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AUGUST 1998

S'side planners propose huge annexation
SUNNYSIDE (Saturday, 8-22-98)--Should the city immediately annex its entire planned urban growth area? That's what the Planning Commission will urge the City Council to approve Monday night.
 
The shaded portion of the map at right shows existing city boundaries. The encircling heavy line indicates the urban growth area, expected to be urbanized between now and 2019.
 
Annexing the "UGA" would nearly double Sunnyside's geographical size, increase its population, and increase its tax base. At the same time, it might snare a lot of folks who don't want their properties annexed to the city.
 
In a memo to the City Council, outgoing City Planner Richard Hendricksen said the commission voted 6-0 after a motion by Larry Bennett and a second by Terrie Willard Aug. 12 to urge the City Council to annex the growth area. Other planners include Norberto Espindola, Rick Hernandez, Mary Lee Robinson, Stan Snow, and Al Tebaldi.
 
Hendricksen admitted the commission's recommendation is "unusual". But he indicated annexation would allow Sunnyside--not Yakima County--to approve and service development within the UGA over the next 20 years.
 
"The commission's point in (recommending the annexation) was to be as forceful as possible in protecting the city's interests...," Hendricksen said.
The tizzy originated with the state's 1991 Growth Management Act, passed at a time when Democrats held an iron grip on the Legislature.
Thanks to the Act, a myriad of hired planners at all levels are now attempting to control growth earlier left to natural market forces. While "urban sprawl" is mitigated, individual property owners indicate they feel the state is herding them into pens like cattle.
 
While tax-paid planners always disagree with market forces, they often bicker with each other as well. Within the statewide GMA brawl, Sunnyside and Yakima County planners have been duking it out for some time.
 
Hendricksen said the city has been working with the county and other towns to come up with a "model inter-local agreement" to govern how growth takes place around Valley towns. A countywide "Planning Policy Committee" is the forum for growth discussions. Hendricksen and Mayor Ed Prilucik have represented Sunnyside on this Committee.
 
When Sunnyside earlier proposed that Lower Valley towns develop individual growth agreements with the county--which received an approving nod from County Commissioner Bill Flower--the idea was rejected in favor of a county-wide "one-size-fits-all" approach.
 
Given that, Sunnyside planners see the following as policy options to be contained in an interlocal agreement with Yakima County, and they favor the top one: