“It does make sense to annex 137th someday, just not today.”
After hearing testimony from neighborhood opposition and noting a recommendation for rejection from the King City Planning Commission, the King City Council, at its Feb. 18 meeting, voted 5 to 1 to withdraw the city’s application for a 13-acre annexation on 137th Avenue.
The annexation was intended to service the larger Transportation System Plan/Kingston Terrace Development project, which includes developing 528 acres of unincorporated land west of 137th Avenue and south of Beef Bend Road.
King City Planner Max Carter told the council that proposed annexation had been shot down by the King City Planning Commission, which weighed “significant opposition from the public” and voted 5 to 1 to 1, to recommend that city councilors postpone annexation until the city’s Transportation System Plan (TSP) is finished being reexamined.
“If you were to postpone it, just to be a little more clear, just direct staff to withdraw it indefinitely,” Carter told the council. “That way it’s not contingent on anything and can be brought up again at a later date.”
Opponents of the annexation were also present at the Feb. 18 meeting and told the council to adopt the planning commission’s recommendation and postpone the annexation until the TSP was sufficiently reexamined.
The city’s request for proposal (RFP) for the TSP officially began on Feb. 19, according to Carter, who told Tigard Life that the city had received one bid from a firm willing to reexamine the document and address changes requested by the public.
Residents argued for waiting, saying it would ensure measured development of unincorporated Washington County, as well as to avoid costs associated with maintaining the road, which is currently maintained by Washington County.
“It’s important for us to know where the water will flow before we open the floodgates,” King City Planning Commissioner and nearby resident Dean Blair said.
Blair said he feared that the annexation would allow parcels along 137th Avenue to apply for annexation independently and not conform to the anticipated guidelines of the new TSP.
“If development happens on 137th before the council has time to finish the TSP relook, the parks plan and implement the regional stormwater complex plan, options will be reduced or eliminated,” Blair said. “This and additional annexation is indeed the future of King City and the future of Rivermeade. Your vote today does not indicate a no vote forever.”
Carter also addressed fears expressed at the meeting, saying that annexation would give developers a chance to build along 137th Avenue without conforming to “collector standards,” which are not currently mandated on 137th Avenue in the TSP.
“The concern was that if we annex 137th and folks sell to a developer, they would only be required to build their street section up to city standards that is not collector standards, because the TSP, as it is, doesn’t have that designated as a collector,” Carter explained.
Another resident, Janet Black, who was present at the meeting, said that, like others, she wasn’t against 137th Avenue being welcomed into city boundaries, but that now was not the time.
“It does make sense to annex 137th someday, just not today,” Black told councilors.
Councilors mostly agreed that it was not the time to annex 137th Avenue, some reasoning that the annexation would invite immediate development, while others agreed that until the city’s revision of the TSP was complete, the move on the project was premature.
“Do we really have the money to rebuild 137th?” Asked councilor Sandra Cunningham at the meeting. “I’m absolutely against this.”
Carter told Tigard Life that while it was likely too early for 137th Avenue to officially enter development plans for the future through annexation, the city would revisit the idea when the TSP relook was finished, in “roughly a year.”
“The timeline the consultant gave us for the process, because you have to have hearings and public engagement, is about a year,” Carter said. “And at that point in time, we’ll see if they want to annex 137th.”
Councilors Jan Tysoe, Sandra Cunningham, Steve Gearhart, Gary Mitchell and Mayor Rachel Kazmierski all voted to withdraw the application, while councilor Vincent Arditi voted not to withdraw, saying that he would like to go forward with annexation.
