North Highline Burien annexation vote officially on the ballot

Just in from King County Council:

Proposed annexation by Burien of southern portion of
North Highline placed on August ballot

Residents of unincorporated urban community to decide if they want to join city

Residents of unincorporated King County who live in the southern portion of the North Highline community will have a chance to decide if they want to join the city of Burien, after the King County Council today placed an annexation proposal on the August 18 primary ballot.

“This is a historic day for North Highline. We have discussed and debated governance issues for this area since I joined this Council in 2002 and we will finally have the opportunity for the voters to weigh in,” said Council Chair Dow Constantine, sponsor of the legislation and representative of Council District Eight, which includes all of North Highline. “This proposal is the product of a lot of hard work by the city of Burien, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, King County, and many citizens in the annexation area.”

The Burien annexation proposal has been approved by the Washington State Boundary Review Board of King County, and negotiations have been completed regarding the continued provision of fire protection services in the area.

The proposed annexation area is bordered by the city of Seattle on the west, South and Southwest 128th streets on the south, the city of Tukwila on the east, and on the north by a boundary variously formed by South and Southwest 107th to 116th streets. It contains 1,679 acres of land with an assessed valuation of $1.16 billion and an estimated population of 14,100.

This ordinance instructs the King County Director of Elections to prepare and distribute a local voters’ pamphlet with information about the annexation proposal to registered voters in the affected portion of North Highline.

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4 Responses to “North Highline Burien annexation vote officially on the ballot”

  1. How does annexation by Burien help us? It looks to me like the residents of North Highline help Burien more than they help the people of North Highline. I will be paying at least $200 more a year in taxes, and now Burien has passed the internet and cell phone tax for residents.

    What is Burien going to do for the urban blight between 128th and 116th on First Avenue S.?

    I say North Highline should stay together and we can form our own city.

  2. Dick Thurnau Says:

    I also have a hard time convincing myself that a portion of North Highline should be split up and annexed to the city of Burien Seattle seems to be out of the picture at the present time. Forming our own city needs to be looked at closely. The arguement of money for services however we have survived on what King County has allotted us for a long period.The other question will Burien Annex the large share of North Highline in the future who knows.

  3. I live a half a block outside of the area that Burien is proposing to annex. I would like to see our area annexed to Seattle soon. Anyone have any idea whether or not there is talk of moving forward on that? I know that it is partially dependent on whether Olympia agrees to allow more taxes to go to Seattle. Anyone know when that issue might be decided? I guess part of the agreement between Burien and Seattle included Seattle gaining support from Burien in Olympia for this increase in the amount of taxes Seattle can receive if it were to annex the rest of Highline.

  4. Laura,

    Click on the following link that was posted last February.
    It might make things a little more clear.

    http://whitecenternow.com/2009/02/09/seattle-city-council-members-vote-no-on-annexation-process-agreement/