Letter from King County Executive to Kirkland City Council about annexation
At the May 20 Kirkland City Council meeting, a motion was passed to table resolution R-4706, relating to the decision of the Kirkland City Council not to place the question of whether to annex the Potential Annexation Areas (PAAs) on a ballot at this time.
During the debate, Council members referred to a letter from King County Executive Ron Sims in which he urged the Council to reconsider their decision:
“As mentioned at our meeting, the county would strongly encourage you to reconsider this position given that the thoughtful integration of the Kingsgate, Juanita-Finn Hill area in the city’s long term financial planning could yield solutions otherwise unavailable. However, if you cannot proceed because of the city’s bUdget problems; we ask that the city explicitly articulate that it would support other cities’ consideration of annexation of the area.
Under today’s Countywide Planning Policies framework, if an urban unincorporated area is designated as a PAA of one city, it presents a considerable obstacle to other cities with interest in exploring annexation - it is a barrier with the community, with the Boundary Review Board, and with the county. Accordingly, we request that the City of Kirkland take action to remedy this by passing a motion that supports options that allow other cities to explore annexation of the area and by amending Kirkland’s own comprehensive plan.”
The letter appears to have had a profound effect on Council members as they reversed their previous course to end annexation and voted to table the issue until the end of the year.
You can read the entire letter from Ron Sims to the Council as well as the recommended course of action prepared by staff called, Annexation Resolution and Policy Direction. Annotations and highlighting are my edits.
Thank you to several readers for bringing this story to our attention.
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2 Responses to “Letter from King County Executive to Kirkland City Council about annexation”
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This is the kind of crap we can expect from our council. If you look at the letter sent from Ron Simms he is begging kirkland to change their minds on annexation since kirkland found it could not work financially. Simms then begs kirkland to release the paa from kirkland’s hold so other cities can annex them. King County wants to stop having to pay for this area ASAP.What does kirkland do? We not only ignore our own findings of the financial disaster this idea will be for kirkland citizens but we poke a finger in Simms’ eye by holding on tight like a child with a toy it wont let go of. Ridiculous. Kirkland playing games with the paa because annexation will cost kirkland too much. This move was spineless and I bet it will cost the council dearly when they come for elections. What are they going to say, REmember us, we raised your taxes and cut your services so we could grow the size of kirkland and make us more important. We need a council that thinks of kirkland FIRST. That is why we elected you people remember??????? You represent KIRKLAND. Now act like it. I was on the annexation email listing and I watched the funny business from the council for most of last year and I don’t see how it makes sense for kirkland.
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Anything that Ron Sims says should be suspect. He reversed course on Sound Transit Light Rail out of the blue. If says to do something, its best we do the opposite.
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