New Lynnwood High may be in city someday

The city of Lynnwood took the first, early step toward annexations north and east of the city Monday, Sept. 24.

Lynnwood’s City Council adopted an ordinance that updates the city’s Comprehensive Plan and opens the door to annexation of a future Lynnwood High School near Mill Creek as well as sections of Meadowdale to the Northwest.

Next, city staff will prepare an economic analysis of areas that could be annexed into the city, to determine the costs and benefits, said Kevin Garrett, planning manger.

The council earlier this year directed city staff to prepare for possible annexation of areas within its Municipal Urban Growth Area (MUGA), land outside city limits designated for possible expansion.

Many cities are looking at annexation now because the state Legislature in 2006 gave them a big incentive to do so: a cut of the state’s share of the sales tax pie. The catch is that cities have to initiate annexations by Jan. 1 2010 to reap the benefit.

“It’s limited in scope but it’s a help,” said Paul Krauss, Lynnwood’s community development director.

The largest area of a future annexation lies to the east of I-5.

The council debated the merits of expanding the city’s growth area to take in the new Lynnwood High School, which is expected to open in 2009 off of North Road.

By agreeing to expand the urban growth area, the council redrew the boundary line, stretching it east from Larch Way to North Road.

Council members Jim Smith and Lisa Utter voted against expanding the urban growth area to include the new Lynnwood High.

“I really think boundaries of cities should make intuitive sense,” Utter said. “One of the reasons in the past I have not favored going to the other side of I-5 is that I think highways like that are man-made barriers that create a natural boundary people can relate to.”

Smith said the city has to look closely at annexing large unincorporated areas because of the potential financial burden they may pose.

“We’re going to have a horrendous time trying to service that area,” he said of the North Road area that could become part of the city. “We need to not bite off more than we can chew.”

Council President Loren Simmonds called the North Road extension of the urban growth area the “logical expansion of our boundary.”

He said extending the MUGA is just a first step.

“If we don’t do it, nobody else is going to do it for us,” he said, after the meeting. “At least we’ve driven a stake in the ground.”

In addition to drafting an economic analysis, the city will work with residents and business owners in the unincorporated areas to find out who supports becoming part of the city of Lynnwood, Krauss said.

“We envision this taking several years of outreach,” he said. “People often mistakenly think cities undertake annexations to make money. More often than not, you’re fortunate if an annexation breaks even.”

Lynnwood’s new urban growth boundary extends from just north of Brier northeast to North Road and as far west as the Puget Sound along 148th Street at Norma Beach in Meadowdale.

If the city ends up annexing all of its urban growth areas, 26,000 people could be added to the city’s 35,000 population.

“We’re talking about areas that are growing faster than Lynnwood is,” Krauss said.

Two areas the city is likely to consider annexing first are the Maple Precinct, an unincorporated island off of 176th Street Southwest and Perrinville, a retail-laden intersection that shares Edmonds and Lynnwood boundaries.

The cities of Mill Creek and Mukilteo have plans of their own.

Mill Creek officials have publicly said if they annex anywhere it will be to the east or south, not to the west. But Lynnwood’s eastward urban growth expansion means the two cities’ overlapping urban growth area is even bigger than it was before.

And Mukilteo officials have met several times with Lynnwood planners to discuss boundaries because both cities have overlapping growth areas.

“We’ve had some conversations with Mukilteo and we still have some work to do to work out an agreement,” Krauss said.