Those who favor or oppose annexation to the city of Mill Creek have another chance to say their peace before those with the final say on the matter – the City Council members – take action.
The Council is hosting a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. this Tuesday, Feb. 22, at Mill Creek City Hall about the annexation of areas northeast of the current city boundaries.
In addition to the public hearing, the Council is scheduled to vote on whether to accept the annexation petition for the affected areas. If the petition is accepted, city planning staff will prepare and submit a notice of intent to annex with Snohomish County’s Boundary Review Board.
The county recently declared that the annexation petition has enough valid signatures of property owners for the process to proceed.
The area in question is bordered on the west by the Mill Creek city limits, on the north by 132nd Street SE, on the south by the city limits and 138th Street SE, and on the east by Seattle Hill Road. Those borders, however, could change because a residential neighborhood on the eastern end of the area circulated an anti-annexation petition.
The area includes a significant residential area between the Jackson High School/Heatherwood Middle School campuses and 35th Avenue SE. Those neighborhoods petitioned to join the city of Mill Creek in 1999, but the City Council declined because of budgetary concerns in the wake of Initiative 695’s passage.
One large retail development is within the annexation area: the Thomas Lake Shopping Center at the southwest corner of 132nd and 35th. City planning manager Tom Rogers told the Council on Feb. 8 that the shopping center’s managers oppose the annexation and did not sign the petition. Their concern is over the city’s sign codes, which are more stringent than those of Snohomish County.
East of 35th Avenue SE, much of proposed annexation area is undeveloped land, including a wetland on the southeast corner of the intersection of 35th and 132nd.
However, the City Council became interested in annexing the area this past spring when a Lynnwood developer told the Council that two large national retailers, possibly a Wal-Mart and The Home Depot, might be interested in building stores there. A majority of the Council then decided to proceed with annexing the area because of possible annual revenues from sales and business license taxes that could number in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Nothing, however, has been officially confirmed about retail development in the area. A Seattle-based Wal-Mart spokesperson denied that his company was looking at the area as a possible site. In addition, no construction has taken place.
The Boundary Review Board process can take anywhere between 60 days and 210 days, depending on whether or not the annexation is contested. If the Board approves the annexation, an ordinance to establish an effective date would be brought to the City Council at a public meeting.
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