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Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2002 11:05 PM
To: Annexation Committee
Subject: Annexation Committee Minutes - July 9th, 2002
Annexation
Committee Minutes - July 9th, 2002
7pm, at Joan
Probala's Windermere Office.
Attending - David
Bangs, Joan Probala, Gary Thede, Kevin Morgan, Shirley Lopez, Julie
Holmes
Visitors - Former
Mayor Rowan Hinds. Lyle Whitcomb and Karen May from Klahanie
Minutes - David
reviewed minutes from May meeting.
General
discussion:
Feasibility Study: Joan Probala reported that,
according to Mark Hinthorne, the City currently has no money budgeted for an
annexation feasibility study in 2003.
Karen May
discussed that these feasibility studies aren't "rocket science", especially
since so many similar studies have been done recently. Volunteerism could
help more the project along even without money in the
budget.
Joan reported that
City officials have mentioned the City may be able to allocate funding for the
study mid-year if sufficient support for annexation amongst
our residents is demonstrated.
Fire
Issues: Rowan Hinds reported the fire district funding is the biggest
feasibility problem since, based on current service contracts, residents of
incorporated areas pay less taxes that ends up in the hands of the fire
department while enjoying faster guaranteed response times. The
contracts between Eastside Fire and Rescue and the cities must be
renegotiated.
Karen explained
that the portion of Issaquah resident's property tax that goes to Issaquah
($1.64 per thousand), Issaquah has to turn about $1.02 of that directly over to
Eastside Fire & Rescue. But, in King County,
residents pay $1.50 per thousand directly to Fire District 10, which turns it
all over to Eastside F&R. The rate paid by Issaquah per resident is
lower because Issaquah had existing fire stations and equipment which it merged
into the Eastside F&R system several years back. Sammamish pays a
different rate still, for historical reasons.
In order to
positively affect this situation, Karen suggests that we get to know out Fire
District 10 commissioner (we elect him!) and tell him that we do NOT want our
annexation to hurt the fire department. We should support an adjusted
contact between Issaquah and the Fire District that allows the fire department
to continue to be adequately funded. Karen will send us information about
the structure of the fire department and its decision
makers.
Meerwood
Park: David Bangs pointed out that the Issaquah Parks department has
indicated an unwillingness to take over Meerwood Park, since it does not fit the
Issaquah Parks operating profile. David wondered whether that
park can just remain under County control. According to Lyle, the County
policy is to mothball county parks in incorporated areas.
Action
items:
1) Shirley will
ask the County about how such a policy applies to Meerwood Park, since the
County actually has an operating agreement with the Meerwood
HOA.
2) Joan will ask
the City about Timberlake, and also ask them whether the fact that the Meerwood
HOA pays 50% of the operating cost of the park would affect their analysis of
whether they could take over the park.
Various Topics:
Some differences
between incorporated areas and unincorporated areas that we aren't currently
listing:
* How would public
works be effected? Example: Is City better at filling potholes than
County?
* What laws
applying to residents would change? Example: No safe-n-sane fireworks in
city.
* Permit process
is different. Sign ordinance. B&O tax.
Police coverage is
a major motivator for South Cove area annexation. Klahanie residents feel
differently, since their HOA has effectively contracted security, and that
security cooperates with both County and Sammamish police for
emergencies.
Lyle
Whitcomb pointed out that we should be very careful with our process.
Providence Point did the right thing by providing information and letting a
survey of residents determine their course of action. The Klahanie
Board did it wrong by making a major decision to side with Sammamish
without adequate public input. Lyle provided a copy of the Providnce Point
"whitepaper", which Joan photocopied.
Action
Items:
July 17th is the
Weatherwood HOA annual meeting. Julie will present on annexation. David
and Joan will work together to ensure we have One Pager and Petition Sheet ready
for that meeting.
Getting 10% of
registered voters to sign a petition may meet a legal requirement, but does not
demonstrate overwhelming support. David will prepare a survey that
residents can take to let their absolute opinion be known. The survey
should include a "Bellevue" option, but should avoid confusion by pointing out
we would have to petition to be released as an Issaquah annexation area
first.
We should add a
disclaimer on our materials that all information is "to the best of our
knowledge" at the time of publication based on our research.
Next
Meeting:
Meeting with HOA
representatives will be July 29th or 30th at the Library Resource Center with
the agenda being to decide how to publicize annexation information and determine
the preference of residents.
The small
committee will continue to meet monthly. David will
schedule.
