A map of the proposed “islands” that were on the table for annexation during Battle Ground City Council’s Aug. 6 meeting.
The annexation of three “islands” of unincorporated land into Battle Ground has been put on hold following the city council’s refusal to put forth a motion on the matter last week.
No vote came for the roughly 102-acre annexation on the table during the Battle Ground City Council’s Aug. 6 meeting which would have brought land surrounded either completely or mostly by city limits into the municipality. The identified parcels are all east of North Parkway Avenue.
At the public hearing for the proposal five individuals spoke — all residents in the area to be annexed and all opposed.
Thomas Whittingham, one of the residents, said he has been battling with the city council for about a decade, adding that he “never” wants to be annexed into the city. He said he has already collected more than 40 signatures for a referendum if the annexation went through.
“We all feel that we do not want to be part of the city. We’ve let you know this over the course of many years,” Whittingham said.
“Most of us have moved to this area to raise our families and have a piece of property that is rural and country, but you guys seem to just want to make it into some kind of Los Angeles kind of thing,” Whittingham said. He added that many he talked to felt that although city council would listen to concerns, they would not take it into consideration when making a decision.
Both Whittingham and fellow annexation area resident Richard Sipe brought up the nearby Whispering Pines subdivision in city limits to the north of their residences. Both spoke negatively of its impacts on their area.
Though the annexation area has not had officers respond to anything in the past year, as explained by city Community Development Director Erin Erdman, Sipe said there have been “at least two” police calls to Whispering Pines, both made by him. They were based on disturbances both during and after construction was taking place.
The annexations would have taken in land sectioned off from the rest of unincorporated Clark County following two prior border shifts — one totalling about 28 acres in February 2017 and an additional one of 4.5 acres in May of this year, Erdman explained.
“These islands were created by the City of Battle Ground, not by us, the residents,” Sipe said. “This impacts a very few amount of people, but can impact us pretty severely.”
The annexation would result in roughly 150 more residents in the city. Based on a levy rate of $1.50 per $1,000 of assessed value, Erdman said the city would expect $28,224 more in property tax revenue annually — and with development those numbers could rise.
Due to mutual aid agreements with the current providers of fire and police services by Clark County Fire & Rescue and the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Clark County Fire District 3 and Battle Ground Police Department do respond to the area, though calls have been light or nonexistent. The potential for more dense development would impact those numbers down the line, Erdman explained.
Deputy Mayor Shane Bowman said he understood the frustration of property owners on the annexation, though he added that those in the proposed area already rely on city infrastructure and services to get to their parcels.
The city is bound by what it can annex by what is in the city’s urban growth boundary.
“There are parts of this urban growth boundary that we would love to get rid of … but the state doesn’t allow us to do that,” Bowman said. Over time, as the boundary moves north, the East Fork Lewis River would be the plausible stopping point.
“$28,000 is not going to break our city. Having a bunch of ticked-off residents doesn’t benefit us, but that’s what we have to do sometimes because that’s what the state says we have to do,” Bowman said. “We could very well shoot this down tonight, but it doesn’t mean that development is not going to happen around you.”
Though councilor Adrian Cortes acknowledged Bowman made some good points, he maintained a stance against the annexation given the subject property owners’ reluctance to join the municipality.
“I don’t want anybody in our city that doesn’t want to be in our city,” Cortes remarked.
Cortes and his family recently moved from where they had lived for 18 years into the Whispering Pines subdivision. He took some offense at the characterization of the development being a detriment, commenting his neighbors, albeit transplants, were “real, genuine people.”
Speaking from similar experience to the testifying residents, councilor Steve Phelps noted he was in a unique situation, owning five acres on the north side of the city which was annexed in 2005.
“I understand your frustration,” Phelps said. “The reality is … the progress that goes in this community is going to work its way through.”
“I got angry in the process, and that’s why I’m on council now,” Phelps remarked.
