by Ralph Nichols

It’s been a long time coming – years of meetings, studies, surveys, and wars of words – but in less than three weeks residents of the southern part of the North Highline unincorporated area finally will have their say on the following question:

“Shall that area of unincorporated King County known as the North Highline South Annexation Area as legally described in City of Burien Resolution No. 292 be annexed to the City of Burien?”

A simple majority vote in the Aug. 18th primary election for this ballot measure, King County Proposition 1, will bring approximately 1,700 more acres into the city, increasing its population by some 14,100 residents.

The south part of the North Highline unincorporated area that will become part of Burien if annexation is approved is defined by a zigzag line that extends west to east along Southwest 112th Street in north Shorewood, South 116th Street, South 112th Street, and South 107th Street in Boulevard Park, ending at Tukwila:

Much of Beverly Park and Boulevard Park, including the Rainier Golf and Country Club, will be absorbed by Burien. Left in the remaining unincorporated area between Burien and Seattle will be the North Highline fire station, Evergreen High School and Pool, and the Top Hat neighborhood.

The August primary will mark King County’s first all mail-in election. Ballots were mailed by the county elections office on Wednesday (July 29th). State law requires a simple majority vote of residents in an area designated for annexation before the merger can take effect. Residents of the annexing city do not vote on the question.

A community informational meeting on annexation will be held August 6 (Thursday) from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Boulevard Park Baptist Church, 11659 First Ave. S. – the last scheduled public forum on the issue before the election.

Burien City Manager Mike Martin, responding to questions posed recently by the B-Town Blog, said the City Council has supported this partial annexation of the unincorporated area because it will unite historic neighborhoods, and because Burien is smaller than Seattle – which at one time also considered annexing North Highline – it will give annexed residents a more responsive city government.

“I am the one who first proposed the idea that we reunite neighborhoods” through annexation, Burien Deputy Mayor Rose Clark added. Just as the city and the North Highline area are both part of the Highline School District, “they were part of our community even before we were a city.”

But, argues Mark Ufkes, president of the White Center Homeowners Association and a member of White Center Residents for a Secure Future, “Burien is the least best choice” for North Highline. Although Ufkes lives one block north of the proposed annexation area, he says if it becomes part of Burien the value of his property will be impacted.

Property taxes are about the same in both Burien and Seattle, “but you get so much more (services) in Seattle, and a Seattle address is a very positive asset to home values,” he says. “We will lose our legal Seattle address with annexation to Burien.”

And, Ufkes claims, “Burien doesn’t have the resources for our complex community,” from public safety to social services. “Annexation is supposed to make our lives better. If it doesn’t, then annexation is not a good thing.”

He adds that, in three years of monitoring Burien’s annexation process, “not once have I heard anyone say that annexation is about North Highline. It’s about Burien … in reality.”

But Greg Duff, new president of the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council, says with less than a month before the election, “it looks very good” for annexation. “From surveys that we’ve done, people want to annex to Burien….

“We’re really not hearing much opposition. The people opposed don’t want annexation because they have property to sell and they think that by going to Seattle property will increase in value, which is ridiculous.”

Duff suggests, “It is better to be a part of Burien because we will have a bigger voice in government – 14,500 people will have a much stronger voice in Burien with a (current) population of about 30,000, than in Seattle with a population of more than 500,000.”

And, he continues, “I’d much rather have Mike Martin and the Burien City Council as my governing body than (Mayor) Greg Nickels and the Seattle City Council. Mike wanted to annex North Highline from the beginning, regardless of whether the Legislature provided funds for annexation. But Nickels wavered. He was after money from the Legislature, it was not about the people.”

Two other key reasons that Duff says support annexation by Burien are, “I don’t want to be part of all the silly rules and regulations in Seattle like the tax on plastic bags,” and “Seattle sees the south end of King County as the slums … I really feel that’s the way (Nickels) feels.”

He believes annexation by Burien “will be a simple transition” and that the city can provide all services needed by its new residents despite opponents’ claims to the contrary.

More information about the proposed annexation, both pro and con, is available in the King County Voters Guide, which can be accessed online here.

Martin notes that if annexation is approved by North Highline votes, the area won’t become part of Burien overnight. “We will have a lot of work to do…. It’s not like the vote takes place on August 18 and annexation happens on the 19th.”

Burien city staff will have to do “a whole lot of work in between” to reach out incorporate the annexed area. He thinks the annexed part of North Highline officially would become part of the city “probably in March.”

Proposals to annex North Highline have generated controversy in both Burien and North Highline – and between Burien and Seattle after Nickels claimed the White Center area and beyond for his city – ever since Countywide Planning Policies, a regional offshoot of Washington’s Growth Management Act, called for King County’s unincorporated urban areas to be included in cities by 2012.

The county also targeted North Highline for annexation in 2003 in the wake of the first in a succession of severe budget shortfalls, and offered financial assistance to cities that annex unincorporated urban areas.

In 2006, Burien, Seattle and King County agreed to work cooperatively for annexation of the entire unincorporated area by one or both cities. But despite their Memorandum of Understanding to resolve the issue, Seattle never responded to offers by Burien to settle competing claims on North Highline. This inaction led Burien to adopt independently early last year its plan to annex the south part of the unincorporated area.

Seattle objected to Burien’s annexation plan and challenged it before the Boundary Review Board. Following a public hearing in March, the board formally approved Burien’s request on April 16th.

So…what’s your vote regarding annexation?

Please take our poll, or leave Comments below…

[poll id=”32″]

Since 2007, The B-Town Blog is Burien’s multiple award-winning hyperlocal news/events website dedicated to independent journalism.

One reply on “On August 18th, North Highline Residents Will Vote On Annexation; Take Our Poll…”

  1. Mark Ufkes is trying to deceive us with his associations and titles. An old political trick is to start lots of associations just before an election and then have them support your view. I would ask for a list of the members of the White Center Homeowners Associations. I know people who tried to join and when Mark found out they were in favor of White Center being annexed to Burien, were turned down. The Public Disclosure Commision just recived Marks application on July 28 for theWhite Center Residents for a Secure Future. It seems Mark is up to same old tricks. If truth be told, I am sure you will find the same old cronies of Mark’s on all of these committees. Shame on you Mark.

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