Red Mill Annexation Hearing set for Monday
Includes Public Input
Fairwood Incorporation Work Impacted?

As King County's Boundary Review Board finalizes its six-month feasibility study for the Incorporation of a new City of Fairwood, annexation advocates are continuing to press forward in their efforts to annex into the City of Renton, beginning with what is labeled the Red Mill area.

Public Hearing Set for Red Mill Annexation
The current proposed Red Mill Annexation effort includes a required public hearing at the next City of Renton Council Meeting, set for Monday, January 12 at 7 pm at the City Hall's Council Chambers.

Under State Law, the City of Renton is required to hold a public meeting to "consider the annexation petition and to provide proponents and opponents the opportunity to speak," notes Renton City documents. After the public hearing, the Renton City Council may accept or deny the annexation proposal for all or any portion of the area.

Unable to Attend?
Those unable to attend the public hearing but want to voice their opinions to the Council can submit letters regarding their positions. But the time is short. Signed letters must be submitted no later than 5 pm on Monday, January 12, to be included in the public hearing record. See the information box to the right for details on how to submit your letter.

Cart Before the Horse?
Even though the Red Mill Annexation process is progressing, the annexation work could be cancelled, depending activities associated with the proposed Incorporation of the City of Fairwood.

According to two RCWs, Revised Codes of Washington, the proposed Red Mill Annexation process may not move forward unless:

1) the Boundary Review Board modifies with the removal of the Red Mill area from the proposed Fairwood Incorporation area, or

2) the voters reject the current proposed Fairwood Incorporation.

If either of these two options occur, then the proposed annexation could move forward.

Red Mill Effort Still Continues
The proposed Incorporation of the City of Fairwood process takes precedence over the Red Mill Annexation effort because the proposed Red Mill Annexation was filed later than 90 days after the Fairwood Incorporation petition was filed. Because the petition was filed after the 90-day period, it is ineligible to be studied simultaneously with the Incorporation petition.

However, Renton's City Council has noted that "If the City County authorizes the Red Mill Annexation area Notice of Intent to Annex to be filed with the King County Boundary Review Board following the public hearing on January 12, 2009, the City would also invoke jurisdiction so that a public hearing in this matter would be held by the Boundary Review Board. At the Boundary Review Board hearing, the proponents/opponents of the Red Mill annexation would again be afforded the opportunity to be heard regarding their desire to be annexed by the City of Renton. If the Boundary Review Board does not remove the proposed Red Mill Annexations area from the proposed Fairwood Incorporation area, it is likely the proposed Red Mill Annexation will await the outcome of the Fairwood Incorporation vote. If the vote in the matter of Fairwood Incorporation is against incorporation, then the Red Mill annexation would likely be allowed to move forward in the manner typical for 60% Direct Petitions."

According to one official, Option 1 is fairly improbable because the Boundary Review Board typically will not separate a commercial core from a proposed incorporation area.

However, it appears that the City of Renton is interested in supporting the Red Mill Annexation process and intends to support this effort by requesting that the Red Mill annexation issues be incorporated into the public hearings set for the Fairwood Incorporation process.

This may fuel the fire of Fairwood Incorporation proponents because the initial filing was after the required deadline.

Passionate speeches from both sides could be a part of Monday's Renton Council meeting.

Background: Red Mill Process - Direct Petition Approach
The 60% Direct Petition filing is not based not on the residents signing the petition. It is based on 60 percent of the assessed landowners of the proposed area, many of whom are not from the Fairwood area.

Because the proposed Red Mill area is primarily commercial (Two Fairwood-Area Shopping Centers and Several Apartment Communities), pro-incorporation group Fairwood Municipal Initiative claims a Red Mill Annexation into Renton would jeopardize the associated economic base needed to incorporate Fairwood, denying local voters to determine whether Fairwood should incorporate or not.

Red Mill Area Description by City of Renton
"The 223.9-acre Red Mill potential annexation area is located immediately east of the 2,438 acres Benson Hill Annexation area, which was approved by resident voters on November 6, 2007. The majority of the Red Mill Annexation area is located on the south side of Petrovitsky Road with a smaller portion east of 140th Avenue SE and north of SE Petrovitsky Road. The western boundary, SE 128th Avenue SE, is contiguous to the City since March 1, 2008, when Benson Hill Communities Annexation became effective. The eastern boundary includes both 140th Ave. SE, south of SE Petrovitsky Road, and SE 138th Place, north of Petrovitsky Road. The proposed annexation lies north of Forrest (sic) Estates and Carriage Land (sic) subdivisions."

Fairwood Incorporation Feasibility Study Status
Boundary Review Board's (BRB) Lenora Blauman provided an update in late December regarding the status of the Feasibility Study for the proposed Incorporation of Fairwood. At that time, a first public meeting had been scheduled for February 9 at Northwood Middle School.

Prior to that meeting, the BRB's study consultants, Redmond-based Henderson, Young and Company, will meet with BRB committee members assigned to this project to review the findings of the study. This meeting is tentatively scheduled for mid-January.

Weigh In
We invite our readers to weigh in on this issue by commenting below.

Responses to "Red Mill Annexation Hearing"

May 28 - 12:48 am
Angry Business Owner said: The problem here is that it was NOT the business owners that were asked about their opinion. It was the land owners. BUT IT IS THE BUSINESS OWNERS WHO SALES TAXES SUPPORT THIS COMMUNITY! Maybe someone should ask the business owners rather than the people who collect the rent. After all, if we as business owners leave, then there is no rent to collect!

January 22 - 2:19 pm
JW said: Mary I'm on the fence but wanted to clarify the math isn't off, if 136 voters switched votes from Against Fairwood incorporation to For then incorporation would have passed by 2 votes.

January 20 - 6:33 pm
Erin Aboudara said: If the residents of Red Mill want out of the proposed incorporation, fine, but leave the shopping centers OUT of their annexation petition. Shopping centers and businesses don't vote, people do! Why should all of us have to suffer because a relatively small group of citizens complain about being included in Fairwood? Why should my kids go to a Kent School District school, with us paying MORE for schools AND KCLS but with reduced library service with Renton? Subdivide the QFC and make a nice city office with a community center for FAIRWOOD, not Renton. I believe that is what the BRB and Muni League said we did not have 2 1/2 years ago--guess what, we have the necessary space NOW with the QFC gone!

January 18 - 11:50 pm
Dave said: I elect to make a City of Fairwood. This will pass this time around and the word has been spreading with positive feed back. Looks like there is a good chance for the City of Fairwood

January 15 - 6:48 pm
Mary said: David Powell's math is off. According to King County Elections website:

Prop 1
FOR INCORPORATION 3652
AGAINST INCORPORATION 3922

The difference is 270, not 136.

Also, I live in Red Mill and I was at the city council meeting with several of my neighbors, but we didn't speak.

January 15 - 8:03 am
Jeff Thompson said: The Red Mill area residents and property owners legally followed the process to annex into Renton. They should be allowed to the follow the path they feel is best for their families and businesses.

A City of Fairwood would not be economically feasible even with the Red Mill area. The Boundary Review Board study isn't needed to show the obvious. Look at the world, national and local economic news. I don't understand why anyone would incorporate a bankrupt city to provide fewer services for higher property taxes??

All of Fairwood annexing into Renton is the best option for Fairwood residents and Renton.

Thank you for letting me share my opinion

January 12 - 10:18 am
David Powell said: Unincorporated Urban areas of King County are under-represented in many ways. Removing an area being considered for incorporation does not increase representation. King County has made it clear that they want urban areas of the county to be incorporated or become part of adjacent cities. Fairwood is one such urban unincorporated area. Just removing any area from an incorporation attempt will not expedite better representation of those interested land owners. Allowing "a few out-of-area land owners the chance to remove the commercial core of the Fairwood area" from consideration as part of the incorporation process is not fair to the others in the incorporation area. The out of area land owners get a voice in the process, but should not be allowed to interfere with ongoing grassroots local organizing efforts.

With renewed interest in the issue, the Fairwood Incorporation folks need to be allowed due process. A scant 136 votes from an area of 26,100 people(2005 population)should not be considered a failure, as suggested by some. It is not a decisive victory by any measure. Staying unincorporated is clearly not an option. Delaying incorporation by piece meal annexation perpetuates representation problems. The Boundary Review Board should not allow the separation of the commercial core of Fairwood by entertaining any discussion of removal of the area from the current and ongoing efforts to incorporate Fairwood.

January 11 - 11:34 pm
Doug Gibbs said: Thank you for the opportunity to provide input to this important governance issue. I am the president of our condominium Association representing 100 percent of our residents. We are in favor of the Red Mill annexation because it would put the contiguous boundaries of the City of Renton within two blocks of our complex.

We know that if this Red Mill annexation is accepted into the City of Renton, we are that much closer to getting better service for a slightly reduced cost. We know that we would have better Police protection than what we now getting through the King County Sheriff's Office. We know that police response times would be faster and that the ratio of Police officer's to population density is much better in the City of Renton. We want to be Renton residents.

I have been a Fairwood resident for over 40 years. I am the retired Fire Chief of Fire District 40 of which I have been associated with for over 35 years. I have been involved with every Citizen Advisory Board and Fairwood Futures group that have met almost every five (5) years during this time, trying to decide the best governance for our greater Fairwood community. The options were: should we incorporate as a new city (too costly), annex to Kent (not possible), do nothing and stay as residents of unincorporated King County (and cut our service levels due to the County's 92 million dollar budget deficit) or annex to the City of Renton.

The Fire District recently decided to contract all fire and emergency services to the City of Renton. It has worked extremely well. I think that if we are allowed to annex to the City of Renton we will be able to have long term economic stability for our community, have lower taxes, be able to preserve the integrity of our neighborhood and at the same time - have a higher level of service. It's the best choice!!

Through the petition method...The people of Red Mill have spoken. They want to be part of the City of Renton. They don't want to form a new City with uncertain service levels, unknown costs and unknown financial feasibility. Approximately 74% of the residents and owners in the Red Mill annexation area want to be part of Renton. So I say let them!!

January 11 - 7:47 pm
Carl Pedersen said: I believe if a group of citizens decide they want to be removed from an incorporation area for whatever reason, they should be granted that right. This is very similar to the groups that requested to be removed from the failed Fairwood incorporations a couple of years ago. Namely the Lindberg and Renton Park areas. The Boundary Review Board should grant them this respect.

Red Mill Annexation Hearing set for Monday Includes Public Input Fairwood Incorporation Work Impacted?