It started with the windstorm last November.
Downed trees and branches greatly affected one unincorporated King County island just east of Federal Way.
Cheryl Hurst, a resident of the Lakeland South area, said she tried to have King County service the streets but was left with no answers.
“There were people out with chainsaws because literally nobody could get out of their houses or into their houses,” Hurst said. “And a fair amount of them were county trees.”
Rallying a Home Depot employee, her husband and a dumpster that a neighbor donated, Hurst helped clean up the area herself, noting that many of her neighbors are elderly and couldn’t do it themselves.
“I just couldn’t really understand,” she said. “We’re paying taxes, there’s no street lights in the area …”
After a year-and-half of living in her newly-built lakeside home, Hurst has also noticed there’s seemingly no regulation when it comes to residents’ responsibility for the upkeep of their property, or lack thereof.
“We’ve got hoarders by the elementary school,” she said. “Numerous calls were made into the county and according to some of the other neighbors, they’ve taken 10 years trying to get these people.”
Hurst said they are just one of many properties, as there’s “junkyards everywhere.”
Not to mention, there is only two King County sheriffs who are responsible for various parts of unincorporated King County, which includes the Lakeland South area, she said.
Hurst researched for five months what it would take to annex the land that encompasses Fire Station 61, Rainier View Elementary, Lakeland Elementary, Sequoyah Middle School, South King County Baseball Fields, Five Mile Lake and park, Lake Geneva and park, more than half of Lake Killarney, Pond-A-Luce-A Stables and Twin Cedar, Killarney Woods and Kloshe Illahee mobile home parks.
In speaking with the city of Federal Way and King County, Hurst determined the petition method would be the way to go.
There have since been three public meetings for the community to learn more about annexing to Federal Way, with the most recent on Thursday. For the most part, she’s received positive feedback.
Pro-annexation
Mark Thompson, a South King Fire and Rescue fire commissioner, has lived in the Five Mile Lake area since 1978 and shares some of Hurst’s beliefs about why they should annex to Federal Way.
“The city is much more responsive to the needs of their citizens than the county is,” Thompson said. “… Police services, by a yardstick, are ahead of the county. We’ve got two officers that patrol the west side of I-5 and if one of those officers is transporting a prisoner, then we only have one. Federal Way has a whole bunch of officers that respond and do the patrol and stuff life that.”
Hurst noted her neighbors have had their homes and cars broken into and the sheriffs didn’t responded in a timely manner.
“So if you have a car accident or anything, for two people, they’re going to have to call somebody,” she said. “Well, they’re not going to have somebody right here.”
Thompson said if the Lakeland South area is annexed, the community will get a bigger bang for their buck, which would include road maintenance among other services.
City of Federal Way Finance Director Ade Ariwoola confirmed that if the residents were annexed, they would end up paying less for city road district levies, as the tax rate for the city levy is 1.24, while the county road levy is 2.25. This would save about $250 for a homeowner whose house is valued at $250,000. Although there would be an added utility tax — which is dependent on usage or whether the resident pays for garbage, recycling and yard waste services — of $300. But, Ariwoola also notes city residents pay about $114 less than county residents do for their garbage and recycling fees.
“People are concerned about paying more for taxes and, according to what I have been told by a lady at the King County Tax Assessors office, she said there’s tax levy codes …” Hurst said. “… Per $250,000 home, we will be saving approximately $150 a year. Let’s say there was some erroneous tax that we don’t know about, we would still be even and we’re going to get more services.”
Hurst also worries about disaster preparedness.
“Do you want to be next to a city that says, ‘Oh we’ve got everything taken care of,’ the hospitals are full, Auburn says, ‘yeah, we’re full’ and those people say they’re full and the county says, ‘well you’re not populated enough, we’ll get to you,’” she said.
Ultimately, it’s also about having access to the perks a city has, such as the option to be heard during a council meeting if something isn’t working or the ability to run for city government, commissions or committees. Votes will be one in 100,000 instead of one in one million, she said.
The former business owner and current member of Federal Way Rotary said her efforts to annex into Federal Way aren’t about taking away residents’ independence but about being taken care of during a storm and making sure kids aren’t ran over from lack of street lights on major thoroughfares.
“It’s about having people having pride in their community,” Hurst said. “There’s people who went and painted the fence all along 21st because they have pride and we live in a great little rural neighborhood but we still need the pride.”
Yet, there are some community members who feel differently.
Opposition
Resident of the Lake Geneva area in unincorporated King County, Jerry Galland has spearheaded the anti-annex to Federal Way movement.
“The people who moved into this community moved into a rural-type community,” he said. “If we wanted to live in a city, we’d move into a city.”
Galland believes city government will impose “encroachments,” such as business regulations (small businesses will have to get a business license), rules that houses must have a fire alarm, restrictions on farm animals, fireworks and mandated fees and taxes.
Ben Hardy, also opposed to the idea of annexation, said he’s concerned that a city council will have control over his neighborhood.
“One of the things I like about living where we do is that I can look out my window and see the sheep grazing in my neighbor’s field,” he wrote in an email. “That, on the Fourth of July, my kids can enjoy a home fireworks display. I like that occasionally I can bring one of my semi-trucks home to work on it and park it next to my house for a couple of days.”
Hardy said he doesn’t like the idea of giving up his freedom to save a few dollars a month in taxes, nor does he want to be told what color to paint his small business’s fence, how many bushes he should plant or how much land he must leave as a greenbelt.
Galland said the idea that residents will save tax money is misleading because residents would only save about $7 instead of the $150 his counterpart states.
“The only thing we really change is we go from a county to a city,” Galland said, adding the Lakehaven Water district, South King Fire and Rescue district and Federal Way Public Schools district all stay the same.
While there are only two sheriff’s for their area, Galland said there’s a King County Sheriff’s substation nearby and he sees them patrolling the area frequently.
“We’re already divided geographically by I-5, that’s a boundary the city of Federal Way police already have to overcome,” he said, referencing the traffic in that area.
2007 failure
Galland was asked to take charge against the effort to annex the entire East Federal Way Proposed Annexation Area, Lakeland North and Lakeland South, in August 2007. Residents of these unincorporated areas voted on the measure, which ultimately failed by 65 percent.
“We still don’t want it,” Galland said.
But Hurst believes the circumstances are different because the Lakeland South area only makes up half of the East Federal Way Proposed Annexation Area.
“Federal Way will no longer be taking on some-20,000 people, they’ll be taking on probably 7,000 people,” Hurst said.
About 884 residents voted to annex to Federal Way, while 1,639 residents voted against the ballot measure.
Of the 10,468 voters registered to vote on the 2007 annexation, only 2,561 voted.
Washington state and King County offered incentives to the city of Federal Way for the annexation, if it passed. King County was ready to offer $3.5 million, while the state would give up .02 percent of sales tax revenue, or about $3 million a year, for 10 years to assist in the operational costs for services.
While Hurst said King County would be willing to negotiate on funds if annexation passed in the future, Galland said there’s no money for a move that would incur a lot of expenses and he doesn’t think the city could afford it.
King County officials did state that the 2007 funds have since been re-appropriated and are no longer available, nor is any money on the table at this time.
City impact
However, Ariwoola said he doesn’t think the annexation would increase city staff or have much affect on the city’s operational budget.
“In talking toward police department, public works, I don’t think that would necessarily increase staff ratio, it would increase coverage areas, but not increase staff,” Ariwoola said.
Although it’s too early to tell whether it would increase the city’s capital budget, he said if residents in the area want sidewalks or other road improvements, they can become a local improvement district and would essentially pay for it themselves.
“I don’t foresee annexing them [would create] a financial burden, necessarily, for the city,” he said. “Yes, in times of road maintenance, we may have to maintain their roads, but when we build new roads, we’ll use a portion from [state or federal] grants.”
Ariwoola said the city is only 25 years old and they’re still making improvements to Pacific Highway.
“I don’t foresee the city saying it needs to be done in the next 12 months,” he said. “I think some of those things, if they need to be done, it will be done gradually.”
There also could be some benefit to the city in having about 7,000-8,000 more residents in city borders bringing the population of Federal Way from 92,700 to just about 100,000.
“I think there are certain demarcations of a city the size of 100,000 but that’s not playing any kind of a role,” said Federal Way Mayor Jim Ferrell. “There are certain designations about being a city of that size but we’re not initiating any of this.”
Ferrell said if the people of Lakeland South are truly interested in annexation, then the city is interested.
“I’m interested and intrigued,” he said. “It is part of our [proposed annexation area], and my mom, before she passed, lived in that area by Five Mile Lake. It’s an urban island, essentially — boy if they want to be part of the city of Federal Way, we’d love to have them.”
Again noting the city isn’t behind Hurst’s efforts to annex, Ferrell said city staff will act as a resource to the public during the process.
King County support
King County officials are also available to answer questions, according to Karen Wolf, a senior policy analyst with King County.
“We are supportive of this,” Wolf said. “We think the residents of the area will best be served by having a city of the local government instead of the county with better access to local services and elected officials.”
The King County road fund “has been depleted dramatically” and the county doesn’t have the same taxing authority cities do, she said. The area’s parks would be dealt with on a case by case basis, but if they’re local they’ll be transferred to the city and kept if they’re regional.
Wolf said the county doesn’t provide community services at parks in urban areas anymore and residents would be able to serve on their planning commission, parks board or other civic activities that keep them engaged.
The move would be consistent with the state’s Growth Management Act, which determined counties are best suited to being regional providers, but there is no timeline for unincorporated areas to be annexed.
In September 2004, the King County Council passed a motion called the King County Annexation Initiative. It outlined the county’s proposed annexation areas and offered incentives to cities that annexed those pieces of land, however, the incentives expired in 2009-2010.
“East Federal Way is one of the largest remaining areas,” Wolf said.
The decision to create the boundaries for East Federal Way Proposed Annexation Areas was made many years ago through a countywide planning policy. Wolf said cities identified areas they wanted to serve at that time and the criteria was based on whether they were already providing services, such as water and sewer, to that area. The city of Auburn agreed to the boundaries and took up areas mostly to the northeast.
Wolf also confirmed it was OK for Lakeland South to break away from its northern counterpart that makes up the East Federal Way Proposed Annexation Area.
How to annex
Hurst worked with city attorney Amy Jo Pearsall to identify just exactly how this area could be annexed. She decided to go the 60 percent method, which first involves collecting signatures from 10 percent of the property owners in Lakeland South to give the City Council notice of their intent. However, she can only get one signature per tax parcel, according to city documents. After she’s delivered the notice of intent, the City Council will set a date for a meeting to determine if they will accept, reject or geographically modify the proposed annexation.
“Council acceptance is a condition precedent to circulation of the petition,” the documents state. “There is no appeal from the council decision.”
If accepted, a petition will be drafted and will need signatures of owners of “not less than 60 percent of the assessed value of the property for which annexation is petitioned.”
In other words, the 100 or so residents in each mobile home park cannot sign the petition, only the owner of that property who pays taxes on it, may.
If Hurst is able to collect enough support and files the petition, it must be certified by King County. The City Council may then consider a date for a public hearing and provide notice of that hearing, so that residents can voice their opinion. Following the hearing, the City Council will decide to approve or reject the annexation. If they approve it, an ordinance will be enacted.
“However, since a code city in a county with a boundary review board may not annex without prior board approval, an annexation ordinance passed following a hearing but before board review cannot yet be effective,” the documents state. “Consequently, cities in counties requiring action by a boundary review board, when they have not previously received review board approval, often first pass a motion of resolution of intent to annex. After review board approval, the formal ordinance is adopted.”
Lenora Blauman with the 11-member State Boundary Review Board said she vets the application to annex and if it matches the legal requirements, the board can choose to do a public review process. This can entail a board meeting not open to public comment, but public nonetheless, or a group of people can request a public hearing. It could be the city of Federal Way, a citizen group or third party. Once they conduct a hearing, the board will deny, accept or modify the annexation proposal, Blauman said.
Challenges
But there’s more challenges than an anti-annex to Federal Way movement that Hurst will need to overcome.
Tracking down tax parcel property owners is a task of its own, Hurst pointed out as she flipped through pages of names and addresses — some P.O. boxes — of the land owners in her area, many of which also have Auburn addresses, despite being in the proposed annexation area for Federal Way.
“I think she really has an uphill battle,” Galland said.
And some have gotten somewhat personal with Hurst as she tries to annex Lakeland South.
“Somebody stole 18 of my 25 signs so I’m down $180,” Hurst said. “People keep asking me, ‘Who’s in this? Who is behind this? Is it the city, county, some corporation?’ Even one of my own neighbors.”
Hurst said she was asked why she doesn’t just move out of the area.
“We’re living in a world where you don’t bully little kids, well, you don’t bully adults either.”
Hurst said she will offer a reward to those who return the signs because she’s not interested in prosecuting anyone.
“I just want my signs back,” she said. “It’s freedom of speech … It’s emotionally disheartening, to be honest with you.”
In an effort to be completely transparent, Hurst has created the website www.annextofedway.com where she provides information on why Lakeland South should be annexed but also a section with opposing viewpoints.
Galland has also created the website annextofedway.net for those who are against it.
“People are either uninformed, misinformed or don’t want to be informed,” Hurst said. “A lot of people are interested in seeing how it goes but most people that are for it are afraid to stand out there.”
Cheryl Hurst
