It’s back to the drawing board for the city of Mukilteo, after the public body that approves new city boundaries rejected its proposal to expand the city to the south and east.
“I guess I was more shocked than anything,” said Mukilteo mayor Joe Marine, after the Snohomish County Boundary Review Board Feb. 14 rejected his city’s proposal to expand its boundaries by 3,000 acres, taking in portions of Meadowdale to the south and up to the edge of Paine Field to the east.
The board questioned Mukilteo’s boundaries and wondered how it would provide public safety and other services to new residents without first having agreements in place with those service providers.
The city of Lynnwood, Snohomish County Fire District 1 and the Snohomish County Council opposed Mukilteo’s proposals.
Marine said the city is consulting with lawyers about how to proceed next. The city intended to see its proposal on the ballot in May, in the form of an annexation election. If approved, the annexation would have added about 12,000 new residents to the city.
Instead, the city now will work to make sure it has several agreements in place with Lynnwood, the fire district and Snohomish County, Marine said.
“They’re trying to say we need all these agreements in place,” he said. “In that case, why do we need the Boundary Review Board? I always thought this was the Boundary Review Board, not the annexation review board.”
Paul Krauss, Lynnwood’s community development director, said despite the BRB’s decision, “I fully expect to stand before the (BRB) in an upcoming meeting when Mukilteo has a revised proposal and Lynnwood supports it.”
Lynnwood and Mukilteo share a border at 148th Street Southwest. But Mukilteo drew proposed new city limit boundaries in areas of Meadowdale Lynnwood also sought.
Lynnwood also wanted to make sure Mukilteo’s proposal didn’t include too many of the sought-after commercial zones that help to make annexations financially viable.
The Lake Stickney area, east of Highway 99, was a particular bone of contention, Krauss said.
“We were concerned because Lake Stickney has been a difficult area,” he said. “No city feels it can provide urban services (there).”
Still, he said, Lynnwood’s concerns “while serious, were easily adjusted or corrected. We fully expect to be neighbors with Mukilteo and wouldn’t be surprised if that happened this year.”
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