there if they’d like to join the city.
City officials are considering putting a measure on the ballot in November to expand the city limits by 10,061 people and nine square miles.
If voters were to say yes, the city would grow by more than two-thirds, from its current 14,553 people to 24,614.
The City Council hasn’t yet decided to go ahead with a ballot measure. Officials are tentatively planning to discuss the issue at a workshop Feb. 17. They could hold a public hearing Feb. 23 and the council could vote that night on a ballot measure, Berg said.
City officials are Âconsidering the plan partly for the same reason cities such as Marysville, Mukilteo and Lynnwood are looking at large additions this year. The state is offering a tax rebate to cities for every 10,000 people added at once, under a law that expires next year.
Lake Stevens would get about $230,000 right off the bat from the rebate, Berg said.
After that, the city would hardly be raking in the cash. Assuming tax revenues from the area stay the same, and based on estimated costs for services such as police protection, the city would go up and down over the break-even line for about five years, Berg said. It then would go into the red, Berg said.
Except for the Tom Thumb grocery at 20th Street SE and S. Lake Stevens Road, the area has little retail business to generate sales tax revenue.
Still, it makes sense to go ahead and add the area to the city now, officials reason, partly because of the tax break and because the area lies within the city’s designated growth boundary.
A parcel at the southwest corner of 20th Street SE and Highway 9 has commercial potential, Berg said.
It’s not yet clear how joining the city would pencil out taxwise for residents — it’s believed they would break even or come close one way or the other, she said.
Kipp said taxes are a concern for her and her neighbors. Either way, she’s all for joining the city.
“It’s important to be in a city where you have a voice in your local government,” Kipp said.
Kipp, who now works as administrator for Lake Stevens Fire District 8, was president of the Lake Stevens Chamber of Commerce during the annexation of Frontier Village in 2006. She helped with that effort and would do so again if asked, she said.
Some residents will take convincing.
Linda Knight, 69, has lived near Highway 204 off 10th Street SE since 1965 and sees no reason to change.
“I’m not for making this one large city around the lake,” she said of Lake Stevens. “I don’t go to Lake Stevens for anything. We really associate more with Everett, our address is Everett. I’m five minutes away from Everett.”
Her neighbors feel the same way, she said.
The city of Lake Stevens recently hired Pacific Public Affairs of Seattle for $10,500 to conduct a survey in the area to “identify any issues that we’re not aware of,” Berg said. The survey is currently under way.
Reporter Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439 or sheets@heraldnet.com.
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