There is an important election on the horizon for Fairwood residents. They will soon need to cast ballots relative to whether or not they wish to form a new city. This is an important vote because King County continues to make public statements about curtailing urban services to communities like Fairwood, which puts pressure on these communities to either incorporate as an indepedent city or annex to an existing city.
I am neutral on Fairwood annexing to the city of Renton. As I stated in my June 17 entry to this journal;
“There are many neighborhoods bordering our city that are looking at the potential of annexing over the next few years. People in this position often have many questions and concerns, and I’m not going to try to address them all with one journal entry this morning.
I would instead like to convey my basic position on annexations, and invite readers to contact me at 425-271-6913 or leave comments below with any questions they have of me on the topic.
My basic position is this:
If you are in our Potential Annexation Area (PAA), and the majority of your neighborhood wishes to join our city, then I welcome you with open arms. If you are in the PAA, but the majority of your neighbors do not wish to join our city, then I understand and I have no issues with that..peace to you, and your settlement :-). Lastly, if you are outside our PAA, and you wish to join our city, we should work with other jurisdictions to update the PAA and go from there.
My only wish is that you and your neighbors have accurate facts and data to work from (this is my inner engineer’s voice), Therefore, I support our staff’s printing of materials that explain how your situation is affected by annexation. I want this material to be politically neutral, accurate, and readable.
I will generally not plan to attend meetings of King County residents who are weighing an annexation decision, because I don’t want to put myself in the position of taking their decision personally. If I’m not at their meeting, I won’t have my feelings hurt if they decide not to annex…better for them, and better for me!
In summary, if you are in our PAA, treat it like an event invitation. Ask your questions, get the facts, and make the decision that works for you. I’ll support you either way.”
I wish to clarify that I a neutral because I realize that my opinion, whatever it may be for a given annexation, is completely trumped by the opinions of the people living in the affected neighborhood (in this case Fairwood). The choice Fairwood residents make will affect their daily lives, as they experience everyday things such as water and sewer service, stop lights, parks and libraries, tax payments, and building permits…around the clock…winter, spring, summer, fall…for countless years into the future. The choice may also affect the more anxious moments of their lives, such as the way police or fire services are dispatched in an emergency. While it’s true that their choice may also affect residents of Renton here and there, any impact on existing Renton residents is very small compared to the impact on the Fairwood households. Many Renton residents wont even notice the apparent nuance of Fairwood being unincorporated versus incorporated versus annexed, and those that do will generally forget all about it in a week or two. If I saw a family in my neighborhood having a passionate argument about the choice of carpet they were installing in their home, the last thing I would do is walk over and tell them that they should go with my choice because I sometimes visit their home and I want it to look just right for me, or because I am worried that their carpet choice may affect my property value. While I may in fact hold an opinion on their carpet, I am wise enough to know that their collective opinion simply overwhelms mine, that they are the ones that perpetually live with the choice, and I should stay out of it. The same is true for an annexation discussion.
I have recently been told by a Fairwood resident that there is still confusion about what will happen if the area votes against incorporation. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said that I expect that nothing would happen unless the residents formed an annexation drive. However, Renton Council recently got a surprise in the Maplewood neighborhood along Cedar River a couple meetings ago, when the King County Boundary Review Board increased the size of an annexation by five hundred percent, after some citizens had made an application to annex. I would have expected such a change to go to a vote or petition, but it did not. In this case, the majority of the residents of the affected area seemed to be in favor of the expansion, and I was extremely happy for Wonderland Estates residents that benefited from this decision. But the surprising turn of events left me with questions about how the 2006 annexation process really works. I have promised the inquiring Fairwood resident that that I will seek clarification on what happens if the vote for incorporation fails. When I sort this out, I will post the answers here.
Best Wishes,
Randy
Expansion of the Maplewood Addition annexation
Randy, I want to correct something that you wrote. The expansion of the annexation was not at all requested by the residents in that area along Maple Valley Highway. Actually a petition was presented to the BRB with signatures of residents from that area that wanted a chance to first vote on the City of Fairwood. Representatives of the City of Renton, Alex Pietsch and the others with him, petitioned and lobbied the BRB to take that area from the incorporation effort so Renton could have it. Alex presented this area as ‘The Gateway to Renton’. Renton was actually lobbying to take the initial 60 acre Annexation and expand it all the way to the Bonneville power line property well up on top of the ridge. Renton presented the BRB three options for possible annexation expansion and the BRB choose the one that now exists. To say the residents of that area requested this is very far from what actually happened and many residents were very angry since their right to vote was taken away and what they had to say was blatantly discarded. Not one resident from that area came to the meeting and spoke in favor of going to Renton but many spoke against. It was a pretty said showing of removing rights from people. There was no reason to remove this area from the proposed City boundary. If the incorporation effort of Fairwood fails then that and other areas could have considered annexation. Forced annexation is hardly ever the right thing. An other thing that puzzles me. You post that the residents of Winterland Estates are happy. I am confused as many of the residents there are scrambling to raise money to buy the property from the owner. These elderly residents only found out that the place where they live was being sold when someone stumbled across it on the internet. These people are soon to be forced out of their homes they have been in for years with many having no where to go. The residents are requesting donations for garage sale items from far and wide to raise funds trying to keep their home. There seems to be a cross of signals. Many of the local churches had full page inserts in their bulletins on Sunday requesting donations to help them these elderly residents to ‘save their homes’. I hope you are not relying on your information from Alex Pietsch. He will always tell you what he wants you to hear.
Don’t all cities have to deal with this stuff
You list numerous things Fairwood will need to take on as if this is some big daunting hurdle special to them. These are things that all cities have to do, even Renton. None of this is specific to Fairwood and it will be work needed done just like everything else. Of course their decision will effect their daily lives and into the future. It seems strange that you list these kinds of like concerns. Doesn’t Renton do these same things? I doubt with all the work Fairwood has done that they are blind to the challenge. The fact is that numerous other cities have formed and faced all those things and are just fine. This is not special to Fairwood. Actually Fairwood has the excellent benefit of being able to see all the lessons learned from these past incorporations and will be the first city post I-747. I think Fairwood has a very bright future ahead of itself as a city if Renton just stays out of its election. We do not want or need Fairwood. Of course we didn’t want the wave pool either. Fairwood is privileged to have a number of residents who are professionals working in other near by cities. If incorporation fails it is very clear what will happen. The leader of the opposition to Fairwood (J Paul Blake)has already come to one of our city council meetings (May 15th) and submitted a letter requesting Renton to begin annexation proceedings for all of Fairwood, Cascade, Benson, etc…The intention is to immediately begin annexation proceedings the week the election fails, if it does. He is telling the Fairwood people that they should vote NO and take their time to see what they want but at the same time he is going being their backs to begin annexation. It is quite obvious that the Cascade and Benson Hill residents want to be annexed. This individual will be able to accomplish this with just the needed ballot signatures or votes from Cascade/Benson regardless of what Fairwood may want. If Fairwood is not part of the proposed annexation it is very clear they will get pushed into it by the King County Boundary Review Board and they will have no say at all. Democracy is a great thing. It is to bad it is not practiced often around our City.
Very interesting and thought-out comments!…
This is obviously very complex, and I can see that all the information is confusing.
The only thing I can add at the moment is that I made the comment about Wonderland Estates being happy simply because they had some representatives at the council meeting when we passed the annexation, and they spoke in favor of it. One of them also yelled “YES” with raised hands and obvious delight when the motion passed. I know there are many people in this park desperate to keep their homes as the owner contemplates sale of the park. I am very glad that the residents are forming a corporation to try to buy the park, and I hope they can pull this off. I had suggested that they get appraisals of the property in Renton, versus out of Renton, to see where they wanted to be, to best enable their purchase. I am currently under the impression that they feel they will have lower density zoning in the City of Renton, which will make the porperty more affordable…but I have not verified this. If anyone knows more, I would love to see that posted here…!
Thanks for all the great diologue.
Randy
Renton wants to grow so bad that they’re willing to execute land grabs. Fairwood voted no on Renton annexation. The 60 percent direct method lets as few as 8 out of state landowners decide the fate of thousands. For the Red Mill annexation 69% of the assesed land value was owned by out-of-Fairwood individuals and Renton only needed 60. It is absurd that this method for annexation exists. What part of no does the United Soviet State of Renton not understand.