Recent mediation talks between the City of Burien, King County, the City of Seattle and Fire Districts #2 and #11 have resulted in a preliminary agreement as to terms of a proposed annexation of the North Highline area.

If you’d like to read the entire document, click here for a PDF file.

Otherwise, here are the top-level elements of the memo as we understand them:

• All parties agree that the unincorporated North Highline area needs to be annexed.
• The North Highline area can be annexed by more than one city (Burien or Seattle).
• Burien will pursue annexation only in Area X (approx. SW/S 116th and south) while Seattle will pursue annexation in Area Y (north of approx. SW/S 116th) until Dec. 31, 2011 (see scanned map below).
• Continued fire protection services is essential to North Highline, and annexation shall not reduce these services.
• Both cities are seeking to receive additional tax revenue on their respective annexation areas – basically state legislation that would allow both cities to get up to $5 million worth of sales-tax credits per year for 10 years for the annexation process.

Here’s a map showing the proposed dividing lines:

So…what do you think of this agreement?

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