White Center Now: The blog about White Center

The annexation vote for part of North Highline is now less than three months away, and the open house that the City of Burien is presenting at Salmon Creek School tonight is the first one since the question was officially placed on the ballot. It’s from 6:30-8 pm; here are full details from the Burien website.

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.

The vote is on, as noted in this item from this morning’s city of Burien newsletter – the final action by the Boundary Review Board was a followup to the public hearing in Tukwila that we covered March 30th:

North Highline Annexation Headed for Ballot

The City of Burien’s proposed annexation of a southern portion of North Highline is headed toward a vote of residents who live in the proposed annexation area. The proposed annexation cleared a major hurdle April 16 when it was approved by the Boundary Review Board of King County. Next, the City of Burien will work with King County to place it on the August 18 ballot. The measure requires a simple majority for passage. If approved, the annexation will take effect in early 2010. To see a map or to determine if you live in the proposed annexation area, visit the City of Burien website at www.burienwa.gov/annexation, or call 206-241-4647.

(below, our notes on the meeting as it happened, start to finish)

7:06 PM: We’re at the Riverside Residences in Tukwila, where the King County Boundary Review Board is about to start its public hearing on Burien’s proposed annexation of part of North Highline. This is a key step along the path to the proposed August 18 public vote. We’ll be posting live updates here as it happens. Vice chair Robert Cook has recused himself from consideration of this matter; member Lynn Guttmann is ill. The hearing starts with various explanations of how the process works. Special assistant attorney general Robert Kaufman has just reminded those in attendance that they need to sign up if they want to speak when this finally gets to the public comment portion, likely no sooner than 8 pm. The city of Burien gets to make its presentation first. Kaufman explains that the board will conclude this hearing with a “preliminary recommendation” on the proposal, which then would be considered for final action when board members have their next formal meeting on April 16th.

7:13 PM: Looks like fewer than a dozen people plan to testify – there has just been a mass swearing-in of those who were signed up. Now Burien city manager Mike Martin is starting his presentation. He says this is a “historic” occasion and notes that at least three councilmembers are in the audience. He is also mentioning the hearing back in September that came to an abrupt end because the proposal had been withdrawn at that time.

His presentation says the proposed annexation area includes: 1679 acres, 14,100 people, assessed value $1,159,030,100. He recaps the negotiations that resulted in the Memorandum of Understanding with parties including the county, Seattle, Burien, and fire districts, including pointing out that everyone ratified that agreement except the Seattle City Council. Now a timeline – if the annexation vote happens in August 18 and it’s approved, the council could formalize the annexation in March 2010. Martin says the city is trying very hard to reach out to residents of the area. He says that while the county thinks that the area has $13 million in capital needs, Burien thinks there’s more like $59 million and isn’t sure how it’ll handle that, but they’ll do their best to try.

FOR THE REST OF OUR NOTES ON THE HEARING, WRITTEN AS IT HAPPENED, CLICK AHEAD: Read the rest of this entry »

Reminder: Tonight’s the Boundary Review Board public hearing on Burien’s proposal to annex part of North Highline – it’s at 7 pm at the Riverside Residences in Tukwila. More info here; for a map to the hearing location, go here.

The city of Burien has sent out a list with both reminders and announcements of upcoming meetings regarding whether part of North Highline will be annexed, with a vote coming up later this year – read on for details: Read the rest of this entry »

I interviewed Dow Constantine this afternoon in West Seattle for a West Seattle Blog follow-up to the announcement last night that he’s running for County Executive. One of the questions I asked was about annexation, and what happens now that a Seattle City Council vote has thwarted the Memorandum of Understanding between Burien, Seattle, and two fire districts. While we try not to repurpose material too much between the two sites, it’s been suggested we repost the entire story here, so here goes:

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor/White Center Now news editor

Instead of a once-planned family vacation on a sunny beach, King County Council Chair Dow Constantine is spending this partly sunny Seattle day — the first official day of his campaign for King County Executive — doing interviews, answering phone calls, e-mails, and text messages. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

“This is fun,” he insists, as we part ways after a conversation at West 5 (WSB iPhone photo at left), in a space the native West Seattleite also remembers from spending many a day there in boyhood, when it was West Seattle Speedway, slot cars and all.

Read the rest of this entry »

Quick followup to our Monday coverage of the Seattle City Council vote against accepting the “memorandum of understanding” with Burien and two fire districts: We asked Burien city manager Mike Martin for comment, and he replied:

We’re focused on August 18, 2009, the day we expect to ask North Highline residents in our proposed annexation area whether they want to join the City of Burien. Everything else at this point is just a distraction.

Reminder, the next date in the annexation process is a Burien-sponsored open house tomorrow night (Thursday 2/12), Boulevard Park Library, 6:30-8 pm (more info here).

After a lively discussion which we’ll recap shortly, Seattle City Council members have just voted 8 to 1 NOT to endorse the “memorandum of understanding” with Burien and two fire districts, regarding allowing Burien first rights to annex part of North Highline, and Seattle first rights on the other. Council President Richard Conlin said repeatedly that he believes the agreement is “falling apart at the executive level” – we will be checking on that. More shortly. ADDED 3:30 PM: A few more details – read on (including a comment from the Seattle mayor’s office, added 5:17 pm): Read the rest of this entry »

From the preview of next Monday’s Seattle City Council slate, they’ll be considering the annexation Memorandum of Understanding at 2 pm. Here’s how it’s written up in the preview:

This resolution, if passed, expresses an agreement between the Council, the City of Burien, King County, and Fire Districts 2 and 11 to resolve various issues related to the potential annexation of the unincorporated North Highline area. Issues include the identification of areas for potential annexation; ensuring sufficient fire service to North Highline and surrounding neighborhoods such as Arbor Heights, North Burien and unincorporated areas in South Park; and, agreement by the parties to support state legislation that would enable Seattle to tap a state sales tax credit should it decide to annex the agreed area for Seattle.

If you have the Seattle Channel on cable, you can watch live on Channel 21; if not, you can watch live (or, later, archived) online at seattlechannel.org; or you’re of course welcome to attend the hearing in the Seattle Council Chambers at City Hall downtown.

By David Whelan
Reporting for White Center Now

For last night’s meeting of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, the main event was clearly the prospect of annexation.

Read the rest of this entry »

Part of the North Highline annexation process just moved forward with votes during tonight’s Burien City Council meeting: Burien councilmembers first authorized the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with Seattle and other parties, by a 4-1 vote tonight (the “no” vote was from Councilmember Lucy Krakowiak, who says she thinks the annexation area, with 14,000 people, is too big, and she would rather start with 10,000). Second, they approved a resolution that will send the proposed Burien annexation to residents for them to approve or reject in an upcoming election, by the same vote. Next steps, according to city manager Mike Martin, would be to take the issue, with the proposed boundaries to which the parties agreed, to the county/state-run Boundary Review Board. And Seattle city leaders have to decide their next steps — whether they will pursue annexing the rest of the North Highline area (the Memorandum of Understanding with Burien and the other parties does not require them to). Then, there’s the initiative that former Burien councilmember Stephen Lamphear is pursuing, seeking to cancel the deal between Burien and Seattle – he thinks the North Highline area should be annexed intact, and should be annexed by Burien; initiative petitions will be circulated. Also, as councilmembers were reminded tonight, an annexation open house is planned for February 12th in Boulevard Park.

Annexation’s likely to be a hot topic at both of these meetings: It’s definitely on the agenda (which you can see online) for the Burien City Council, 7 pm tomorrow; North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meets this week too (7 pm Thursday, North Highline Fire District HQ but the agenda’s not online yet as of this writing Sunday night).

We’ve received a copy of an initiative that former Burien City Council member Stephen Lamphear plans to pursue to prevent North Highline from being broken up by two separate annexations, as is the current path Burien and Seattle appear to be pursuing. See it here. More to come. ADDED 9:45 PM: Via e-mail, we asked Lamphear what happens next. He explains, “After getting together with the city attorney to agree on official ballot language, we have 120 days to gather signatures from Burien voters.” Why pursue the initiative? we asked. “I’m doing this because the MOU slicing and dicing North Highline is not in Burien’s best interest, gives away the tax paying business areas of NH, and is not the preference of most NH residents. The MOU was negotiated in secret and did not include the most affected — those in NH.” He wants to see Burien annex the entire area, explaining: “Before Burien incorporated in 1993, the entire area was Highline — one community. I live 4 blocks from NH and these are my neighbors. For Seattle, NH is a land grab; to Burien these are our neighbors.”

ORIGINAL 7:07 PM REPORT: Annexation matters were scheduled to be on the agenda tonight but it sounds like they may not be able to follow the original plan, as deputy mayor Rose Clark opened the “work session” by announcing two councilmembers are absent because of a “medical emergency” — in all, only three are present (Gordon Shaw and Sally Nelson, along with Clark) so they don’t have quorum. The live stream is up nonetheless; you can watch it here. 7:33 PM UPDATE: Brief discussion of the annexation issue in a review of accomplishments: Burien city manager Mike Martin says he’s focusing on an August election, in hopes the annexation “transition” could be made in March/April of 2010. 7:44 PM UPDATE: They’ve concluded no additional members are showing up, so the agenda – including annexation – is now pushed back till next Monday.

ART EVENT TODAY: Kim sends WCN this reminder of what should be quite the spectacle in Burien this afternoon/evening:

A 30′ sculpture of a mother and child, The Passage will be the first artwork installed in the new Burien/ Interim Art Space (B/ IAS). This impressive scuplture is being transported from its current location on the Embarcadero in San Francisco, and will be installed with a community celebration planned for January 24th – and you are invited!

The Passage was originally created for Burning Man, built from recycled scrap metal, and features a flame between the hands of the mother and child, water falling from their other hands, and footprints also lighted with flames. The sculpture will only have the flames lighted for special events.

The interim art space will temporarily take over the lot just north of the first residential building at Burien Town Square. For the next year, several sculptures are being brought in from national and local artists, thanks to efforts by Ignition Northwest and the Burien Arts Commission, in collaboration with 4Culture, Urban Partners and GGLO. Local arts groups, students and gardeners will also be encouraged to contribute to the space.

The B/ IAS grand opening event starts at 3 p.m. with a pre-event artists’ reception at the Burien Town Square sales center, followed by a processional to the interim arts space, and the lighting of The Passage, which features both flames and water. Other sculptures will be introduced, also featuring interactivity and flame.

Here’s a map to Burien Town Square.

ANNEXATION ON THE AGENDA: Monday night’s Burien City Council work session has North Highline Annexation-related items on the agenda; see that agenda here. If you can’t make it to the meeting in person, you can watch the online stream via the City of Burien’s recently revamped website.

Sparks flew at Thursday night’s North Highline Unincorporated Area Council meeting, with hot topics on the agenda from annexation to housing to … stray shopping carts. White Center Now was there; read on for our report: Read the rest of this entry »

The recently announced agreement (read it here) between Burien, Seattle, and other jurisdictions regarding the annexation process is one of the items on the agenda for tonight’s monthly meeting of the community group that represents you — the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council. 7 pm, North Highline Fire District HQ.

Although most of the details of the proposed agreement between Seattle and Burien for the proposed annexation have been covered in this blog as well as our partner, West Seattle Blog, the Seattle Times has a good article in today’s edition.  Per the article:

North Highline, one of the largest urban parts of King County that isn’t in a city, could be split between Seattle and Burien if the two city councils and voters decide that’s a good idea.

Seattle would become the local government for White Center and neighboring communities in the northern portion of North Highline, and Burien would absorb Boulevard Park and other neighborhoods in the southern part. An estimated 33,400 residents would be affected.

The proposed boundary, tentatively agreed to this month by Seattle and Burien, would run mostly along South and Southwest 112th and 116th streets. The agreement defines how much territory each of the cities could annex through the end of 2011. After that, all bets are off.

Feel free to leave your thoughts, but as always, be civil (and rational).  Thanks.

Two weeks ago tonight, White Center Now brought you first word of the annexation-process agreement between Seattle, Burien, and other parties, minutes after it was announced by Burien city manager Mike Martin during a council session. 2 weeks later, it has finally appeared in a citywide newspaper.