I continue to be neutral about Fairwood's future governance. This journal entry that I wrote over three years ago is still applicable today. My council colleagues have expressed neutrality as well.

The future governance of Fairwood is in the hands of Fairwood's residents.

There have been two annexation petitions submitted to the city of Renton for consideration, and we placed both of these petitions in abeyance until the Fairwood incorporation decision was voted on. One of these petitions is a "property petition" submitted by property owners holding much of the central business district in Fairwood (called the Red Mill petition), and the other petition is from a percentage of registered voters and calls for a vote by the overall Fairwood Community to consider annexation of the entire community (approximately 25,000 people) to Renton.

We are going to act slowly and openly as we lay out next steps for consideration of any annexation of Fairwood property.

Next Monday the Mayor will present the council with his recommendation for how to proceed with these two petitions. We will then most likely refer this recommendation into a future Committee of the Whole meeting, to be reviewed probably in early December. Residents of Fairwood and Renton will have a chance to review the Mayor's recommendation, watch the council deliberate on it, and make their comments during the audience comment portions of City Council Meetings. They can also send us written comments on the Mayor's proposal after it is unveiled on Monday night, if not earlier.

Among the issues the Mayor and staff are considering is how to handle the two petitions in a way that is as fair as possible, makes the most sense to the most people, and minimizes the strain on the Fairwood Community after they have just weathered a divisive campaign season.

We will have a process and expected election schedule defined by the end of December, but any election would likely not occur until late in 2010. This would give Fairwood residents a break, and allow time for all the pros and cons of annexation to be determined and reviewed by the community.

We'll know more next week.

And of course I'm maintaining neutrality. I encourage you again to read my earlier blog on this if you have not read it already Here is the link again.


Here is a sample of pro and con letters on this topic:

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Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 3:02:40 PM
To: Council
Subject: The next step
Monday, November 9, 2009

Dear City of Renton leadership,

As a resident of the community of Woodside, east of Fairwood just off Petrovitsky, we have just endured the second attempt of a few folks living in Fairwood to make us all into the City of Fairwood. The effort has failed. I'm sure they have some sort of contingency plan to delay any efforts to annex the area into the City of Renton. But I would encourage you to begin as soon as possible the work necessary to bring us into the Renton by annexation. We all spoke loudly with our votes, so now let's get going. Please reply with an overview of your plans on this subject. Thank you.

Respectfully,

Almost a Resident
City of Renton

___________________________________________________________________

Posted by Letters Editor

A hearty “No thanks” from a Fairwood resident

Once again The Times offers an opinion in ignorance, this time about the Renton and Fairwood issue [“Renton and Fairwood: It’s time to get hitched,” Opinion, editorial, Nov. 11].

Regardless of the fact that studies performed by finance experts have suggested Fairwood is feasible, The Times offers Renton as some proverbial paradise. As Renton knows all too well, and as the studies showed, Fairwood is a tax exporter and thus we have more than ample funds to provide and improve our basic services.

However, becoming a new city is a scary thing, and voters apparently desire the seemingly easy path of annexation rather than the best long-term path of incorporation.

The Landing was cited as evidence of a transformed Renton, while the editorial failed to mention the high vacancy rates there, and Renton’s $8 million budget deficit.

So how will Fairwood’s services improve? Sadly, the editorial simply overlooks the reality of our situation — not a surprise, as we’re far-flung from Seattle.

Renton is salivating at the prospect of acquiring Fairwood, solely for the tax surplus we generate. Fairwood will become another forgotten, rundown Renton neighborhood while the city mismanages our tax surplus on failed projects.

— Tom Edwards, Fairwood

__________________________________

And Here is a Renton Reporter article with further background on this topic.

Renton and King County coordinated on a study to get an idea of Fairwood residents' opinions about their future governance. 400 voters were randomly sampled in a scientifically valid way (calling cell phones as well as land lines, with follow-up to those who had not responded, etc, to ensure the pollsters were not just sampling the people normally at home).

The findings were interesting:

27 percent would like to incorporate into a city of Fairwood

34 percent would like to annex to Renton

31 percent would like to remain unincorporated

8 percent are undecided

IN ADDITION, the survey found that 98 percent of the respondents reported that they felt informed about the options.

Based on these results, a likely sequence of events would be that the Fairwood Incorporation initiative would come up for a vote first, and then fail. Next, a vote to annex to Renton would potentially come up, and probably fail (unless over half of those who wanted to form Fairwood switched over to support annexing to Renton, which does not seem likely to me.) In the end, Fairwood would end up remaining unincorporated, an idea favored by just 31 percent of the voters in the area.

King County Councilman Reagan Dunn has sent this letter to the Choose Renton Fairwood-annexation campaign, agreeing to sponsor the legislation which would put annexation to a vote of the affectted residents. (This vote would only occur if a vote to incorporate into a seperate city of Fairwood does not get a majority.) So, the stage is set for Fairwood to make a choice on their future.

Bryce Nelson, a Fairwood area resident and a Pierce County Prosecutor, has been keeping an active blog encouraging residents to consider annexation to Renton.

I thought his post yesterday on the "Red Mill Annexation" was well writen and accurate.

You can find his blog HERE.

As a Renton councilman, I don't feel a strong need to have Red Mill or even the rest of Fairwood annex to the city of Renton... but in the spirit of the Growth Management Act, I would try to accomodate them if that is what they chose. Whether these areas opt to request annexation or not, I appreciate Bryce keeping the record straight on items like this.

A reminder to Fairwood residents that there are competing Fairwood Incorporation and Fairwood Annexation drives going on right now.

Renton City council held a review of city-wide annexation policy last month, and there were no big changes or surprises. However, it did come to light that the only way the City of Renton could afford the Fairwood Annexation without reducing services elsewhere in Renton is if we annexed while state and county financial assistance are available. Hence, such an annexation has to happen in 2009, or not at all, unless the state produces a new annexation funding package for 2010 and beyond. This seems increasingly unlikely given the deficit in the budget right now.

Here are the competing sites that give Fairwood residents more information. (Fairwood residents should be gratful to both of these organizing team, for the volunteer work they are putting into developing options for you)




www.chooserenton.com






www.fairwoodmi.org

The Fairwood Renton Annexation campaign has gone live with it's website, and they clearly have a big campaign organized. I noticed from looking through it that they have already received many citizen endorsements, and endorsement of the union representing Renton Firefighters.

The "City of Fairwood" campaign has been active in recent months as well, and I'm sure they have some near-term plans also; I have also linked to their website below.

The firefighter endorsement reminds me of something I wanted to share with the community. The City of Renton has taken an official position of neutrality in this decision. But there is no way the city could or would stop individual Renton employees ON THIER OWN TIME from getting involved in this process. Many of Renton's employees live in Fairwood, or have family and friends in Fairwood, and they have a clear first amendment right to participate in decisions involving their governance. They can work to promote the City of Fairwood, or Annexation to Renton, as much as they want as long as they are not using city resources. This is probably obvious to some of you, but I wanted to clarify this for everyone.

Here are the websites!





www.chooserenton.com






www.fairwoodmi.org

UPDATE: This blog entry has generated two dozen comments so far, and counting. I moved it back to the top, so it was easier to find. Tomorrow, I will link to the web sites for the pro-incorporation and the pro-annexation initiatives.


We received this email at City Hall:


________________________________________________________

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen;

This email is going out to over 100 Fairwood area residents that have
indicated that they want to make a good choice regarding the future of our
community by endorsing annexation to the City of Renton.

We are initiating our campaign "Choose Renton" on Monday, August 11, 2008, 7:00 PM at the Renton City Council Meeting (1055 So. Grady Way – 7th floor Council Chambers). In the next few weeks, we will be asking the Mayor and City Council as well as King County Officials to help provide factual information on three important choices that face the Fairwood community residents in the near future.

Like the Cascade/Benson Hill Communities annexation to Renton, we believe that choosing Renton is our best option, but want to make sure that we have all the facts to share with the Fairwood area community.
Please join us at the City Council meeting.

FAIRWOOD – Fairwood residents are proud to announce the formation of Choose Renton, a new organization created to endorse annexation of the Fairwood
Potential Annexation Area (PAA) into the City of Renton.

"Annexation of the Fairwood PAA by the City of Renton will provide a higher level of service for lower cost, preserve the residential character of our neighborhoods, and allow us to be a part of an economically stable city without the budget problems presently plaguing King County," said Bryce Nelson, spokesperson for Choose Renton.

Recently, King County Fire District 40 signed a 20 year contract with the City of Renton to provide fire services for the Fairwood area.
Staffing levels at Station 17 on Petrovitsky Road have increased as a result of the contract with Renton, without an increase in taxes – showing that Fairwood will get more for its tax money by becoming a part of the City of Renton. The Renton Police Department would also provide significantly faster response times for the Fairwood area than its present service provider, the King County Sheriff's Department. Residents of Fairwood voted against incorporation in 2006.

"Incorporation will provide an unknown level of service, at unknown costs, with unknown taxes, and with an uncertain ability to keep Fairwood’s residential character the same," said Nelson. "We said no to incorporation two years ago for all of these reasons. It was a bad idea then, and it is a worse idea now."

Choose Renton believes that Renton's ability to provide us a significantly higher level of service for less money than a City of Fairwood makes it the obvious choice for the area.

As King County continues to cut service levels to unincorporated urban and suburban areas, remaining a part of unincorporated King County is no longer
a viable option for Fairwood.

For additional information on our efforts, endorsement forms, and future meeting dates, please go to our website at _www.chooserenton.com_
(http://www.chooserenton.com/) , which will go live on our official launch date of August 14, 2008.

Please contact Bryce Nelson at _bryce.nelson@gmail.com_
(mailto:bryce.nelson@gmail.com) or (425) 864-7771 with any further questions.


Bryce Nelson, Spokesperson

There is an important election on the horizon for Fairwood residents. They will soon need to cast ballots relative to whether or not they wish to form a new city. This is an important vote because King County continues to make public statements about curtailing urban services to communities like Fairwood, which puts pressure on these communities to either incorporate as an indepedent city or annex to an existing city.

I am neutral on Fairwood annexing to the city of Renton. As I stated in my June 17 entry to this journal;


"There are many neighborhoods bordering our city that are looking at the potential of annexing over the next few years. People in this position often have many questions and concerns, and I'm not going to try to address them all with one journal entry this morning.

I would instead like to convey my basic position on annexations, and invite readers to contact me at 425-271-6913 or leave comments below with any questions they have of me on the topic.

My basic position is this:

If you are in our Potential Annexation Area (PAA), and the majority of your neighborhood wishes to join our city, then I welcome you with open arms. If you are in the PAA, but the majority of your neighbors do not wish to join our city, then I understand and I have no issues with that..peace to you, and your settlement :-). Lastly, if you are outside our PAA, and you wish to join our city, we should work with other jurisdictions to update the PAA and go from there.

My only wish is that you and your neighbors have accurate facts and data to work from (this is my inner engineer's voice), Therefore, I support our staff's printing of materials that explain how your situation is affected by annexation. I want this material to be politically neutral, accurate, and readable.

I will generally not plan to attend meetings of King County residents who are weighing an annexation decision, because I don't want to put myself in the position of taking their decision personally. If I'm not at their meeting, I won't have my feelings hurt if they decide not to annex...better for them, and better for me!

In summary, if you are in our PAA, treat it like an event invitation. Ask your questions, get the facts, and make the decision that works for you. I'll support you either way."

I wish to clarify that I a neutral because I realize that my opinion, whatever it may be for a given annexation, is completely trumped by the opinions of the people living in the affected neighborhood (in this case Fairwood). The choice Fairwood residents make will affect their daily lives, as they experience everyday things such as water and sewer service, stop lights, parks and libraries, tax payments, and building permits...around the clock...winter, spring, summer, fall...for countless years into the future. The choice may also affect the more anxious moments of their lives, such as the way police or fire services are dispatched in an emergency. While it's true that their choice may also affect residents of Renton here and there, any impact on existing Renton residents is very small compared to the impact on the Fairwood households. Many Renton residents wont even notice the apparent nuance of Fairwood being unincorporated versus incorporated versus annexed, and those that do will generally forget all about it in a week or two. If I saw a family in my neighborhood having a passionate argument about the choice of carpet they were installing in their home, the last thing I would do is walk over and tell them that they should go with my choice because I sometimes visit their home and I want it to look just right for me, or because I am worried that their carpet choice may affect my property value. While I may in fact hold an opinion on their carpet, I am wise enough to know that their collective opinion simply overwhelms mine, that they are the ones that perpetually live with the choice, and I should stay out of it. The same is true for an annexation discussion.

I have recently been told by a Fairwood resident that there is still confusion about what will happen if the area votes against incorporation. Up until a few weeks ago, I would have said that I expect that nothing would happen unless the residents formed an annexation drive. However, Renton Council recently got a surprise in the Maplewood neighborhood along Cedar River a couple meetings ago, when the King County Boundary Review Board increased the size of an annexation by five hundred percent, after some citizens had made an application to annex. I would have expected such a change to go to a vote or petition, but it did not. In this case, the majority of the residents of the affected area seemed to be in favor of the expansion, and I was extremely happy for Wonderland Estates residents that benefited from this decision. But the surprising turn of events left me with questions about how the 2006 annexation process really works. I have promised the inquiring Fairwood resident that that I will seek clarification on what happens if the vote for incorporation fails. When I sort this out, I will post the answers here.

Best Wishes,

Randy