At the Tuesday, April 3 meeting, Councilman Art Pregler asked for Resolution 414, which supports annexation of agricultural lands in the Sammamish Valley into city limits for development, to come back to council for re-examination.
Pregler said he had been told by city staff before he cast his yes vote for the resolution on March 6, that it had been vetted before he joined the council. Pregler was appointed last October to fill the vacancy left when .
“I’m beginning to think that’s not the case,” Pregler said at the meeting and asked for the resolution to come back to council with complete staff reports.
The controversy over Resolution 414 began when it was passed by council in a 5-2 vote (Mayor Bernie Talmas and Councilwoman Susan Boundy-Sanders voted against the resolution) on March 6. The resolution states City Council support for owners of several properties in unincorporated King County along the Sammamish Valley who want their land to be annexed into the city. King County Executive Dow Constantine is against the annexation, which would transfer land zoned rural into the city and necessitate the county moving the Urban Growth Boundary.
The plan to move 17 parcels of land along 140th Place NE, many of which are fully developed (, , ), is in opposition to King County’s Comprehensive Plan, which designates the Sammamish Valley as rural. If the city were to annex those properties, the county would need to move the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB).
Resolution 414 became a hot button issue at the March 13 council meeting when Talmas was called on the carpet for not signing the resolution (). Talmas said he did not sign because he felt the resolution had factual errors.
The resolution will come back to council in the next few weeks. King County will hold a public hearing in Woodinville on the annexation on April 12 and another in Ravensdale on April 25.
The meetings will be at:
- WOODINVILLE—Thursday, April 12
The Y at the Carol Edwards Center
17401 133rd Ave. NE
Woodinville, Wa. 98072 - RAVENSDALE—Wednesday, April 25
Tahoma Junior High Commons
25600 Summit Landsburg Road,
Ravensdale, Wa. 98051
People can also submit written testimony online at www.kingcounty.gov/council and following the link under Hot Topics to the “Comprehensive Plan.”
Public testimony will also be taken at regularly scheduled meetings of the Council's Transportation, Economy and Environment Committee throughout the spring and summer of 2012. These are daytime meetings held the first and third Tuesdays at 9:30 a.m. in the Council chambers on the 10th floor of the King County Courthouse in Seattle.
