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Frequently Asked Questions
B: Incorporation of a new, separate city or C: Change nothing and stay within the county. Q & A from Lake Stevens Journal 2/16/00 Back to Top
Question: Would fire and emergency medical services be effected by an annexation or incorporation vote...? Answer: No. Homes in the city of Lake Stevens and in the Lake Stevens UGA (Urban Growth Area) are served by Snohomish County Fire District 8. Fire and emergency medical services and the property taxes which support those service would be unchanged by an annexation or incorporation vote. Q & A from Lake Stevens Journal 2/23/00 Back to Top
Question: Why is the Governance Council pursuing annexation instead of incorporation...? Answer: The cost and difficulty of incorporation is considered to be far higher than annexation. Also, many of the studies (and other fees) need to be paid for before incorporation but taxes could not be collected until after incorporation. Q & A from Lake Stevens Journal 3/8/00 Back to Top
Question: Will our taxes be higher in the city... ? Answer: Frequently not. Please look at the tax comparison chart on the Tax Info page and make your own conclusion. Tax Rates obtained from Snohomish County Assessors Office, City of Lake Stevens, Drainage District, PUD, Waste Management and previous years rates when unchanged. Back to Top
Question: Would annexation affect school districts, sewer districts or drainage district boundaries... ? Answer: No. Although they are all subject to change, annexation would not necessarily change the current boundaries of these separate districts. All of these districts are separate from the city and county, therefore changes in those districts are separate from annexation. Q & A from Lake Stevens Journal 2/9/00 Back to Top
Question: What does UGA mean...? Answer: UGA is an abbreviation for Urban Growth Area. Back to Top
Question: What neighborhoods make up the UGA...? Answer: Historic Lake Stevens, Soper-Walker Hills, Frontier Village, Sunnyside, Cavalero and South Lake Neighborhoods. Back to Top
Question: What would happen to the GMA Comprehensive Plan if the UGA is annexed... ? Answer: The new, larger city would have an opportunity to change the GMA comp Plan ( which the county has not yet finalized.) With all the steps that it would have to go through, a new Growth Management Plan would not be finalized for the new city council to vote on until at least one year after annexation. The one year point is important because it won't be until then that UGA members are likely to have representation from their areas that they elected. Q & A from Lake Stevens Journal 3/22/00 Back to Top
Question: Does annexation mean more growth...? Answer: State law and local agreements oblige growth to be accommodated. So, the most important issue is not whether we grow but how we grow. Snohomish County is responsible for creating a Comprehensive Plan for the Lake Stevens community, outside the City limits. They have been working on this plan since 1992 without success. In the mean time, significant growth has occurred without an updated plan. This means there are low grade roads, drainage systems, park systems, etc. The real issue is whether local residents want a greater role in planning for their community's future. Annexation means growth decisions would be made by locally elected officials rather than Snohomish County officials, who are elected county wide, and who have failed to deliver responsible planning processes for nearly a decade. Back to Top
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