The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council decided last week to formally recommend that voters approve annexation to Burien -- two days after the Burien Planning Commission yanked away the welcome mat.

Nine members of the North Highline Council voted to recommend a municipal marriage with Burien. Two other council members voted against Burien and one abstained.

When a city annexes another community, first it designates the community as a "potential annexation area." However the Burien Planning Commission voted 6-1 on Nov. 29 not to recommend the Burien City Council declare North Highline a potential annexation area.

Burien is not ready to double its population and take in North Highline, said some planning commissioners.

Nevertheless the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council voted Dec. 1 to pursue annexation by Burien.

Ultimately, North Highline registered voters will decide whether to join Burien or Seattle.

There is little interest in incorporation because financial analyses show North Highline's tax base couldn't support a city of its own.

In a preliminary vote about a month ago, 10 of the 13 North Highline Council members voted to recommend annexing to Burien.

Council members favoring Burien in the Dec. 1 vote were Council President Russ Kaye, Vice President Judy Duff, Steve Davis, Barb Peters, Heidi Johnson, Lee Lim, Steve Jeffries, Ron Johnson and Steve Cox.

Karen Veloria and Doris Tevaseu voted against pursuing Burien, while Carlos Jimenez abstained. Ruth Ann Matthias was absent.

Duff, head of the council's governance committee, was a long-time advocate of North Highline forming its own city. She became convinced it wouldn't work, however, because of North Highline's comparatively thin tax base.

"I'm getting weary of begging," she said.

Duff now supports joining Burien because becoming part of Seattle would mean rising home prices and property taxes for North Highline. She cited Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' worries about keeping the big city affordable, and noted sit-ins staged at Seattle City Hall to protest city cuts in human and social services.

"People such as ourselves couldn't afford to live in Seattle," Duff said.

Duff also said the crime rate in White Center is lower than in Burien. It's lower than the crime rate just north of Roxbury Street, too, she said.

Council President Russ Kay still favors annexation to Burien, but he was angry at the Burien Planning Commission for considering at its Nov. 29 meeting annexing only a few blocks in the North Shorewood area.

Kay called such talk "absolutely ludicrous."

Steve Davis favors joining Burien because it's impractical to incorporate.

"We're not going to be left alone," he said. "We will be cherry picked."

Expect cities to try to annex North Highline's business zones while they leave pockets of single-family neighborhoods, he said.

Burien is "a better fit" for North Highline, Davis added, because the smaller city is more approachable than Seattle.

Steve Cox also urged joining Burien.

White Center's best chance for improvement and better public safety will come from North Highline residents having more control over their community, he argued.

"We don't have much influence with King County," Cox said. "A lot of people in this community (North Highline) will hold positions of power in Burien."

He also vigorously defended his motives for favoring Burien over Seattle, saying he was more interested in helping the community than his own career as a deputy with the King County Sheriff's Office.

He and the three other council members with ties to the Sheriff's Office will all have jobs, whether North Highline joins Burien or not, he said.

Ron Johnson is another Burien supporter.

"If we commit now to Burien, we'd have leverage with King County," he said.

There could be trouble ahead if North Highline doesn't take control of its own destiny though.

"We could wake up in Seattle or Burien with no say," Johnson cautioned.

There were a few opponents to endorsing Burien.

Council member Carlos Jimenez agreed that the annexation analysis has not been rushed. The process has been "transparent" and the council has tackled the issue passionately, he said.

But he senses misgivings to the south. "There's a big doubt in Burien," Jimenez said.

There are many people in North Highline who still don't know much about the annexation issue, he said.

Jimenez abstained this time. That doesn't mean he wants Seattle to annex the area though.

Doris Tevaseu also opposed endorsing Burien.

North Highline residents need more education about the annexation issue, she said. She wants to hear more about what Seattle has to offer North Highline.

People need more time to see both options, she said. “So far, all I've heard is about Burien," she said. "Not about Seattle."

Karen Veloria abstained during the North Highline Council's preliminary vote, but came out with a "strong no" on annexation to Burien last week.

"We're still not engaging the community (in the public debate)," she said. "Yes, there are the groupies who show up at our meetings. But we are still not reaching the communities of color. There are 32,000 people out there."

A man in the audience expressed bemused frustration with calls to delay the decision-making process so more studies can be conducted. Some people have been analyzing the pros and cons of North Highline's annexation and incorporation for a decade.

Whenever it gets close to decision time, a new batch of people suddenly becomes aware of the issue and wants to slow down the process so they can have their opinions included, he said.

"We're a bunch of procrastinators," he added.

Tim St. Clair can be contacted at tstclair@robinsonnews.com or 206-932-0300.