All Numbers Tentative
PRELIMINARY DRAFT – City of Fairwood Incorporation Study
And Preliminary
January 29, 2009 i
E
XECUTIVE
S
UMMARY
Welcome to Fairwood
Fairwood is a community of approximately 25,000 people located east of Renton inside the urban growth area of King County, Washington. Thecommunity is predominantly residential, and has a retail area at thecrossroads of SE Petrovitsky Road and 140
th
Way SE.
Fairwood considers incorporation
Washington’s 1990 Growth Management Act (GMA) includes a strongimpetus and rationale for unincorporated parts of urban areas to becomemunicipal areas, either by incorporation or by annexation to existing cities.King County Countywide Planning Policies adopted to implement GMA provide all unincorporated areas within the Urban Growth Boundary willassume incorporated status either through annexation or incorporation by2012.In June 1999, a group of residents in the Fairwood area (also called the“Petrovitsky Corridor”) requested a study assessing the governancealternatives available to the area. The study “Petrovitsky CorridorGovernance Options Study” was published in September 2000.In the 2004 budget, King County launched a major initiative to facilitate thetransition of the remaining urban unincorporated areas to incorporatedstatus. Fairwood is one of ten large communities identified by the county asa priority community for transition.In September 2005, a group of citizens in the Fairwood area (also called the“Petrovitsky Corridor”) petitioned the Washington State Boundary ReviewBoard for King County (BRB) to initiate the process of incorporation. Thestudy “Analysis of the Financial Feasibility of the Proposed City of Fairwood”was published in January 2006.The citizens of the Fairwood area voted on incorporation in September 2006.The outcome was to retain unincorporated status. The close result (only 136votes separated the sides) prompted another group of Fairwood citizens to filea notice of proposed incorporation with the BRB on April 16, 2007 for anotheropportunity to incorporate. A petition drive was completed from May to earlyOctober 2007. A notice of Intention to Incorporate along with the signedpetitions was delivered to King County on October 22, 2007.In response to the current petition, the BRB hired the consultant team of Henderson, Young & Company, Community Attributes, and ICF Jones &Stokes to prepare an incorporation study for Fairwood.
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