Kirkland on cusp of dramatic growth in size, population

Kirkland could gain an additional 33,000 residents and seven square miles in less than three years if plans to annex the communities of Finn Hill, Upper Juanita and Kingsgate go through.

The city began discussions with the three neighborhood associations this month and will hold public forums in October and November to hear from area residents.

Those comments and a long-range financial analysis will be brought to the City Council by the end of the year, and council members will vote on whether to proceed.

Outreach would then begin in any communities proposed for annexation, culminating in a vote by each neighborhood in the spring or summer of 2008. If the measures were to pass and the City Council agreed to annex, Kirkland could start providing services by spring 2009.

If all three areas were annexed, the city would gain 3-½ more miles of Lake Washington shoreline and would boost its population by 70 percent, to 81,000. Land area would grow to 17 square miles, up from the current 10.

"It would recognize and formalize that we are one community," said City Manager Dave Ramsay, who noted that annexation is one aim of the state's Growth Management Act.

"This is a big picture of how government should work," Ramsay said. "Counties should provide regional services, like transit and wastewater services, and service to rural areas. Local services in urban areas should be provided by cities."

King County supports the annexation, pointing out that unincorporated islands in urban areas put a drain on county resources, said Assistant City Manager Marilynne Beard. County funds have been set aside to assist cities in annexing such areas, she said.

A survey conducted in March 2005 found that more than 75 percent of the residents in those communities would support annexation to Kirkland over Kenmore, Woodinville or Bothell, Beard added. Many residents in these communities already use Kirkland addresses, and their children go to school in the Lake Washington School District, which also includes Kirkland.

"The fact that they are using them [city services] and not paying for it makes sense to consider this," Ramsay said. "We'd like to be a community financially, as well as in the way it acts [currently]."

The city estimates the cost of providing services to these communities at $4.8 million a year. The neighborhoods are mainly residential with a few commercial areas that don't generate enough sales tax to fund services.

A new law that offers funding incentives to cities that annex unincorporated areas has helped the city to move forward, Ramsay said.

The bill gives cities a portion of the state sales tax for 10 years — about $4 million a year for Kirkland. That would significantly close the city's funding gap to annex the neighborhoods, reducing it to about $500,000.

But Ramsay cautions that the city must find ways to cover the costs on its own after the 10-year subsidy expires.

The potential annexation areas are currently policed by the King County Sheriff's Office, and fire services are contracted to the Kirkland Fire Department through a county fire district. Kirkland estimates it would take an additional 50 police personnel to cover the area.

Taxes in the annexation areas would likely stay the same, and residents might even see a net decrease, Beard added. The average yearly property tax for a $320,000 home under county jurisdiction is $3,500. A home of the same value has an average tax of $3,000 in Kirkland, although that savings could be offset by other city taxes.

"People assume that their taxes would increase under a city, and that's not always the case," Beard said.

Lisa Chiu: (206) 464-3347 or lchiu@seattletimes.com