Mill Creek to appeal ruling on annexation

Published 10:49 pm Wednesday, February 3, 2010

MILL CREEK — The City Council decided to file an appeal to Lynnwood’s annexation plans with the Washington state Court of Appeals.

The council’s unanimous vote on Tuesday night means the city will challenge a Snohomish County Superior Court judge’s Jan. 25 decision that backed Lynnwood’s plans to annex 3,690 acres of unincorporated land north and east of city limits.

If the annexation eventually goes through, it could add 27,000 new residents to the city’s population of 33,685.

Mill Creek argues that its natural border should extend west to I-5.

“We’ve always held that I-5 is the natural boundary,” Mayor Mike Todd said Wednesday.

Mill Creek’s appeal could further delay Lynnwood’s plans to put the issue to voters living within the proposed annexation areas.

“It’s unfortunate that the citizens of the entire annexation area will not have the opportunity to choose through an election whom they’d like to represent them and provide public safety services and other things,” Lynnwood Mayor Don Gough said.

In issuing his decision, Judge Larry McKeeman said the Washington Boundary Review Board for Snohomish County, which reviews all annexation proposals, was correct when it approved Lynnwood’s proposal to annex neighborhoods stretching from just west of Highway 99 north of 164th Street SW east to Larch Way and south to the city’s border with Brier.

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