Fairwood incorporation before voters a second time

Three years after rejecting the idea, voters in the Fairwood area near Renton will again decide whether to start their own city.

If voters go for it Nov. 3, Fairwood would be the first new city in King County since Sammamish incorporated in 1999.

Supporters of Fairwood Proposition 1 say residents, who number around 25,000, should have more local control. They say their needs and priorities have been overlooked as King County struggles with budget cuts and moves to divest itself of unincorporated areas.

"Our city is a tax exporter," said Tom Edwards, vice president of the Fairwood Municipal Initiative. "We produce more taxes than we receive back in services. ... We cannot rely on King County to take care of our needs."

He said that under incorporation, residents would, for example, get better police protection because the city could contract for more police officers from King County out of a projected budget surplus.

Residents would also have more say in zoning and development, he added.

Opponents argue that starting a city from scratch would be a huge undertaking and an economic burden. They say the endeavor requires "extraordinary" startup costs, and that local control does not mean a city has free rein to do what it pleases.

Cities must abide by the state Growth Management Act, which requires a certain amount of growth for multifamily and low-income housing, economic development, and job creation, said J. Paul Blake, a member of the Go Vote No! campaign. Land-use decisions, he said, are subject to these outside regulations

"Incorporation was a bad idea then [in 2006] and it's a worse idea now," Blake said. A better option would be to annex to Renton, he said.

"If you want to retain the character of the community, the best way to do that is to become part of Renton," said Blake, director of community relations at Seattle Public Utilities, and a resident of unincorporated King County. Blake used to live in Fairwood, and now rents out three homes he owns there.

Renton officials say they can't comment on incorporation and remain neutral about annexation.

Fairwood lies southeast of Renton and north of Kent and is served by those communities' school districts. The bedroom community, home to the Fairwood Country Club, has a small retail strip anchored by a Safeway and an Albertsons.

Signs both for and against incorporation can be seen at the main intersection of 140th Avenue Southeast and Southeast Petrovitsky Road. Both sides say they've been actively campaigning and going door to door.

Edwards said he's motivated to do so because as a geopolitical consultant, he's seen the value in self-governing communities. He's lived in the area for 16 years and has owned a home there since 1995, he said.

According to the state Public Disclosure Commission, the Fairwood Municipal Initiative had raised more than $24,000 as of Monday. Go Vote No! had raised more than $10,000.

The quest to make Fairwood a city began about five years ago, as King County stepped up its efforts to unload unincorporated areas to neighboring cities.

When the incorporation measure failed in 2006 by 270 votes, proponents formed a group called Fairwood Municipal Initiative. The group filed a notice the following year with the Washington State Boundary Review Board for King County, which oversees new city incorporations, asking for another shot. The board then hired a consultant team to study the issue.

A final report came out this April, and in it, analysts estimated that most of Fairwood's revenue in 2010 would come from property taxes, about $3.9 million. Another $2.5 million would come from sales taxes.

The report did not take a position on incorporation.

Analysts also looked at property taxes. Fairwood homeowners now pay $1.60 per $1,000 in assessed value to the county for roads, according to the study. That's $720 on a home assessed at $450,000.

Assuming this $1.60 rate remains the same, that money would get funneled to the city under incorporation instead of going to the county, said Randy Young, project manager for the consultant team.

In May, after three days of public hearings, the Boundary Review Board voted 8 to 2 to support incorporation.

The Municipal League of King County has come out against incorporation, citing annexation to Renton as the better option because it can accommodate the growth and provide services "without the expense of a new layer of administration."

The measure needs a simple majority to pass.

News researcher Miyoko Wolf contributed to this report. Sonia Krishnan: 206-515-5546 or skrishnan@seattletimes.com