By Brian Kelly
Herald Writer
MARYSVILLE — Marysville city planners plan an informational meeting tonight on one of the city’s largest proposed annexations in years —494 acres of land at the north end of town west of I-5.
Fred VanEss, an Edmonds resident who owns five undeveloped acres in the area, has been collecting signatures since last spring to get Marysville to expand its city limits to include his property and about 500 other parcels.
Other property owners in the area support the annexation, VanEss said.
"It’s overwhelmingly positive. I didn’t talk to anybody who was against it. I think mostly because people would like to have some flexibility with their acreage," said VanEss, who currently can build only one home on his five-acre parcel. "The property owners by and large just want to be able to do something with their property."
Others who live nearby still have to be convinced that the annexation is a good idea.
Linda Kish, who lives in Lakewood Commons, a 240-home condominium complex in the annexation area, said she worries that it will cost her more to be a part of Marysville.
"The biggest issue is the taxes. We just don’t feel that we need to pay Marysville taxes," Kish said.
Marysville already provides water, sewer and garbage service to her home, she said. But Kish said that she has an Arlington address, and many children in the area attend Lakewood schools. She would rather see the land around her home annexed by Arlington than Marysville.
That’s not likely to happen, however. The proposed annexation area is inside Marysville’s urban growth boundary — the outer limit that Marysville expects to expand to during the current 20-year land-use planning cycle — and Marysville resolved its disputes with Arlington years ago about which town could stake claim to properties between the two cities.
The 494 acres in the VanEss annexation proposal have an assessed value of $63.4 million.
City and county planners have already begun discussions about what might happen to the land at the town’s northern end.
A "sub-area" land-use plan is currently in the works that includes three different options on potential development of the rural area. The first alternative would allow single-family residential and multifamily homes, mixed commercial and residential zoning, and a business park. The second option has a similar mix, but also includes community commercial zoning. The third option centers on a business park, with some areas that could be developed with single-family and multifamily housing.
The Marysville City Council has not adopted a plan for the area yet. Eventually, the council must vote on whether to accept the annexation. Before then, annexation proponents will need to gather the signatures of property owners representing 60 percent of the assessed value of the annexation area.
You can call Herald Writer Brian Kelly at 425-339-3422 or send e-mail to kelly@heraldnet.com.
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