Written by 
(Above) West Hill has many beautiful homes with residents that take great pride in their neighborhoods and their rural-county way of life.
The area also could use attention in code enforcement, policing, and economic development, but not everyone agrees on what form this should take or how it can be paid for.
The Renton City Council is once again deliberating on whether to go to the ballot with potential annexation of the West Hill Neighborhood (which is made up of Bryn Mawr, Lakeridge, Skyway, Earlington, Campbell Hill, Panorama, Skycrest, and Hill Top.) I last discussed this issue in my blog in 2008 HERE , with detail and pictures.
The West Hill was in our original Potential Annexation Area (PAA) as defined in our first growth management plan in 1993 under Mayor Clymer. But when Mayor Tanner took office in 1996, he urged removal of West Hill from our PAA after an analysis showed that it would cost Renton taxpayers up to 40 million dollars to annex the area (a number which has remained remarkably unchanged in the last 15 years). Then, in a heated and passionate council meeting in 2005, Mayor Keolker succeeded in getting a divided council to put West Hill back into our PAA, largely on the premise that putting it back into our PAA was the only way we could evaluate funding options. The reasoning that prevailed went like this: if we put West Hill back in our PAA we could request county and state funding assistance for additional study and ultimately for servicing the area. If the county and state agreed to provide us the money we needed, we could then consider annexing. If we ultimately could not get any money (or West Hill chose not to annex), we could take the area back out of our PAA.
Now, after many years of study and fund raising efforts, the state has come though with about half of the money we would need to service West Hill during the first ten years without impacting current residents of Renton– the state can provide us about 2.5 million per year for ten years. Unfortunately, the County has not been able to promise any significant assistance, so we would find ourselves running a deficit of about 1.5 million per year for the first ten years trying to service West Hill, and significantly more than that after ten years if we did not get some sort of major economic revitalization out of their retail corridors by that time.
This has left Mayor Law recommending against annexing the area, and the council divided on what action to take next. The state funding offer comes with a time line in which council has until next week to set an election date for West Hill– if no date is set by next week, the twenty-five million dollars in state funding (2.5 million per year) will not be available.
Some council members are ready to say West Hill Annexation is dead, while others are pushing strongly to promote it, while others might put it on life support. We’ve been told that setting an election date does not mean we are obligated to go through with annexation…it just means we will hear from West Hill whether they want to annex. So some council members were interested in understanding whether we could tentatively set an election in 2012, and then decide by the end of 2011 whether we would would go through with the election or call it off. This would give the county and others more time to find additional money. I was interested in this option yesterday, but I am increasingly less interested because of the confusing messages it sends and the low probability of more money turning up.
Council has been hearing from West Hill and existing Renton residents that are split on this issue. Some in Renton have suggested that the existing citizens of Renton should be allowed to vote on this annexation as well. I’ve heard one other council member express this sentiment as well. We’ve not talked about this, and I don’t know whether it would be supported by a majority of council, but it would not be out of the question for the council to ask for an advisory vote from existing citizens. We would want to be sure we picked an election where everybody was already receiving ballots in order to keep the costs down.
We intend to resolve this issue on Monday August 9th, first at Committee of the Whole which starts at 5:30, followed by final debate and action at the council meeting at 7:00 PM. I’m not certain at this point exactly what I will do. I will possibly vote no to further discussion of West Hill annexation, in which case I will also recommend that we once again remove West Hill from our potential annexation area (so that West Hill would be free to petition Seattle or Tukwila for governance); or I will vote to put annexation on the ballot in mid-2012 with the call-off the election at the end of 2011 if there is no additional money available. I might also float the idea of an advisory vote of existing Renton residents.
As always, I would love to hear from the citizens of Renton and West Hill on this topic. Send your letters and emails to Renton City Hall, and feel free to engage in debate here on my blog.
Some random thoughts:
Can we put the Fairwood annexation idea for a vote to Renton citizens too?
Why not incorporate Earlington and the other closer areas and leave Skyway/Highway 900 to King County?
Even if we don’t decide to incorporate, and we get the City attorney to figure out why King County under-serves Skyway but over-serves places like Novelty Hill? The decreased police presence in Skyway has a poor effect on Renton.
Seattle Deserves this Area
Has always been closer to Seattle city limits than Renton.
No way would this area benefit the city
12 Big Myths
Wow. My (union) hat is off to you. One title, two short sentences, three Big Myths.
The Twelve Big Myths about the Renton West Hill Annexation
1. The area can’t pay for Renton level services; they will cost ‘us’ a bunch of money.
2. I feel sorry for them, but they are not my problem.
3. The Renton West Hill is far away/not a natural part of Renton.
4. The Renton West Hill should be part of Tukwila/Seattle/Mercer Island/anywhere but here.
5. We should take the good parts (and leave the rest of the area/people to rot).
6. Renton citizens deserve a vote on all annexations.
7. Benson Hill was a mistake; they are sucking the budget dry.
From the West Hill point of view
8. We don’t need Renton telling us what to do.
9. Renton will not make things better; they will make fire services worse.
10. Things are just fine here thank you very much you condescending jerk.
11. I like my Seattle address; ‘moving’ to Renton will lower my property value.
12. Secret item to be revealed during the annexation campaign.
So many Myths, so little time
I already touched on Myth # 2 in responses to RentonBen where I contend that the Renton School District already creates a very strong linkage between Renton and the Renton West Hill. Other strong linkages exist. See the detailed refutation of Myth #3 posted below for more.
Ira500 effectively deals with Myth #4 in his comments below. He may not agree with me.
I would hope that the parenthetical subtitle to Myth #5 is all that a thoughtful person needs to read to understand the flagrantly cold-hearted injustice of this myth. If you need further explanation, I have too much contempt for you to waste my time explaining.
An anonymous blogger pointed out that Randy and the other Council members are elected to vote on behalf of residents. I will add (annoying myself in the process) that annexations can be very complex and the average citizen often chooses to be far too ignorant of the issues to have an opinion of any real value. Voting emotionally is how we end up with people like (insert the name of your least favorite politician here) in office. As I see it, Randy’s job is to learn enough about the issue so his opinion has actual value, take a clear and visible position and vote accordingly. If enough of us agree with him enough of the time, he gets reelected, thus he represents the will of the majority. That takes care of Myth # 6, except for the times when Randy says he has no opinion on an issue. I say find an opinion. That is your job dude.
See the thoughtful refutation of Myth #7 in separate post below.
Myths # 8 to # 12 are not germane unless the annexation actually goes to a ballot, so I will defer expounding until the election is close, which gives me a year or two.
Myth #1 appears to be the big issue for Council President Don Persson and quite a few other folks both lofty and lowly. I think I have a killer argument for this issue, which will be posted soon, so you have something to look forward to/dread.
Please note the opinions I express are my own, not those of my employer or my union (if I have either). If you are offended or angered by my opinions, smarten up. Once you have learned a little more you will find that you have something worthwhile to blog about or, more likely, you will agree with me. Either way I can hardly wait.
Union Hat
Re: 12 Big Myths
Myth #3 – The Renton West Hill is far away/not a natural part of Renton.
When I don’t go someplace very often, it seems further away than it really is. I don’t go to the Renton West Hill often and I bet most Rentonites don’t either, as there are ever fewer jobs and safe places to shop and recreate up there. In reality, Renton’s West Hill is much closer to downtown than any other annexation area. It is just as close to the original incorporation area as the Highlands and has better road connections.
Have a look at the annexation map on the link below.
http://www.rentonwa.gov/uploadedFiles/Government/AJLS/Annexation/Annexations%20March%202010.pdf?n=3743
It doesn’t look all that far on a map, but is it? Using the Google Daft Logic Distance Calculator http://www.daftlogic.com/projects-google-maps-distance-calculator.htm I checked the distance of various parts of Renton from City Hall. The City Hall may not be the economic, social, commercial or geographic center of Renton, but everybody knows where it is. Located in the SE corner of the greater downtown, it is as far away from the Renton West Hill as it is possible to get and still be near downtown.
Before we check the distance to the Renton West Hill, let’s check out how far Renton is from City Hall so we have something to compare. All distances are measured in straight lines. If you hate details skip to the next paragraph.
The northernmost part of Renton is on Ripley Lane about 1,000 feet north of the Sea Hawks VMAC. This spot is 5.5 miles from City Hall, which is a lot further than I would have guessed. May Valley Rd. and 148th Ave. SE is the NE corner of Renton. It is a tiny bit over 4 miles away. Liberty High School in the east Highlands is right next to the city limit. That is exactly 4 miles from City Hall. On SR-169 the boundary is past Summerfield by the trailer park and is also 4 miles east. I would have sworn the growth management boundary was further away. The SE corner of Renton is near Meeker Middle School on SE 192nd St. at Soos Creek, which is 3.3 miles away. The furthest south you can go in Renton is SE 200th St. and Talbot Rd. S at 3.5 miles. To the SW is the corner of SW 43 (180th) St. and the railroad tracks by Tukwila and Kent, 2.9 miles from City Hall. To the west it is Monster Rd. by the gravel pit at the bottom of the hill heading up to MLK Way, 2.25 miles. This averages 3.7 miles from City Hall to the city limit.
How does this compare to the Renton West Hill? The very furthest point away is on the far west end on the other side of the hill at MLK Way, right by I-5 where SE 120th would cross if it went that far. This narrow point is 3.3 miles from City Hall and just over ½ mile further west than the current city limit. On the north side the furthest distance is 3.1 miles near the corner of Cornell Ave. and S Ryan by Lakeridge Park, (Dead Horse Canyon). This is as about as far north as N 20th in the Highlands, noticeably south of Kenneydale. The south end is only as far south as Mclendon’s. The closest approach to City Hall in only 1.4 miles and until the Earlington annexation last year this distance was about ¾ of a mile right by the McDonald’s on Rainer at Renton Ave./Airport Way.
The East Highlands and Fairwood annexation areas are much further away with maximum distances of 5 and 6 miles respectively.
Some have opined that Seattle is closer, and certainly their border with Renton’s West Hill is nearly as long as Renton’s, but the side nearest to Seattle is 8 miles from downtown with the Renton border more than 10 miles away. The part of Seattle adjacent to the hill is a long, narrow projection to the south east and appears to be as neglected by Seattle as the hill is by King County. Things up there might actually get worse if the hill annexes to Seattle, which would not be good news for Renton, but would never be noticed by Seattle.
Not only is Renton’s West Hill a natural part of Renton, it balances other annexation areas nicely.
The opinions I express are my own.
Union Hat
Re: 12 Big Myths
Myth #7 – Benson Hill was a mistake; they are sucking the budget dry.
The Benson Annexation was one of the smartest and luckiest things Renton has ever done. If you pay attention to local news you are hearing that Lynnwood may lay-off 1/3 if its police force; Seattle has stopped hiring officers while continuing to run a force nearly 50 officers short of their admitted need; King County is threatening a public safety apocalypse unless we increase our sales taxes yet again.
What have you heard about Renton finances? The goal for the 2011 budget is a modest cut in General Fund expenditures of 2%. Coming on top of two successive years of significant cuts, it will not be easy, but it is not anything like the problems most nearby municipal governments are facing this year.
The staff and administration deserve some credit for dealing with declining revenues early, asking all employees to take 5 furlough days in 2009 reduced payroll costs for 2009 by about 2%. Permanently reducing city staff by 35 in November of 2009 reduced payroll cost for 2010 and beyond by about 2%. Significant reductions or deferrals of expenditures on nonessential programs have saved 10% or more in General Fund spending.
What is not widely appreciated is that the increased gross revenue from the Benson Hill annexation and the associated hiring plan that was interrupted by the downturn in 2008, provided a significant cushion to Renton in the new economic reality.
In late 2007, as part of the planning for the anticipated annexation of Benson Hill, all city departments estimated the number of new employees the city would need to hire in order to deliver Renton’s normal level of service to Benson Hill. The estimate came in at about 110 new employees, which for a mostly residential area that only has 16,300 citizens, may seem high. Departments were anticipating the New Life – Aqua Barn annexation (3,000 residents – completed in July of 2008), and they were catching up on hiring that had been deferred as Renton grew from a population of about 45,000 in 1997 to a city of 60,000 in 2008 with limited growth in staff. Also note that Renton had a winter employment of about 600 staff. The planned increase in staffing works out to an increase of 18.3 percent, while the city was adding 20,000 new residents to the 60,000 existing residents, a 33.3 percent increase in population.
Renton began implementing the Benson Hill hiring plan in late 2007 by significantly increasing police staff. Hiring continued in early 2008 when a joint operating agreement with Fire District 40 moved nearly all of the District firefighters and staff onto the city payroll as the city expanded fire service not only to the Benson Hill area, but to all of Fairwood. Several new staff were also added to jobs represented by the AFSCME local 2170, but before all of these jobs could be filled, the slowing economy forced a reassessment of the hiring plan. All hiring was stopped by August 2008 with only about 85 of the anticipated 110 new Benson Hill jobs filled, but the taxes from the annexation, while less than planned, continued to come in. In effect, not fully delivering services to Benson Hill insulated the rest of Renton from the immediate effects of the recession.
In 2009 as it became obvious that recovery would not be happening any time soon, most unfilled positions were eliminated and 35 employees, mostly from 2170, were laid-off as their positions were cut. This leaves us with less than half of the anticipated Benson Hill employees still working, most of them in the Police and Fire Departments.
Don’t get the wrong idea, Renton is not balancing the budget on the backs of the citizens in Benson Hill; nor is Renton balancing the budget on the backs of the 2170 employees, at least not entirely. The demand for some kinds of services, like inspections of new construction, is way down and most of the eliminated positions were in the division that does inspections.
The balance of new work in Benson Hill, reduced revenue city-wide and reduced staff and programs may not be perfect, but Renton is better as a result of annexing the Benson Hill, thoughtful leadership and hard work from nearly every city employee.
The opinions I express are my own.
Union Hat
Love the “No Annexation” sign on that crappy building. Of course it would be too costly – Renton would make you clean up that dump. King County doesn’t care.
Is the Chinook Motel even still there? Hard to tell since it’s been reclaimed by vegetation.
Renton Citizens Voting on West Hill Annexation
Maybe I am mistaken, but aren’t you voted in to represent us on this matter? So, in effect, they do have a vote. And remember that while 30 people have complained about making our city border safer for our community, there are 86,000 others that feel like you’re doing the right thing or don’t care enough to complain.
The city of Earlington already annexed part of Earlington last October, and I’m one of those who got annexed.
Sure, Renton could choose not to pursue annexation, but the County sure as heck isn’t going to pick up the slack and put resources into revitalizing the area. In fact, I’d suggest that if the West Hill is not annexed, it will decline further. What is being discussed is the annexation of all of the West Hill, some of which currently borders the City of Renton. The cities of Tukwil and Seattle have already stated that they are not interested in annexing the West Hill. People who live there should be entitled to as many services as cities provide. Just like Ben said, Renton could have more control over the evils that lurk on it’s borders if they took over.
Yes, one could look at Skyway and decide that it’s a cesspool, a dump. But do you think the gangbangers and assorted bad guys just stay within the unincorporated King County limits?
Maybe Renton should build a 50 foot tall separation wall?
Correction: The City of Renton annexed part of Earlington last October, not the City of Earlington.
I realize that the county is in dire financial straits, but over the long haul, it’s going to cost them a lot more money continuing to maintain and provide services for the West Hill.
Here’s how you annex Skyway and not kill Renton
1) Set an election date in late 2012
2) Beg for money from King County
3) Figure out laws to use to punish slum-lords, get buildings into code compliance and make life miserable for jerks.
4) Do an additional cost analyses on setup 3 to see if the changes would make Skyway viable in five years.
5) If setup 2 and 4 don’t look good – stop the election, or ignore the results
6) If the election goes through, and you’ve got KC to pony up and the laws look like it will turn around Skyway then go for it.
Re: Here’s how you annex Skyway and not kill Renton
Ben, I like your reasoning on this. As of right now, I think I plan to push council to do exactly as you suggest. The dialogue in the comments here on my blog has been very helpful to me.
Re: Here’s how you annex Skyway and not kill Renton
There’s a fair amount of citizen activism in Skyway, groups like Skyway Solutions who are working hard to make Skyway a better place. Seems to be that the long term future of the West Hill is quite good, but the short term is going to be a lot rockier.
Still, the city of Renton is not a charitable organization and obviously has it’s own needs. But I think not annexing Skyway will also be an albatross for Renton. Kind of bad choices either way.
Renton already benefits from Skyway
It is interesting that I never see any indication of how much Renton is already benefitting from Skyway even without annexation. I live in West Hill, but actually JUST over the line into incorporated Seattle, so I don’t get directly affected by this.
However, over 70% of our restaurant and retail spending occurs in Renton. This represents a good bit of money coming into the Renton economy (and a good bit of tax money as well). All of our neighbors seem to have similar spending patterns, those in Skyway probably even more so as this end of Seattle doesn’t have a whole lot to offer relative to Downtown Renton and nearby areas like Renton Center and The Landing. Also, drive-time and distance Renton is FAR FAR closer than all but a small handful of Seattle businesses.
Re: Renton already benefits from Skyway
Aren’t we supposed to get $$$ from the state to help incorporate these urban orphaned space?
-H